The Brief

The Colorado River is in crisis — one of the worst in recorded history. We take more water out of the river than flows in, and climate change is making things worse. So for the past several months, the seven states that use Colorado River water have been trying to come up with a plan to keep the river from collapsing. Thirty tribal nations and Mexico also tap the Colorado River, but they are not formally represented in these negotiations.

The states have until the end of 2025 to make a deal. And recently, the states have been deadlocked over who should use less water, and how much. The states in the “Upper Basin” (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico) vehemently disagree with the states in the “Lower Basin” (California, Arizona, and Nevada).

If they can’t make a deal in time, and the river continues to dry up without an agreement about how to handle that, no one knows what will happen.

At the very worst, big reservoirs could get so low, no water would pass through the dams. That means 30% of Southern California’s drinking water would be cut off, likely resulting in strict rationing and higher prices for water.

California is the single largest user of Colorado River water, which means that any effort to save the river involves the state making some serious cuts.

JB Hamby is California's lead negotiator on Colorado River issues and the subject of a new season of Imperfect Paradise called The Gen Z Water Dealmaker. 

J.B. Hamby listens as employees at drop 4 go over details of the hydraulic generator.

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Name: John Brooks Hamby, aka J.B.

Age: 28

Hometown: Brawley, California

Day job: Board member of Imperial Irrigation District, a public utility that imports Colorado River water to California’s Imperial Valley and provides electricity. Elected in November 2020.

Side hustle: Lead negotiator for California on Colorado River issues. Elected in January 2023.

Number of phones: Two

Number of cars: One, a silver 2013 Toyota Prius with 210,000 miles.

Number of books he's read about the Colorado River: A lot. Not exactly sure. I’m on the market for some bookshelves.

This aerial view shows the All-American Canal along the U.S.-Mexico in Imperial Valley.

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Sandy Huffaker

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Favorite animal: The desert pupfish. They’re an endangered fish native to the lower Colorado River and Arizona. They’re half the size of your pinky, tolerate heat and salinity, and the males turn bright blue when mating. I have a pupfish hat and sticker on my water bottle!

Favorite article of clothing: My silver belt buckle. It’s made by a Navajo jeweler, and I bought it in Prescott, Arizona.

Favorite smells: Lemon blossoms, fresh-cut alfalfa or the desert after it rains.

A typical day: At home, it is waking up and immediately checking emails, reading from a short stack of documents over breakfast, making calls throughout the morning, and then meetings in the afternoon for Colorado River or energy-related issues. In the evening, I go on a walk and read Robert Caro’s The Power Broker before bed. I travel a lot to Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas to meet with the other Colorado River basin states, or to Washington, D.C., to talk to our congressional delegates.

Worries: The seven states that use the Colorado River could fail to come up with a solution we can all live with.

A map shows the Lower Basin and Upper Basin states involved in Colorado River negotiations.

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The Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University

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Nightmare scenario: Two things: the big reservoirs on the river dropping so low, no water can pass through the dams – which means no water for California. It's called deadpool. Or going to the Supreme Court over these ongoing negotiations.

What gives me hope: The Lower Basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada have already come so far to overcome divisions and historical disagreements. We’ve done the same in California between cities, farms and tribes. There is little limit to what we can accomplish if we are working constructively toward a common goal, not vilifying others or absolving ourselves of any responsibility.

Want to learn more? Listen to the new series of Imperfect Paradise: The Gen Z Water Dealmaker.

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Negotiators from seven states, tribal governments and major players in the water world convened at the annual Colorado River conference to discuss what’s going to happen to their water.

The Gen Z Water Dealmaker: Part 1

Negotiators from seven states, tribal governments and major players in the water world convened at the annual Colorado River conference to discuss what’s going to happen to their water.

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Student loan borrowers who enroll in automatic payments will get a much bigger discount on interest starting July 1, the U.S. Department of Education says.

