
See pictures of cherry blossom trees near peak bloom in Washington, D.C.
CBSN
Cherry blossom season has arrived in Washington, D.C., where pink and white flowers dot thousands of trees around the city as this year's peak bloom approaches. To celebrate the iconic springtime sight, locals and tourists alike can participate in the National Cherry Blossom Festival, an annual event series that runs for four weeks and features a mix of art, music, food and more.
Originally a gift from Japan to the United States, the capital's cherry blossoms appear along Tidal Basin and in parks near several of its monuments and memorials.
Images show buds unfurling on cherry trees around Tidal Basin, where flowering branches create some dazzling views in the foreground of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. These pictures were taken Friday, March 21, and peak bloom had not even arrived yet.

An encrypted messaging app called Signal is drawing attention and questions after top Trump officials — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance — allegedly used the service to discuss a highly sensitive military operation while inadvertently including The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in the chat.

President Trump's Ukraine and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, when he was included in a group chat with more than a dozen other top administration officials — and inadvertently, one journalist — on the messaging app Signal, a CBS News analysis of open-source flight information and Russian media reporting has revealed.

President Trump's nominee to run the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, will face a Senate hearing on Tuesday morning about his qualifications to run the massive retirement system, as well as his plans for the agency at a time when it has been targeted for significant job cuts by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

West Virginia has outlawed foods that contain some artificial dyes or other additives, in one of the most comprehensive statewide bans of its kind. The move cites potentially harmful health effects and comes amid a broader push from scientists and government leaders to clamp down on synthetics in the nation's food supply.