Washington

Photos of Stumpy: Remembering the beloved, tenacious cherry tree

Published

2 years ago

May 30, 2024

Photos of Stumpy: Remembering the beloved, tenacious cherry tree

Stumpy, a hollow, misshapen cherry tree located on the south bank of the Tidal Basin in Washington, was cut down last Friday alongside dozens of other trees for a sea-wall-rebuilding effort led by the National Park Service.

Thousands admired the stump-shaped tree for its resilience as it faced daily flooding from the Potomac River and occasional assaults by beavers. And despite Stumpy’s constant struggle to survive, it produced beautiful blossoms year after year, attracting crowds to see the tenacious tree.

But Stumpy finally succumbed to a chain saw, and it will soon be mulched and spread across areas of the National Mall.

Stumpy reached celebrity status this spring when it appeared on CBS News’s “Sunday Morning” and “The Drew Barrymore Show.” In addition, Stumpy was visited by a delegation from the Embassy of Japan, two of the Washington Nationals’ Racing Presidents, and the assistant principal trumpet for the National Symphony Orchestra.

Stumpy was a crowd favorite at the Tidal Basin. A line or huddle would often form near the tree as people took turns taking photographs and selfies. The wait could take five to 10 minutes.

Fans of Stumpy desperately tried to save the tree and called for it to be replanted somewhere else, but the Park Service held firm with plans to remove it. “Stumpy would not survive the move,” Matthew Morrison, an arborist for the Park Service, said in an email.

Stumpy’s age was estimated to be 25 by the Park Service. A photo from 14 years ago shows Stumpy was a larger and healthier tree located in a row of large cherry trees along the south bank of the Tidal Basin. But flooding killed many of the trees and distressed others like Stumpy.

After the new sea wall is built, the Park Service will plant 455 trees, including 274 cherry trees. Clones of Stumpy created at the National Arboretum will also be planted.

Stumpy will be remembered as a survivor. It was the little tree that could, the underdog tree, and the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Stumpy will be a hard act to follow for future trees planted at the Tidal Basin.

Did you get a chance to visit Stumpy this spring during peak bloom, or past years? Please share any thoughts or memories.

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Washington

The Next Sphere Is Coming To Washington D.C.

Published

1 hour ago

January 19, 2026

Press Room

The Next Sphere Is Coming To Washington D.C.

America is going to get a second Sphere, and it’s coming to the Washington D.C. metro area.

Sphere Entertainment, the company behind the Las Vegas landmark, says that it has inked a deal with the state of Maryland, Prince George’s County, and Peterson Companies to develop and build a second Sphere venue at National Harbor, a major tourism destination in the area.

Notably, Sphere says the plan is to create what it is calling its first “smaller-scale” design, with plans for a 6,000 seat venue, compared to the 18,600 seats at the Las Vegas Sphere. The project will be financed with public and private funding, including approximately $200 million in state, local, and private incentives.

While it will be smaller than the original Sphere in Las Vegas, the company says it will still have the distinct “Exosphere” that defines the exterior of the original, while the interior theater will have what it says will be “the world’s highest-resolution LED screen.”

A rendering released by the company showed the Sphere close to the Potomac near the existing MGM Grand.

“Our focus has always been on creating a global network of Spheres across forward-looking cities,” said James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment. “Sphere is a new experiential medium. With a commitment to bringing innovative opportunities to residents and visitors, Governor Moore, County Executive Braveboy, the State of Maryland, and Prince George’s County recognize the potential for a Sphere at National Harbor to elevate and advance immersive experiences across the area.”

“Maryland has a long history of providing world-class entertainment and we could not be more excited to work with Sphere Entertainment to bring this cutting-edge project to life,” added Governor Wes Moore. “This will be one of the largest economic development projects in Prince George’s County history – proving once again our state is the best place in the country to bring dreams to life. We’re excited for what this means for our people, and how it will showcase the best of what Maryland has to offer to everyone who visits.”

Sphere has become a major tourist attraction in Las Vegas, a city with no shortage of them. While the venue is best known for its concerts and residencies, it also has daily programming, most notably a remastered version of The Wizard of Oz, and the original documentary film Postcard From Earth. It’s safe to assume that the Maryland Sphere will follow the same strategy, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

National Harbor is home to The Capital Wheel, a giant ferris wheel with views of D.C., as well as an MGM Grand casino and other tourist attractions.

The National Harbor Sphere is the third planned version of the venue, after the Las Vegas original and another under construction in Abu Dhabi.

