The Brief

The Trump administration is reopening a federal program to fund the installation of high-speed EV chargers along freeways nationwide, after a six-month freeze in funds and a legal battle with states.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced the multibillion dollar program, called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (or NEVI) program, as wasteful. It was created in 2021 through a bipartisan act of Congress, and unlike many other Biden-era climate measures , that law remains on the books; Congress has not reversed it.

The Department of Transportation froze the funds in February , and months passed with no indication of when funding would be restarted. A coalition of more than a dozen states sued the federal government, alleging that the administration was violating the law and defying the will of Congress. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in the states' favor.

Now, the DOT has started the process of unfreezing the money by releasing new guidance that will allow the funds to flow again — while removing a number of Biden-era requirements.

Officials made it clear they haven't changed their minds about the merits of funding chargers — but they're acknowledging the separation of powers that give Congress, not the executive branch, authority over spending decisions.

"While I don't agree with subsidizing green energy, we will respect Congress' will and make sure this program uses federal resources efficiently," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a statement posted on the department's website .

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is leading the states' lawsuit against the freeze, said it was "encouraging" news that the administration is restarting the program. But, he said, it's not an automatic end to the legal challenge.

"It is promising that we're seeing some responses to our lawsuit and we're seeing some effort to give us the money that Congress has mandated," he told NPR. "We're going to stay focused on making sure that all the monies that are promised across this multi-state coalition are, in fact, given out appropriately."

Charging companies and EV advocates have celebrated the end of the freeze, and in many cases praised the streamlining of the rules — even as they chafe at the long pause.

"It's ironic that this guidance was sold as cutting red tape, yet all it has accomplished is more than half a year of needless delay," Katherine García, the director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All program, wrote in a statement.

Stripping out requirements

The NEVI program earmarked $5 billion for high-speed EV chargers along highway corridors, designed to serve the needs of long-distance EV drivers. To access the funds, states had to submit a plan for where and how they would build chargers. Once the plan was approved, each state's department of transportation would work with companies to install chargers, and then get reimbursed by the federal government.

It took more than two years after the law's passage for the first chargers to open to the public. As of August 16, some 4,000 ports have been funded but only 382 are open, according to the EV States Clearinghouse data project. But after the slow start, the same dataset shows that funding awards were accelerating through 2024 — until the Trump administration hit the brakes.

The slow speed of the rollout has been criticized by both conservative critics of the NEVI program and by some EV advocates who supported the program but wanted it to move faster. Alex Laska, with the center-left think tank Third Way, co-authored a report earlier this year that said the Biden-era NEVI program suffered from "a morass of government red tape, roadblocks, and bureaucracy."

The new guidance from the Trump administration strips out a number of requirements added under Biden. States will no longer be required to engage with rural or underserved communities while planning charger locations. They do not need to direct benefits toward disadvantaged communities. They don't need to demonstrate that they've factored in labor or safety standards, or provided opportunities for minority-owned businesses. They won't need to address evacuations, snow removal or extreme weather in their plans.

Charging stations will also no longer be required to be less than 50 miles apart — a concern for some large rural states — or within a mile of a freeway. States will have more discretion on charger locations.

The DOT didn't respond to NPR's requests for an interview. But in a statement posted on the department's website, Duffy said this new guidance would speed things up. "If Congress is requiring the federal government to support charging stations, let's cut the waste and do it right," he wrote. "The Biden-Buttigieg Administration failed to deliver EV chargers despite their promises. Our revised NEVI guidance slashes red tape and makes it easier for states to efficiently build out this infrastructure."

Mixed reviews from the EV charger world

Some of these changes — in particular, the flexibility about site location — have been celebrated by EV advocates and charging companies.

"We appreciate the Department's overall efforts to cut red tape," wrote Levi Kamolnick, the director of federal policy at CALSTART, a nonprofit that works with companies and governments to promote clean transportation. "Streamlining the program will unlock more financial gains—including good jobs."

The executive director of the Electrification Coalition, a pro-EV nonprofit, wrote in a statement he was "encouraged by the Department's commitment to removing unnecessary barriers."

"We're optimistic," says Ryan McKinnon, the spokesman for the Charge Ahead partnership, which represents gas stations and retailers who want to add chargers. "They sort of cut through a lot of red tape that had slowed down the original program." He says the new guidance will particularly help states like Wyoming and Montana — with big open space.

Of course, removing some requirements won't eliminate the need to find locations and contract with builders and pull permits, all of which takes time.

And there's a common refrain in the EV charger world: While people don't mind the changes to the guidance, they are frustrated by the delay and disruption they caused.