Auto pay has long offered a modest discount off borrowers' interest rate — .25 percentage points — but after millions of borrowers opted out during the long COVID repayment pause, with some making no payments for years, the nation's student debt portfolio swelled to $1.7 trillion.

On Thursday, the department said it will temporarily increase its auto pay interest rate discount to one full percentage point. Practically, that means an undergraduate borrower with a loan at the current 6.39% would see their interest rate drop temporarily to 5.39%.

The rate cut will last for two years, from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028.

Borrowers already enrolled in auto pay do not need to act. They will automatically receive the rate cut.

In a call with reporters on Thursday, Undersecretary Nicholas Kent said that, back in 2019, roughly 83% of borrowers were enrolled in auto pay but that by late 2025, that participation rate had dropped considerably, to just 40% of borrowers.

"This temporary incentive is designed to help borrowers pay down their balances more quickly," Kent told reporters, "take full advantage of new repayment benefits, remain on track for loan discharge opportunities and to strengthen the overall health of the federal student loan portfolio."

The department says borrowers will have until Sept. 30 to sign up for auto pay and qualify for the two-year interest discount.

July 1 ushers in a host of big new changes to the federal student aid world, including the introduction of two new repayment plans and controversial new caps on graduate student loans.

Edited by: Nirvi Shah
Copyright 2026 NPR

After fighting Sacramento for years, Huntington Beach finally approved a plan this week to allow for significantly more housing.

State law requires California cities and counties to plan for enough housing to meet the expected demand, with an emphasis on low-income units. For years, Huntington Beach has fought its allocation of some 13,000 new homes. But the city lost its final legal battle earlier this year.

The last stand?

The City Council voted 5-2 to approve a draft housing plan at its meeting earlier this week. Councilmembers said they had to comply with the court order, but would continue to fight for local control over housing and zoning decisions. “There’s still a couple moves on the chessboard on this one,” said Mayor Casey McKeon, without elaborating.

What’s next?

The state housing department still has to approve the city’s housing plan, so more back-and-forth is likely. It’s also unclear whether Huntington Beach voters will ultimately have to approve the plan. Voters passed a measure in 2024 requiring public approval of major zoning changes in the city.

The city of Long Beach on Wednesday unveiled early mockups for new lighting, historical markers, murals and a plaza that will mark the neighborhood along Broadway as a cultural district for the LGBTQ+ community.

The district, designated by the City Council in 2024, will stretch 1.4 miles, between Alamitos Avenue and Temple Avenue, in an area that’s historically been home to many gay bars and other LGBTQ-focused businesses.

The borders of Long Beach’s new LGBTQ+ cultural district.

Right now, the city does not have enough money set aside to fund a redesign of that whole stretch and initially focus on two blocks between Hermosa and Junipero avenues using $3.3 million they’ve so far socked away, Public Works Department spokesperson Jocelin Padilla said.

In the initial phase, the city will add color-changing festoon lighting between Hermosa and Junipero Avenues, wraps and banners on streetpoles, and murals. There will also be a Pride Plaza, situated at the corner of Junipero Avenue and Broadway, with historical markers and educational signs that draw on the city’s LGBTQ+ history.

Designs for the site, officials say, are based heavily on existing districts in San Jose, Chicago and Montreal.

Padilla said there is no date set yet for the work to start, though the city hopes to begin in early 2027 and finish sometime in 2028. A survey was launched this week to garner feedback on the proposed designs. Early renderings of the plaza, Padilla said, were intentionally vague, so that people could give further input on how it should look.

Long Beach unveiled proposed designs for a new Pride Plaza on Broadway as part of an LGBTQ+ cultural district on June 17, 2026.

Future phases will look to add foliage, decorative crosswalks, plaques, signage and construct a memorial to those who died from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It would be similar in design to memorials built in New York and Chicago.

This comes as multiple city-run surveys and workshops in October 2022 and 2023 found that many feel the area is poorly lit at night and doesn’t have enough tree shading in the day. There was also a high demand for murals, parking spaces and bike lanes.

