The Brief

I remember feeling very adult the first time I sent out holiday cards with family photos on them.

But the overall cost of this sweet, but fleeting, gesture is getting hard to swallow. The cards are expensive, of course. And then there’s the price of sending them through the mail. Forever stamps now cost 78 cents. When did that happen?

I was rethinking the whole endeavor when I did a little Googling, and bingo! — I found a bunch of websites offering stamps for close to 20 cents a piece. A fraction of the price. Was this for real?

No, as it turns out. The majorly-discounted stamps advertised online are more than likely counterfeit. And if you use fake stamps, you risk your mail being confiscated or sent back.

“Typically, there is no such thing as a discounted stamp,” said Marjan Barrigan-Husted, a federal agent with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Barrigan-Husted said “typically” because the postal service does have agreements with a select number of vendors, mostly big box stores and stamps.com, to sell stamps at a slightly discounted rate — for example, you can get a whopping 25 cents off a roll of 100 stamps from Costco.

That’s not even close to the steals I was finding online with just a little scrolling. And the stamps looked, to me, just like the latest stamps coming hot off the USPS press.

“It takes 'em about six weeks to turn around from the time the stamp is issued until it's available in the United States as a counterfeit,” said Wayne Youngblood, a writer and philatelist — an expert in stamps.

What’s behind the surge in counterfeit stamps?

Youngblood said there has been an “explosion” in counterfeit stamps in recent years, mostly coming from China. Many also come from India, Barrigan-Husted said.

Federal postal agents seized more than 4.4 million fake stamps, worth more than $3 million, just in the first quarter of this fiscal year, according to Barrigan-Husted.

Why the surge? For one thing, they are not easy to detect. “ It's very difficult to tell unless we are analyzing these stamps side-by-side in our lab with very technical equipment,” Barrigan-Husted said.

Plus, she thinks the temptation might just be too great for those on a tight income.

“The economy has been rough ever since COVID,” Barrigan-Husted said. “People with no ill intentions are thinking that they can save some money here and there by cutting costs, and one of those ways of cutting costs is to get discounted stamps.”

‘It’s like wack-a-mole’

Shutting down the websites that sell fake stamps seems like an obvious answer to the problem, or so I thought.

“ We are doing our best to shut these websites down,” Barrigan-Husted said. “But there are millions of them that just keep popping up.”

Plus, the Postal Inspection Service that Barrigan-Husted works for is a small agency, with arguably bigger fish to fry.  They also investigate child exploitation crimes, money laundering, elicit drug trafficking and other major crimes associated with the mail system.

“And so those kinds of things kind of take their priority,” Youngblood said.

What happens if you use fake stamps?

Mail fraud is a federal crime. But postal agents are more focused on suppliers of counterfeit stamps than the often unwitting consumers who buy them. But Barrigan-Husted said your mail might be confiscated and even opened if it has a fake stamp on it. Or, it could be sent back.

She said consumers should also be wary of giving their credit card information to online businesses offering stamps that are too cheap to be legit.

“ The scammers are using that information as well,” Barrigan-Husted said.

In the end, the postal service is likely the biggest victim of the illicit stamp industry — Youngblood estimates that USPS loses more than $1 billion annually when people use counterfeit stamps instead of buying the real ones.

That loss also translates to higher prices for all mail users — including the continual rise in the cost of stamps.

“ We're having to make up for all of the counterfeit stamps that have gone through the mail stream,” Barrigan-Husted said, “we still have to make up that revenue.”

For me, this all translates into an excellent excuse not to send cards this year. It’s getting late anyway. Maybe next year.

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Why it matters: King Taco helped establish the template for the modern L.A. taqueria — shifting the city's understanding of tacos from the hard-shell, Americanized version to soft tortillas filled with carne asada, carnitas and tacos al pastor. As the late food critic Jonathan Gold noted, King Taco "solidified what we all think of as the modern Los Angeles taco sensibility."

Why now: The nomination comes as part of the city's ongoing effort to recognize Latino cultural landmarks.

The backstory: Founder Raul Martinez launched King Taco from a converted ice cream truck in 1974, eventually opening the Cypress Park brick-and-mortar location that became the chain's flagship. The business grew to 24 locations across Southern California, becoming a model for immigrant entrepreneurship and establishing key Mexican dishes like tacos al pastor and carnitas as L.A. staples.

What's next: The Cultural Heritage Commission will determine whether King Taco's original location retains sufficient historic integrity and continues to convey its cultural significance. If approved, King Taco would become one of the few designated restaurant landmarks recognizing Latino culinary contributions.

President Donald Trump's harsh immigration tactics are taking a political hit as new polls show a majority of Americans feel federal agents have "gone too far" in enforcing immigration laws.

It's not just Democrats who are concerned, but also independent voters who are expected to play a major role in the upcoming midterm elections.

"The base loves it, but it's an issue for the independent voters who decide elections in this country," said Alex Conant, a veteran Republican strategist. "Independents want a strong border and they want to deport criminals, but they're really uneasy with having masked federal agents going around in neighborhoods, deporting anyone that they see — as the Democrats are portraying it."

After months of aggressive enforcement, Trump's signature issue that twice got him elected is now turning into a liability ahead of this year's midterm elections.