Alex Laska of Third Way — who had been sharply critical of the inefficiencies of the Biden program — gave mixed reviews to the Trump administration revisions. He noted that some forms of "red tape," like requirements about the type of charger, remain.

And other requirements have been deleted after states had already completed the work to meet them, meaning it won't actually save any time or effort.

Aside from loosening the requirements on location, the change is "kind of a nothingburger," he says. "This guidance was not worth holding up the program for, you know, now over half a year."

Andrew Bennett, the CEO of DRIIVZ, a company that builds software for charging stations, says the freeze disrupted a lot of projects that might have gotten greenlit this year.

In the meantime, while chargers have been built with private money, Bennett says, it's not enough: "We need about six times more just to keep up."
Copyright 2025 NPR

The first of 30 Bob Ross paintings — many of them created live on the PBS series that made him a household name — have been auctioned off to support public television.

Ross, with his distinctive afro, soothing voice and sunny outlook, empowered millions of viewers to make and appreciate art through his show The Joy of Painting. More than 400 half-hour episodes aired on PBS (and eventually the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) from 1983 to 1994, the year before Ross died of cancer at age 52.

Ross' impact lives on: His show still airs on PBS and streams on platforms like Hulu and Twitch . It has surged in popularity in recent years, particularly as viewers searched for comfort during COVID-19 lockdowns. Certified instructors continue teaching his wet-on-wet oil painting technique to the masses , and the Smithsonian acquired several of his works for its permanent collection in 2019. But his artwork rarely goes up for sale — until recently.

In October, the nonprofit syndicator American Public Television (APT) announced it would auction off 30 of Ross' paintings to raise money for public broadcasters hit by federal funding cuts. It pledged to direct 100% of its net sales proceeds to APT and PBS stations nationwide.

Auction house Bonhams is calling it the "largest single offering of Bob Ross original works ever brought to market."

Ross has become synonymous with public broadcasting and some activists have even invoked him in their calls for restoring federal funding to it.

"It's a medium that Bob just cherished," said Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross, Inc., in a phone call with NPR. "With the cuts, it's just a natural inclination to support public television."

"Winters Peace," which Ross painted on-air in 1993, was among the first of his works to be auctioned to support public television, in California in November.

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The first three paintings sold in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a record-shattering $662,000. Bonhams says the works attracted hundreds of registrations, more than twice the usual number for that type of sale. Each sold for more than its estimated worth, led by "Winter's Peace," which fetched $318,000 to set a new Ross auction record.

"As anticipated, these paintings inspired spirited bidding, achieved impressive results and broke global auction records, continuing the momentum we've seen building in [Ross'] market," said Robin Starr, the general manager of Bonhams Skinner, the auction house's Massachusetts branch. "These successes provide a solid foundation as we look ahead to 2026 and prepare to present the next group of Bob Ross works."

"Winter's Peace," which Bob Ross painted on-air in 1993, is among his first three works going up for auction in November. He used especially vibrant colors with his TV audience in mind.

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The next trio of paintings will be auctioned in Massachusetts in late January. The rest will be sold throughout 2026 at Bonham's salerooms in Los Angeles, New York and Boston.

How the offering could benefit public broadcasters 

At President Donald Trump's direction, Congress voted in July to claw back $1.1 billion in previously allocated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), leaving the country's roughly 330 PBS and 244 NPR stations in a precarious position.

CPB began shutting down at the end of September, PBS has already cut 15% of its jobs, and several local TV and radio stations have also announced layoffs and closures.

Demonstrators dressed as Bob Ross at a Chicago protest calling for the restoration of federal funding to PBS in late September.

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"I think he would be very disappointed" about the CPB cuts, Kowalski said of Ross. "I think he would have decided to do exactly what we're doing right now ... I think this would have probably been his idea."

Kowalski, whose parents founded Bob Ross Inc. together with the painter in 1985, said Ross favored positive activism over destructive or empty rhetoric.

"That just was his nature," she said. "He was like that in real life. So I think this would have been exactly the thing that he would have chosen. I suddenly got really emotional thinking about that."

Ross spent about 26 minutes painting "Home in the Valley" on live TV in October 1993. It's been in storage ever since and will go on sale in November.

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The Ross auction aims to help stations pay their licensing fees to the national TV channel Create , which in turn allows them to air popular public television programs including The Best of the Joy of Painting (based on Ross' show), America's Test Kitchen, Rick Steve's Europe and Julia Child's French Chef Classics.

