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Elizabeth was just 25 and visiting the then-colony of Kenya, when word came her father the King had died. The royals will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee by visiting the nations that once made up the British empire.

It's the season of the Polar Bear Plunge, when many Americans take a challenge to leap into icy water. If they can find cold water. In Rehoboth Beach, Del., people leaped into ocean water that was 47 degrees — the warmest on record.

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Our periodic look at state finances takes us next to New Mexico. The situation there looks a lot less awful than it did.

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After three years of painful cuts, the state has a projected surplus. The question now is what to do with the money. Here's NPR's Ted Robbins.

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For many chefs, winning the prize we'll talk about next is like winning the Super Bowl. But in the international contest's 26 year history, no American has ever won the Bocuse d'Or. That's D-apostrophe-O-R. The first step in deciding who represents the United States is a nation competition, which was recently held at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Karen Michel was there.

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NPR's business news begins with possible mortgage relief.