The pink Mariage tulip arrived at a house in Northwest Washington just before 12:30 p.m. It was nestled in a white vase alongside 29 other tulips, smelling of honey and citrus.
The bell rang.
A woman answered.
Valentine’s Day was almost here.
Washington, D.C
In D.C., some Valentine’s Day tulips come from an Alexandria basement
She and her husband, Daniel, named their business Port City Flowers, and they dreamed of one day buying a farm and growing fields of blooms.
So Katie and Daniel cleared the basement for growing. They bought two dehumidifiers and four fans to keep the room at about 70 degrees and 55 percent humidity; sank about $2,000 into refashioning a separate room into a “cooler” to store bulbs and cut flowers; and hung LED lights near extra bottles of champagne and spare tools. Near a map reading “Adventure awaits,” they installed two tables lined with hydroponic trays. On them, they planted roughly 2,000 bulbs.
Every morning and every evening, they walked downstairs and studied the trays. They checked to see which flowers were ready to harvest and which were showing signs of cell damage — their stems shaped like the beginning of a frown.
Five days before Valentine’s Day, the dark basement was bursting with color. The Pamplona tulips glowed red, the Dream Touch a deep purple, and the Mariage were just starting to open their petals, revealing layers of gentle blush pink. Katie felt like she and her husband had brought spring to Alexandria two months early.
She plucked 140 tulips, including the Mariage, and placed them in white and blue buckets. Then she hauled them to the cooler.
Two days before Valentine’s Day, Katie picked up the buckets, loaded them into her car and drove to a green storefront just outside Adams Morgan.
Amber Flack, the owner of Little Acre Flowers, grabbed the buckets and took them into her shop. Inside was a Valentine’s Day assembly line: Scissors gnawed at stems, razors sliced wrapping paper, and water slapped against dozens of empty vases.
It was Flack’s first Valentine’s Day as the owner of Little Acres, a flower shop that only sells locally grown blooms. The business runs in part on customers seeing value in locally planted flowers, which can last longer and are better for the planet. Roses, among the most popular cut flowers in the world, rarely grow in the D.C. during wintertime — unlike tulips.
Flack took the tulips from Burke and placed them in a fridge, sliding the door shut. Flowers were arriving from across the region: White forsythias, which smelled like nectar. Ornamental kale. Snapdragons. Then she went back to the fridge, grabbed the bucket of tulips that included the Mariage, and tucked them one by one into a white vase — balancing the shades of pink and peeling off leaves to find the right amount of green to complement the pink rather than overshadow it.
About 11:30 a.m., a man wandered in. He asked if he could buy a bouquet. The tulips outside had reminded him that Valentine’s Day was only two days away, and he had yet to plan anything for his wife. Flack told him that the store only took online orders. He rushed home to put one in.
Just before noon, Todd Geiwitz, who owns a local delivery company, picked up the bouquet with the Mariage tulip and loaded it into the back of his van. It was one of 60 deliveries on Monday, and about 400 through Valentine’s Day.
Geiwitz drove through tree-lined streets in upper Northwest Washington, past joggers and goldendoodles on long leashes. Then he arrived at his first job of the day. He opened the back door of his truck, and the smell of honey and citrus filled the damp February air.
He walked up the front steps to a bright blue door and rang the bell. Lauren Laitin answered. She saw the Mariage tulip glowing among the other flowers, its petals now mostly unfurled.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “This is so awesome.”
This year’s Fourth of July celebrations in Washington, D.C. — marking the nation’s 250th birthday — will include hours of military flyovers and a massive fireworks display that could stretch late into the night, with some of the tightest security in decades, officials said Monday.
This Fourth will include “the largest display of fireworks our city has ever seen,” D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Interim Chief Jeff Carroll said at a news conference. Usually the fireworks begin at around 9 p.m., but this year, they are expected to begin at 11 p.m. and are “going to be longer than in previous years, we are told,” Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.
President Trump has said he plans to speak at 9 p.m., ahead of the fireworks. Starting at 1:15 p.m., hundreds of planes will participate in a “Fourth of July Airshow,” the president said. The National Mall also is hosting a daily event called the Great American State Fair that will run until July 10, and some local neighborhoods are hosting parades and other events on the Fourth.
