The Brief

It was the most reliable car he had ever driven — that's how Kris Trexler remembered his General Motors EV1.

"It was just a car that I took home, plugged in at night, got up the next morning — it was like having a gasoline station in the garage," he told NPR Member station Michigan Public in 2010.

Trexler was one of the hundreds of people who got to drive an EV1 — the first modern, mass-produced electric vehicle from a major automaker. The little two-door car looked like a cross between a flying saucer and a computer mouse, and it pioneered technology you can still find in today's EVs.

GM built just over 1,000 EV1s before ending production in 1999, spawning a community of passionate super fans eager to join the EV revolution. But the EV1 was controversial, and short-lived. It was on the road for less than a decade. Many Americans never knew the EV1 existed — and the fight to keep it alive ended with GM crushing nearly all the cars into scrap.

"When it all happened, we just stood there and said, 'What are you guys doing?' " filmmaker and EV advocate Chris Paine told NPR in a 2006 interview about his documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? "The sight of seeing them destroyed before most people ever got to experience them was really quite a shocking moment for us."

The EV1's origins

The story of the EV1 began in 1990, when California passed sweeping regulations aimed at curbing the state's air pollution. The plan mandated automakers build zero-emission vehicles.

"It's a very radical strategy, but it's one that looks well into the next century," California Air Resources Board member Brian Bilbray said at the time. "And it's really going to set the standard for air-quality strategies, not in just this state or this nation, but in the world."

Under pressure, automakers researched electric vehicles, hybrids and even hydrogen fuel cells to comply with the mandate. In 1992, reporter Paul Eisenstein was assigned by NPR to check out the early results, traveling to Arizona to test drive a GM prototype called the Impact.

"As you turn the key, nothing seems to be happening — until you stomp on the Impact's accelerator," Eisenstein reported. "Then with a sudden lurch and an eerie whine, the Impact bursts to life, the speedometer ticking off five, 15, 30, 45 miles an hour."

This is the car that by 1996 hit the market as the EV1. It had zippy acceleration, aerodynamic bodywork that partially covered the rear tires, and an innovative braking system that helped recharge the battery.

"Regenerative braking works by using the motors — the drive motors — in reverse, and they act as generators," GM engineer Larry Oswald said. "So when you apply the brake pedal, essentially what you're doing is generating electricity and putting it back into the battery and storing it for the next acceleration."

The car's battery could take you about 70 miles on a full charge. Battery technology improved over the years, increasing the EV1's range to about 100 miles. But the EV1 gave rise to a new consumer concern: "range anxiety."

"The fear of being stranded; running out of power," Consumer Reports researcher Ron Conlin told NPR in 1997. "The anxiety of the consumer is reflected in our studies."

The EV1 was only available in a few states. And it was expensive: The suggested retail price was $35,000 (more than $70,000 in today's money) but it never actually was for sale — it was only available for lease.

"The car's being marketed to an upscale consumer — very educated, very affluent, as potentially a third vehicle in the household," Conlin said.

Only about 800 drivers leased an EV1, according to an Associated Press article from 2005. However, reports indicated thousands more people put their name on a wait list. GM spokesperson Dave Barthmuss told NPR that the company followed up with those people, and found "less than 50 customers" on the wait list were willing to lease a vehicle.

Many who did get the chance to lease an EV1 grew to love the way the car — with its plug-in charging and appliance-like charm — made them feel "like we were in the 21st century," said documentarian Chris Paine.

A little car with a big legacy

GM had spent more than $1 billion on EV development. But over time, California weakened the mandate to build zero-emission vehicles. The EV1 became an unnecessary cost.

The cars' three-year lease agreements expired in the early 2000s, but GM canceled the program and took its EV1s back. In 2005, NPR reporter Luke Burbank visited a GM facility in Southern California storing dozens of repossessed EV1s. The car's supporters held vigil outside.

"We call that EV1 death row," said Chelsea Sexton, a former GM employee who worked on the EV1 program and was critical of the company's move to stop making electric vehicles.

"It absolutely breaks my heart," Sexton told NPR. "I helped put these cars on the road in the first place, and now they're taking them away from me and from all the other drivers that had them at one point."

Chelsea Sexton hugs Paul Scott during a vigil held outside the General Motors Training Center in Burbank, Calif., protesting GM's plans to crush its EV1 electric vehicles located in the facility's parking lot.

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GM loaded the EV1s onto semi trucks, hauled them to Mesa, Ariz., and crushed them. Photos showed flattened EV1s stacked on top of each other. GM said the cars were destroyed because a lack of replacement parts made the EV1 unsafe.

"There are 2,000 unique parts to this vehicle," Barthmuss said. "Some of them are computer control modules that control the braking on the vehicle. If that part fails, there are some serious safety concerns."

The EV1 was ahead of its time

Twenty-five years after EV1 production ended, every major automaker is building EVs — including GM. In October the company said it's on track to build about 200,000 EVs this year. GM set a goal to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

As for the EV1, some of the little cars escaped the crusher. In 2010, former EV1 driver Kris Trexler visited the very car he once plugged in to charge each night. It was in a new home: the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles — one of only 40 EV1s still intact, according to the museum.

"Wow, this brings back some serious memories," Trexler said. "This is just amazing to see this car again."

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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.