The outcry over what many saw as militant tactics hit a fever pitch after the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by immigration officers in Minnesota.

A new NPR/Marist poll shows that six in 10 Americans disapprove of the job federal immigration agents are doing.

Even typically loyal Republican supporters have called on the Trump administration to make changes and rebuild trust with law enforcement.

"They, being the White House, need to recalibrate on what needs to be done to make sure that that respect is going to be re-instilled," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told conservative radio host Mark Davis.

Trump shook up the leadership of the Minneapolis operation, and directed his team to withdraw 700 federal officers.

"I learned that, maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch," Trump said in an interview with NBC's Tom Llamas. "But you still have to be tough. We're dealing with really hard criminals."

It's a bit unclear what a "softer touch" actually means.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt largely defended the administration's enforcement efforts Thursday and pointed to different polling — from a Harvard/Harris survey — that she said showed support for their "deportation agenda."

"Nearly eight in 10 Americans say criminal illegal aliens should be deported," she said. "A solid majority also support deporting all illegal aliens, regardless of additional crimes."

She also said the administration is now prioritizing criminals who are in the country illegally.

Theresa Cardinal Brown, who worked on immigration policy under two presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said there may be an "operational pause" as the administration retools its efforts, both from a policy standpoint and a public relations standpoint.

"Operationally, you're not really thinking about politics as you're putting together an operation, said Brown, now a member of the Council on National Security and Immigration. "But politics comes into everything, right?"

She points to the announcement that body cameras would be deployed to federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, noting that while video can uncover when officers are doing something wrong, body cameras can also vindicate officers when they have done the right thing.

"I do think that probably the administration is thinking, 'Well, if we had body cam footage of our own, we could put our own perspective on it,' " she said.

Trump has a big incentive to get a handle on this crisis — and to do so quickly.

Conant, who previously worked on Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign, said Trump has left an opening for Democrats to sound more reasonable on immigration ahead of the midterms.

"If he loses the immigration issue as a political winner, it's a real political problem," Conant said, "not just for Trump, but Republicans more broadly."

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As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots get ready to push, tackle and elbow their way to victory in Super Bowl LX, the NFL has been showcasing the contactless version of the sport leading up to the big game Sunday in Santa Clara.

With 20 million players, flag football is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports and a growth area for the NFL and its international counterpart, the International Federation of American Football. It’s set to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, and NFL players will be allowed to take part.

The NFL, which has invested heavily to expand flag football in the U.S. and abroad, planned no less than seven unique flag football-related events this week in the Bay Area, from the Pro Bowl Games to an under-13 international championship.

Beth Spicer, a middle-school student from Ireland, traveled to San Francisco to represent Ireland in that match Wednesday — the first time the co-ed tournament was held during a Super Bowl week, according to the NFL.

“I only learned how to throw a ball four months ago, and I just fell in love with it,” she said. “It’s not really like any other games. You’re getting tagged at the hips, so you have to move them. It’s unique, but it’s really good.”

Back home, the most popular sports include Gaelic football, hurling and soccer, according to the Ireland team’s head coach, Rob Cooper. He said the flag football program at his school got underway after the NFL reached out, offering free training and equipment.

“ We took it up, and the kids have loved every moment of it since then,” Cooper said. “I have no doubt that flag football, especially in Ireland, will continue to grow massively over the next couple of years.”

Flag football is a less gear-intensive version of traditional tackle football. Instead of physical confrontations, players must strip a length of fabric dangling from either side of a ball carrier’s waist to stop their forward progress.

The lack of contact means players aren’t required to wear helmets or pads, and in the version set to be played at the Olympics, the games are shorter, faster and have only five players per side, instead of 11.

The NFL started its first international flag football program in Mexico in 2000, according to Afia Law, who heads international flag football development for the league.

“ It’s all about creating access to the game for young adults and girls, regardless of the country you are in, regardless of your background, creating an opportunity for you to access the game,” Law said.

The NFL has ramped up efforts to support flag football in 15 countries, including Australia, Spain and Brazil, where the league is growing its reach with on-the-road NFL games next season.

Law said flag football’s Olympic debut will be “absolutely huge.”

“We’ve had people that are passionate about this game playing around the world for so long, and now we finally get to see them on the world stage playing in the game that they’re fantastic at,” Law said.

Kodie Fuller, an NFL and IFAF flag football ambassador from Australia, is excited that her sport is getting international recognition at the Olympics. She grew up playing traditional tackle football but transitioned to playing flag football three years ago.

“ As I got a little bit older, not taking hits every weekend definitely felt a lot nicer on my body,” Fuller said.

Now an Olympic hopeful herself, the 29-year-old said the Olympic debut will encourage more young athletes, especially young women, to get into the sport.

“We can sell the Olympic dream to all of them, because it is a very real possibility now,” she said.

Flag football is also making inroads in the U.S. In December, all 32 NFL clubs voted to invest a collective $32 million to develop and launch a professional flag football league.

Last spring, the Atlantic East Conference launched the first-ever NCAA women’s flag football season. Since the 2023-2024 school year, flag football has been a statewide-sanctioned sport for high school girls in California, although not for boys.

Watching the under-13 international flag football tournament at Moscone Center on Wednesday, Fuller said her “jaw was on the floor.”

“The talent that is coming through is out of this world,” she said.