Bonhams says the auction proceeds will help stations — particularly smaller and rural ones — defray the cost burden of licensing fees, making Create available to more of them.

"This enables stations to maintain their educational programming while redirecting funds toward other critical operations and local content production threatened by federal funding cuts," the auction house says.

Ross' paintings rarely hit the market

The 30 paintings going up for sale span Ross' career and are all "previously unseen by the public except during their creation in individual episodes" of The Joy of Painting, according to Bonhams. Many have remained in secure storage ever since.

They include vibrant landscapes, with the serene mountains, lake views and "happy trees" that became his trademark.

Ross started painting during his 20-year career in the Air Force, much of which was spent in Alaska. That experience shaped his penchant for landscapes and ability to work quickly — and, he later said , his desire not to raise his voice once out of the service.

Once on the airwaves, Ross' soft-spoken guidance and gentle demeanor won over millions of viewers. His advice applied to art as well as life: Mistakes are just "happy accidents," talent is a "pursued interest," and it's important to "take a step back and look."

"Ross' gentle teaching style and positive philosophy made him a cultural icon whose influence extends far beyond the art world," Bonhams says.

While Ross was prolific, his paintings were intended for teaching instead of selling, and therefore rarely go on the market.

In August, Bonhams sold two of Ross' early 1990s mountain and lake scenes as part of an online auction of American art. They fetched $114,800 and $95,750, surpassing expectations and setting a new auction world record for Ross at the time. Kowalski says that's when her gears started turning.

"And it just got me to thinking, that's a substantial amount of money," she recalled. "And what if, what if, what if?"

Bonhams officially estimates that the 30 paintings could go for a combined total between $850,000 and $1.4 million. But Starr, of the auction house, predicted in October that they will continue to exceed expectations, based on their artistic value, nostalgia factor and more.

"Now we add in the fact that these are selling to benefit public television, I think the bidding is going to be very happy," she said. "Happy trees, happy bidding."

Disclosure: This story was edited by general assignment editor Carol Ritchie and managing editor Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
Copyright 2025 NPR

One of TV’s most famous sitcom houses has entered L.A.’s landmarking process.

City officials are considering whether to grant a mid-century modern ranch known as the Brady Bunch house historic-cultural monument status.

The owner of the Studio City house is seeking the designation with the backing of preservationists like those at the Los Angeles Conservancy.

“That show would not be the show without that house,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the conservancy.

The living room has been recreated to look like the TV show’s iconic set, with the open staircase and mid-century décor.

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Used in the show’s establishing shots during its run from 1969 to 1974, the house is instantly recognizable to generations of fans who watched Mike and Carol Brady wrangle their lively brood of six under its gabled roof.

Though interior scenes were shot on a studio lot, the house façade has become as iconic as Peter’s first voice crack and Jan’s immortal wail, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”

Fans make regular pilgrimages to snap photos out front, and limited charity tours of the house sell out.

Fine said the house helped shape how audiences around the world envisioned an idyllic suburban life in Los Angeles.

“It feels like stepping back into your childhood,” said Fine, who watched re-runs of the show growing up in the Midwest. “Comfort, warmth — it's a place that feels good to so many people.”

A mid-century TV Star

Built in 1959 and designed by Harry Londelius Jr., the Dilling Street home was chosen by producers for its close proximity to the studio and its look — the kind of distinctive mid-century house viewers could easily imagine an architect like Mike Brady living in.

As television production consolidated in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, shows like The Brady Bunch relied on actual exteriors used to ground shows in otherwise studio-filmed episodes, according to a report by the city’s Planning Department recommending review of the Brady Bunch house application.

Other Los Angeles homes that became famous through establishing shots include the residences featured in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Golden Girls.

HGTV recreated the Brady Bunch staircase for its 2019 renovation show.

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HGTV’s Big Makeover

After the show’s five-season run, The Brady Bunch lived on in syndication for decades, with the house imprinting on viewers across generations.

The home-remodel network HGTV helped revive the house's fame with a 2019 show.

For the series A Very Brady Renovation, the network brought back cast members to help rebuild the inside of the house to mimic the sets fans knew from TV, from the open, split-level staircase to the kitchen with orange Formica countertops.

After the series, HGTV sold the house for $3.2 million to current owner Tina Trahan, a superfan who told People in 2023 , "It was like, 'I need this house. I have to have the house.’”

“I just felt like it was just part of America and the culture,” she said.

As part of the HGTV remodel show, the 'Brady Bunch' kitchen was recreated with its orange countertops and avocado-green appliances.