City planners say the location, which includes Bixby Park near its center, is best suited for the district given its density of LGBTQ+ shops and bars, and as the location of the city’s yearly Pride parade.

“This corridor has long been a place that served as a home for gathering space and a source of pride for all the LGBTQ+ community,” said Councilmember Cindy Allen. “This corridor carries a powerful history of community advocacy, celebration, business, and resilience.”

“Together we are building a district that reflects your voices, honors your history, supports local businesses, and celebrates who you are, not just during Pride, but every single day,” Allen said.

You can see more renderings and give feedback here.

Think of pretty much any country, and you can likely find its cuisine in Los Angeles. But when we saw that Belgium was lined up to play Iran on Sunday, June 21, at SoFi Stadium, it gave us pause. Is there a Belgian restaurant in L.A.?

It turns out the answer is complicated. Liège waffles — the dense, caramelized, pearl-sugar version of the Belgian classic — have a real foothold here, with spots like Belgium Waffle Haus in the San Fernando Valley. There's also FRitēS-FReaK, an Orange County food truck devoted entirely to Belgian-style double-fried fries, piled high with toppings like fried egg and bacon.

But a full Belgian dining experience, the kind with mussels and frites and a wall of Trappist beers, is harder to come by. For that, you'll need to drive about 40 miles south down the coast, where Brussels Bistro — with locations in San Clemente and Laguna Beach — pays homage to the cuisine of the distinct but tiny country that's the size of Maryland.

Walk into the San Clemente location, and a marquee above the bar spells out a kind of Belgian shorthand — WE ♥ BELGIUM, CROQUETTES, WAFFLE, FRITES — more mood than menu. Near the entrance, a replica of the Manneken-Pis — one of Belgium's best-known symbols, the naked young boy happily urinating into a basin — sits on a shelf dressed in the Belgian national team jersey, an American flag planted beside him.

Chef-owner Thomas Crijns came from Ottignies, outside Brussels, in the early 2000s to consult on the Laguna Beach location — and never left. He runs the restaurant alongside his wife Carol, who is French-born with Persian heritage, a combination that will make the June 21 match particularly interesting in their household. When asked to describe the food of his home country, Crijns quickly quips: "Belgian cuisine is like French cuisine but with less pretension."

A World Cup match plays above the bar at Brussels Bistro, alongside a deep list of Belgian beers including Chimay, Duvel and Kasteel.

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The menu reads like a love letter to Belgian culinary tradition — mussels, waffles, and carbonnade à la flamande, a Flemish stew made with beer and mustard — alongside a draft list that includes Chimay, Duvel, Rochefort and Delirium Tremens.

But the dish Crijns is most proud of is one most Americans have never heard of. The shrimp croquette is a staple of Belgian brasserie culture, made here with North Sea shrimp — what he calls "the caviar of the North Sea" — flown in every Thursday from a Dutch supplier.

Four golden, breaded croquettes arranged on a white plate over a bed of fried parsley, with a lemon wedge and a dollop of sauce on top of one croquette.

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The croquettes arrived four to a plate, golden and perfectly formed, the exterior giving way to a creamy molten interior where the tiny shrimp created a texture unlike anything I'd had before — something close to squid, but more delicate. The kind of dish that makes more sense with a Belgian beer in hand and a side of frites within reach. The match, though, is a more complicated proposition in the Crijns household.

A taste of Belgium, one tap at a time, at Brussels Bistro in San Clemente.

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Carol would know better than most. Her uncle runs a Persian restaurant in Irvine, part of an Orange County Iranian community of nearly 37,000 — a concentration that rivals many a concentration that rivals many larger cities

On June 21, she expects fans from both sides to fill the restaurant.

"I'm gonna do everything I can to bring as many family members," she said. "To tease my husband as much as I can."

"I'm grateful that the tournament allows us to put aside our differences and bring people together."

Coming from almost anyone else, that might sound like a talking point. Coming from a French-Persian woman married to a Belgian chef, watching Iran play Belgium at their own restaurant — it sounds like something she's earned the right to say.