Good Tuesday morning.
This seems incongruous to write, given the distinctly un-springlike weather we’ve been having of late, but we are in peak cherry blossom season. The graceful trees with their delicate pink flowers are not only lovely and a significant sign of the season, but they are big business.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs from late March through early April annually in our nation’s capital, drew 1.6 million visitors last year alone, surpassing the estimated pre-pandemic peak of 1.5 million in 2019. Those cherry blossom tourists not only do a lot of tree gawking and photo taking, they also spend a lot of money – about $202 million in the District last year.
Even though the festival lasts for a few more days, (though April 13), peak bloom is already over, and if you check out the official “bloom cam” there’s nary a pink petal to be seen. It’s hard to predict when, exactly, the trees are going to peak, which, for the record, is defined as when 70 percent of the flowers on the trees are open.
This year’s peak came early – March 28, according to the National Park Service, (for the record, this particular federal website is still up and running, so get there while you still can).
If you’re still really hankering for an in-person bloom experience, you could perhaps book a trip to Hokkaido, Japan, where the trees bloom well into May, though much depends on the local weather. Japan is where the obsession for cherry blossoms was born, and there are thousands of trees and multiple festivals dedicated to them all across the island country.
Cherry blossoms, “sakura” as they’re known in Japan, are a symbol of renewal, beauty, and the fleeting nature of life. The cherry blossoms have actually evolved to be one of the country’s most iconic and well known natural symbols.
In keeping with their embodiment of the wabi-sabi philosophy (searching for beauty in imperfection and embracing the passage of time), the cherry blossoms are considered most beautiful when they have past their peak and are fluttering gently to the ground, giving the impression of a fluffy pink rain (or maybe, dare I say it, snow?)
Cherry blossom celebrations in Japan often include watching tree watching parties called “hanami”, which involve picnicking under the trees. The best picnic sites are highly sought after and often reserved hours – if not days – in advance.
You don’t have to fly to Japan or Washington, D.C., to enjoy cherry blossoms. There are a number of lesser known locations much closer to home to enjoy the blooming trees, including the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, which boasts 26 types of flowering cherry trees. It looks to me like the season in New York occurs a little later, and so you haven’t quite missed your bloom window yet.
There are other places across the nation where cherry trees can be found in abundance. Click here for more information on that.
I don’t really have anything good to say about the weather forecast – not for today or the rest of the week, to be honest. Today might be the worst of it, with temperatures struggling to rise into the mid-30s (you read that right), clouds all day long and gusty winds developing in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
The Supreme Court ruled last night that the Trump administration could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using a wartime powers act for now, overturning a lower court that had put a temporary stop to the deportations.
The decision marks a significant victory for the Trump administration, although the ruling did not address the constitutionality of using the Alien Enemies Act to send the migrants to a prison in El Salvador.
The justices instead issued a narrow procedural ruling, saying that the migrants’ lawyers had filed their lawsuit in the wrong court. The court also said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. yesterday temporarily blocked a trial judge’s order directing the United States to return a Salvadoran migrant it had inadvertently deported.
The order came just hours after the administration asked the court to block the trial judge’s order instructing the government to return the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, by 11:59 p.m.
The Trump administration is seeking to spend tens of billions of dollars to set up the machinery to expand immigrant detention on a scale never before seen in the United States, according to a request for proposals posted online by the administration last week.
Three children and their mother have been released from federal custody after being detained by immigration enforcement agents last month at an upstate New York dairy farm, officials said.
The release of the woman and her children — a third grader and two high school students — was announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and the local state assemblyman, Scott Gray, a Republican.
“I cannot imagine the trauma these kids and their mom are feeling, and I pray they will be able to heal when they return home,” Hochul said in a statement.
Trump has fired a top U.S. military officer at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, drawing ire from Democrat lawmakers.
Trump relieved Chatfield of duty without explanation. A combat veteran, helicopter pilot and the first female president of the Naval War College, she had been serving in the alliance role since December 2023.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will reconsider the health impacts of fluoride in drinking water — taking what could be an initial step toward new national limits or a ban on the substance.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kicked off a tour through the southwest by calling on states to ban fluoride in drinking water, which would reverse what some medical experts consider one of the most important public health practices in US history.
Stefanie Spear, Kennedy’s principal deputy chief of staff, said he would direct the C.D.C.’s community preventative services task force to study fluoride and make a new recommendation.
Growing opposition among hard-line House conservatives to the Senate’s framework for advancing Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda is threatening to make this week’s vote one of the heaviest lifts yet for Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson has reached an agreement with Republican holdouts that will effectively kill a bipartisan effort to change House rules so that lawmakers could temporarily vote remotely immediately after the birth of a child.
Johnson said that the House will provide Trump with “space” to carry out his massive global tariff regime, even as some GOP lawmakers openly plead with the president to negotiate off-ramps before the levies kick in tomorrow.
Trump’s chief trade negotiator, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, is in the congressional hot seat as he defends Trump’s controversial decision to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly every country in the world.
China lashed out at the United States today after Trump demanded that Beijing rescind its retaliatory tariffs or face an additional 50 percent U.S. levy, calling his threat “blackmail,” as tensions between the two major powers rose.
The Ministry of Commerce, without referring to the president by name, said that Beijing had noted that the US had threatened to impose a further 50 percent tariff on China. It said that Beijing would take countermeasures to safeguard its interests.
Peter Navarro, a senior White House trade adviser, defended the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed on foreign nations and indicated that other countries’ offers to drop their own tariffs on US products would be insufficient to convince the president to retreat.
