The Brief

In a major victory for gig-work companies, the California Supreme Court today upheld a voter-approved law that allows Uber and other app makers to treat their drivers and delivery workers as independent contractors instead of employees.

About the decision

The decision on Proposition 22 was unanimous. Approved by 58% of California voters in 2020 and enacted the same year, Prop. 22 gave app-based gig workers some benefits but not full worker protections because the ballot initiative — which gig companies spent more than $200 million to pass — ensures they are not considered employees.

More than 1.4 million Californians are app-based gig workers for companies such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart, according to the industry’s latest estimates.

The court was not considering the pros and cons of the gig economy. During oral arguments in May in San Francisco, justices zeroed in on whether Prop. 22 was incompatible with California law, which gives the Legislature responsibility over a complete workers’ compensation system. By declaring gig workers independent contractors, Prop 22 made them ineligible for workers’ comp benefits. SEIU California, the Service Employees International Union that had sought to overturn the law on behalf of four gig workers, argued that this made the law unconstitutional.

Prop. 22 “does not preclude the electorate from exercising its initiative power to legislate on matters affecting workers’ compensation,” Justice Goodwin Liu wrote.

What's next for gig worker advocates

Advocates for gig workers said the ruling was a blow.

“This is a really tragic outcome,” said Veena Dubal, a law professor at UC Irvine who focuses on labor and inequality. “But it’s not the end of the road.” Dubal speculated that labor advocates could put together a proposition of their own, or municipalities and the state could adopt ordinances and laws that are more worker-friendly — such as making it illegal to set different wages for similar work based on algorithmic formulas.

Gig companies backed Prop. 22 in 2020 to win themselves an exclusion from a new state law known as Assembly Bill 5, which would have upended their business models by requiring them to consider their drivers and delivery workers as employees. Last month, Uber lost a legal battle to overturn AB 5 — meaning only Prop. 22 stood in the way of forcing ride-hailing and delivery app companies to comply with it.

What you should know about Prop. 22

Under Prop. 22, gig workers are promised guaranteed minimum earnings of 120% of minimum wage, health care stipends, occupational accident insurance and accidental death insurance. Many of the benefits come with stipulations:

• The guaranteed earnings are based on time on a “gig” and don’t include time workers spend waiting for a ride or delivery.
• The health care stipends are for certain eligible workers only, excluding those who qualify for public assistance, including Medi-Cal.
• The occupational accident insurance has a $1 million limit
• Gig workers are reimbursed for their mileage, although at less than the IRS-mandated rate employees receive — currently 35 cents a mile vs. 67 cents a mile. But this amount is included in the minimum earnings guarantee — it is not in addition to it.
• Because Prop. 22 will stand, app-based platform workers will continue to be ineligible for benefits such as sick pay, a minimum wage for all time worked, unemployment insurance and more.

Molly Weedn, spokesperson for the gig industry group Protect App-Based Drivers + Services, called the ruling “an overwhelming victory for voters’ rights and the integrity of our state’s initiative system.”

Gig workers vowed not to give up.

“We’ll continue to fight until we have justice for drivers and all workers,” said Nicole Moore, president of Los Angeles-based Rideshare Drivers United. Moore added that this ruling could mean “app companies are coming for all of our jobs, whether it’s in health care, construction, entertainment.”

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.