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Washington

History not lost on Tom Izzo during Michigan State visit to Washington

Published

13 hours ago

January 18, 2026

Press Room

History not lost on Tom Izzo during Michigan State visit to Washington

Seattle — Tom Izzo and his Michigan State team were on hallowed ground for practice in the lead-up to Saturday’s 80-63 win at Washington. Ancestral ground, even, and not just for the six indigenous tribes whose land the university was built on.

Izzo and his team got to practice on a court dedicated to Marv Harshman, who in a way is Izzo’s coaching tree grandfather.

Harshman was a longtime coach at Washington State from 1958 to 1971, where from 1964 on he mentored a young assistant named Jud Heathcote. Heathcote then went to Montana and then Michigan State, where he coached the Magic Johnson-led 1979 national championship team and was a two-time Big Ten coach of the year. He also mentored another young assistant named Tom Izzo, who worked for him from 1983 until he handed him the reins to his team in 1995.

All these years later, Izzo — a national champion whose long list of accolades include the Big Ten’s all-time wins record with 366 and counting — still shares frequent memories of his mentor Heathcote. That was fresh on his mind this weekend.

“There’s a lot of good things about here, mostly because of Jud and all the stories he told me about Washington,” Izzo said.

Back in East Lansing, Heathcote used to bring a retired Harshman into practices in the fall. He’d send Izzo into a classroom to learn from the source of his own coaching lessons.

“Jud would tell me, ‘Go talk to Marv. You’ll learn more basketball in an afternoon,’” Izzo said. “And I’d go in that room, and Marv would take the chalkboard and it was covered with stuff. And then Jud came in and he said, ‘Did you screw up my assistant?’ And I loved Marv Harshman. I absolutely loved him. I thought he was a brilliant mind at 80-something.”

Harshman died in 2013, but before then he got to see the Washington practice court dedicated in his honor in 2008. After Washington State let him walk in 1971, Harshman went across the state to Seattle and coached the Huskies from then until his retirement in 1985, when he was immediately inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Heathcote died in 2017 at the age of 90.

Izzo said he brought Harshman’s son, Dave, in to speak with his team Friday after practice.

“I’ll always have a soft spot for the Harshman family,” Izzo said, “… and a lot of that’s because of Jud.”

In the MSU-Washington series, the Spartans notched their first win in Seattle on Saturday. The last time they met at Washington was Dec. 30, 1957. The Huskies won that one, 71-69.

The Spartans are 6-2 against Washington all-time, though none of those games pitted the Spartans against Harshman’s squads.

cearegood@detroitnews.com

@ConnorEaregood

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Washington

Pentagon readies 1,500 troops to possibly deploy to Minnesota, US media say

Published

1 day ago

January 18, 2026

Press Room

Pentagon readies 1,500 troops to possibly deploy to Minnesota, US media say

Jan 18 (Reuters) – The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government’s deportation drive, U.S. media reported on Sunday.

The army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the northern state escalates, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed defense officials, adding that it is not clear whether any of them will be sent.

The White House told the Post in a statement that it is typical for the Pentagon “to be prepared for any decision the President may or may not make.” The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to use the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces if officials in the state do not stop protesters from targeting immigration officials after a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

THREAT OF TROOPS FOLLOWS SURGE OF IMMIGRATION AGENTS

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The soldiers subject to deployment specialize in cold-weather operations and are assigned to two U.S. Army infantry battalions under the 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska, the Post and ABC News reported.

Confrontations between residents and federal officers have become increasingly tense in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s most-populous city, after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, on January 7 as she was driving away after being ordered to exit her car.

Trump, a Republican, has sent nearly 3,000 federal agents from ICE and Border Patrol to Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul since early last week, as part of a wave of interventions, mostly to cities run by Democratic politicians.

He has said troop deployments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Memphis and Portland, Oregon, are necessary to fight crime and protect federal property and personnel from protesters. But this month he said he was removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, which have faced legal setbacks and challenges.

Local leaders have accused the president of federal overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of violence to justify sending in troops.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, against whom the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation, has mobilized the state’s National Guard, opens new tab to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, the state Department of Public Safety posted on X on Saturday.

Trump has repeatedly invoked a scandal around the theft of federal funds intended for social-welfare programs in Minnesota as a rationale for sending immigration agents in. The president and administration officials have repeatedly singled out the state’s community of Somali immigrants.

The Insurrection Act is a federal law that gives the president the power to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops inside the U.S. to quell domestic uprisings.

The law can be invoked when there are “unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages or rebellion” against federal authority. If the president deems those conditions have been met, he may use the armed forces to take actions “to enforce those laws or suppress the rebellion.

Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue and William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

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