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What’s next

Lovingly maintained, the Brady Bunch house is not at risk of teardown like other structures that preservationists have tried to save around town by seeking historic-cultural monument status.

But Fine argues that now is the time to act.

“Ideally, what we should be doing for all of the architecturally, culturally significant places in L.A. is codifying and ensuring that they have some type of level of recognition and protection, so that there isn't a risk down the road where you are scrambling,” Fine said.

Members of the Cultural Heritage Commission are expected to visit the property in the coming weeks, then vote on whether to recommend monument status to the City Council.

With this designation, any major exterior alteration or demolition proposal would trigger review by city staff and the Cultural Heritage Commission.

“It doesn’t mean it could never be demolished,” Fine said. “But it would be very difficult, and there would be a lot of steps to go through before you ever got to that stage.”

A vote by the City Council is expected in the coming months. Years later, the Brady Bunch house still knows how to pull focus.

If you’re mourning the — probably — impending closure of Cole’s downtown or one of the other handful of classic Los Angeles eateries we’ve lost in the past few years, you might find camaraderie in a local social club.

For about a year now, Jake Hook has been hosting monthly meetings of the Diner Preservation Society . "Diner" is a loose term for the group.

At classic joints like Philippe’s and the recently closed Papa Cristo’s , attendees talk about their favorite eateries and what they can do to save the ones we’re at risk of losing.

“Diners are the classic American third space. They are where communities happen. And you can see that by how worked up people get when diners close,” Hook said.

Take the recent closure of the Pantry downtown. Now it looks as if it will be reopening , but Hook said people from across the city showed up in droves before it shuttered.

“So much so that the wait on the last day was about seven hours. And I endured all seven hours,” they told LAist.

A meeting of the Diner Preservation Society

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A philosophy professor by day, Hook’s enduring love of diners led them to compile a massive list of classic joints in our region . And this month, they launched the "Diner Theory" podcast , which delves into topics “at the intersection of food and philosophy.”

Hook, 31, said they think younger generations are looking for spaces that feel more human in an increasingly online world. And diners fill that void.

“It’s something that unites people who have lived here from generation to generation to have these experiences in roughly the same way. And I think that’s valuable for forming some kind of citywide identity,” they said.

Plus, there’s really good, cheap food.

If you’d like to attend the next meeting of the Diner Preservation Society, visit their Substack to learn more.

Upcoming club meetings:

Shakers
601 Fair Oaks Ave.
South Pasadena
Saturday at 10 a.m.

Bun N Burger
1000 E. Main St.
Alhambra
Dec. 13 at 10 a.m.

The Culver City Council has passed a motion to consider creating an "entertainment zone" for its downtown.

Once implemented, it would be the third city in Southern California with a designated area where people can walk around and consume alcohol outside during designated special events.

In May, Santa Monica became the first city in L.A. County to adopt an “entertainment zone” in accordance with California SB 969, which passed in 2024. Long Beach followed suit in August. West Hollywood voted to study the creation of something similar in September.

And now, Culver City wants to be part of a growing trend to boost economic activity and compete with attractions in surrounding cities.

"Century City, Hollywood, Downtown LA ...we're competing with the whole city," Culver City Mayor Dan O’Brien told LAist. "So giving yet another reason for Angelenos to come to Culver City and have a nice night out and enjoy our special events. I think we need to grab it."

A statue in the middle of the proposed entertainment zone.

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What’s the occasion?

“It’s going to be for our special events only,” O’Brien said. “Certainly during the World Cup and throughout the Olympics.”

Other city events listed in the motion include the Summer Concert Series, Independence Day Drone Show and the downtown Tree Lighting ceremony scheduled for Dec. 4.

“ That would be an ideal opportunity to activate for the entertainment zone,” O’Brien said. “But I do not know if we will have everything in place to do so by then.”

Where would it be?

The current entertainment zone proposal encompasses the Downtown Culver City Business Improvement District — of about eight to 10 blocks long and three blocks wide, O'Brien said.

That includes Culver Boulevard between Madison Avenue and Venice Boulevard — and Washington Boulevard between Hughes Avenue and Culver Boulevard. It would also include side streets up to the city boundary.

The Downtown Business Association, which is behind the proposal, is requesting the area that includes the Town Plaza, the Culver Steps and Main Street to be part of the new zone.

The proposed boundaries for the Culver City entertainment zone would span a quarter of a mile.

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What’s next?

The Culver City Council will now need to pass an ordinance approving a plan with information about the exact boundaries of the entertainment zone, its hours of operations and specific events for which they'll be active.

A date for the next vote hasn’t been set.