Trump said that the United States would engage in “direct” negotiations with Iran next Saturday in a last-ditch effort to rein in the country’s nuclear program, saying Tehran would be “in great danger” if it failed to reach an accord.
Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith said he is “leaving all doors open” when it comes to a presidential bid.
“Time to stop messing around. Life is great. Especially at ESPN/Disney. Hate the thought of being a politician. But sick of this mess. So I’m officially leaving all doors open,” Smith said in a post on the social platform X.
Following outrage from advocates and members of Congress and widespread news coverage, the Trump administration has reportedly reinstated Dr. John Howard as head of a federal health program for 9/11 first responders days after he was fired.
U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a Republican whose 2nd district includes counties along the southern shore of Long Island, said in a news release that the Department of Health and Human Services reversed its decision in consultation with the White House.
A Data for Progress poll found Hochul leading a potential 2026 Democratic primary field for governor, receiving a majority of the vote (51%), while Rep. Ritchie Torres and LG Antonio Delgado each receive 11%, and around 1 in 4 voters (26%) are undecided.
Hochul wants to change how governors and lieutenant governors run in separate primaries — a move to guarantee she’ll have a political ally as her No. 2.
Two of New York City’s top prosecutors visited Albany yesterday to drum up support for Hochul’s plan to tweak criminal justice laws mandating how evidence is shared with a defendant before trial.
The Supreme Court declined to rule on the constitutionality of New York’s law requiring “good moral character” to carry a handgun; and Hochul is praising their choice.
Hochul and Democrats who control the Legislature still haven’t come to an agreement on a proposed $252 billion state budget and have pushed the deadline for a third time since it was due last week.
A grand jury in Oneida County is scheduled to begin hearing testimony today in the beating death of Messiah Nantwi, 22, who died after he was allegedly assaulted at Mid-State Correctional Facility by members of a Correctional Emergency Response Team.
The union representing thousands of state correction officers issued a searing statement saying that unsafe working conditions are persisting in New York prisons and their concerns have been “largely ignored” by the governor’s office and corrections department.
Three of New York City’s largest food pantries issued a letter to Hochul, calling on her to fully fund a trio of food assistance measures in the state budget.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is cutting $325 million in grants that was to go to New York State, much of it destined for essential flood mitigation efforts in New York City, according to Hochul’s office.
State regulators are investigating some of America’s biggest cannabis companies after receiving complaints that they have been selling marijuana to New York dispensaries that comes from unauthorized sources or is grown out of state.
Mayor Eric Adams’ decision last week to run as an independent rather than duke it out in a crowded Democratic primary may have revived his re-election effort — but his bid to secure another four years in City Hall still faces long odds.
Adams announced that the City had filed a federal lawsuit against nine of the largest nationwide distributors of disposable e-cigarettes, popularly known as “vapes” — the most popular devices for nicotine use among middle and high school youth.
Seven of the mayoral candidates – minus Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo – gathered yesterday for a public safety forum at Hunter College.
A rise in unprovoked attacks on subway riders since the COVID-19 pandemic has made concerns over public safety on mass transit a central — if not unavoidable — issue in New York City’s mayoral race.
Adrienne Adams, the New York City Council speaker who is running for mayor, proposed a guaranteed basic income program that would be the largest of its kind in the United States. It would aim to help more than 21,000 homeless children and young adults.
Speaker Adams called Rikers Island a “death camp” even as she admitted the troubled jail complex can’t shutter by 2027 — but still refused to say whether she’d amend the law mandating its closure.
In January, Harlem Councilman Yusef Salaam became the first New York politician to receive a campaign contribution from Mayor Adams, filings show. But weeks later, Salaam threw his political weight behind Speaker Adams’ bid to become the city’s next mayor.
Actor and former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon gave $5,000 to a super PAC boosting Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign.
The owner of Gristedes, John Catsimatidis, said he’d lend a supermarket to City Hall to test one liberal candidate’s “Soviet”-style plan for government-run grocery stores – if he’ll pay for shoplifting losses.
Errol Louis: “How do we make sure the leader of our city doesn’t need the threat of prosecutors and investigators to behave like a decent person?”
New York’s congestion pricing tolls aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. At the very least, the tolls will stay in place through early fall, according to a timeline the Metropolitan Transportation Authority submitted Friday to a federal judge.
State and federal officials agreed to a timeline in their court dispute over the tolling program that is likely to leave it in place until the fall. Other threats to the program still loom.
Thousands of working people in New York City now live in shelters, unable to afford apartments despite holding down jobs that pay them $50,000 or more.
Four Big Apple landlords slapped City Hall with a class-action suit that says their Fifth Amendment rights have been trampled on when scaffolding from neighboring building twists onto their property.
Property owners and tenants in New York City — with landlord approval — can now apply to install e-bike battery charging and swapping cabinets on sidewalks directly in front of their buildings, according to the city Department of Transportation.
Judges are reportedly finding a growing number of criminal defendants in New York City’s state courts mentally unfit to stand trial, meaning their charges must either be dropped or they must be held in hospitals, not in jail, according to city health data.
A 26-year-old man was arrested in Saratoga Springs this weekend after police allege he shot his roommate with a BB gun, killing him. The guns often are marketed as toys, but they’ve become more dangerous as weapons technology has evolved.
A lawyer for one of the men who killed Javon Ward, 30, last summer had to be removed from court after a political outburst at the dual sentencing that previously devolved into chaos when another man interrupted the victim’s mother as she spoke in court.
Florida won its third NCAA championship 65-63 by overcoming a 12-point second-half deficit against Houston and making one final defensive stand.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