The main festivities have been deemed a National Special Security Event, a designation used for massive events like Super Bowls and presidential inaugurations. Security measures will be more extensive than for any Fourth of July event in D.C. since shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Carroll said, with more blocking vehicles, more fencing, concrete barriers and other security measures that aren’t employed for a typical Fourth of July celebration.
The FBI isn’t tracking any credible threats to the Fourth of July, but “we always remain vigilant,” said Darren Cox, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office.
Those planning to view the fireworks show from the Washington Monument grounds should expect “TSA-style” security, with magnetometers screening guests, according to Tara McLeese, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Washington field office.
Guests can arrive as early as 1 p.m., and should enter on the east side of the Washington Monument at Constitution Avenue and 14th St. NW, or at Independence Avenue and 14th Street SW, McLeese said.
McLeese said each guest in the restricted area is allowed only one clear bag no larger than a gallon, or a small clutch purse. There will be no storage for prohibited items.
The capacity of the primary viewing area at the Washington Monument is set at about 150,000, according to Secret Service Special Agent in Charge David Yamen, who runs the agency’s dignitary protective division. It is expected to hit capacity.
Attendees of the Great American State Fair at the National Mall are encouraged to remain there to watch the fireworks show, rather than attempting to enter the primary viewing zone on the Washington Monument grounds, said Scott Brecht, chief of the U.S. Park Police. Leaving one zone and moving to another will require additional security screenings, and reentry may not be possible.
To get to the National Mall on the Fourth, public transit use is encouraged. The D.C. Metro will be free after 5 p.m., Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager Randy Clarke said, “to really make sure people can not only enjoy the festivities all over the region as a community, but also make sure from a safety point of view we can get people going through.”
“If you’re going downtown for the fireworks, plan ahead, be ready for an increased security presence, crowds, and road closures,” D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Director Clint Osborn said. “I would say that if you’re going downtown and you’ve done this before, don’t assume you know what it’s going to look like.”
Join CBS for “The Great American Block Party 250,” a primetime special on Saturday, July 4, hosted by CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil and Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner, featuring live musical performances, celebrations around the country, and the largest fireworks show in history in the skies over the nation’s capital. Tune in July 4 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream it on Paramount+ and CBS News 24/7.
Washington, D.C
DC will pay $50,000 to man detained while protesting guard patrol with ‘Star Wars’ song, record says
WASHINGTON (AP) — The District of Columbia has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a resident who accused police officers of illegally detaining him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader’s theme song from “Star Wars” on his cellphone, according to a document released Monday.
The plaintiff, Sam O’Hara, sued the district, four Metropolitan Police Department officers and a guard member from Ohio over what he says was his act of protest against President Donald Trump’s federal law enforcement surge in Washington, D.C.
A court filing on Thursday disclosed the settlement but didn’t specify any monetary terms. The amount is included in a copy of the settlement agreement that D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb’s office provided to The Associated Press.
The $50,000 settlement includes attorney’s fees and costs. O’Hara is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia. In an email on Friday, an ACLU spokesperson referred to the settlement’s financial terms as “a significant amount” that O’Hara “is pleased with” but said they weren’t disclosing the dollar figure to protect his privacy.
O’Hara, an artist who works in the hospitality industry, agreed to drop his claims against the district and the MPD officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The settlement isn’t an admission of wrongdoing by the district, the agreement says.
O’Hara’s settlement with the district doesn’t resolve his related claims against an Ohio National Guard member, Sgt. Devon Beck, who has asked a judge to dismiss O’Hara’s claims against him.
O’Hara sued the district in October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.
O’Hara played “The Imperial March” theme from “Star Wars” on his phone as he followed several National Guard troops down a public street on Sept. 11, 2025. One of the troops summoned police officers, who stopped O’Hara and kept him handcuffed for 15 to 20 minutes before releasing him without charges, according to the lawsuit.
Trump’s ongoing deployment of guard members in Washington began last August after the Republican president issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital. The surge inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district. Hundreds of guard members remain deployed in the district nearly a year later, with no clear end in sight.
US President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of Democratic mayoral nominee Janeese Lewis George, describing her as a “communist” and warning that her policy agenda could negatively affect Washington, DC, ahead of the city’s November mayoral election. Trump made the remarks on his Truth Social platform, placing crime, immigration and policing at the center of his criticism.Trump attacks Democratic agenda
In his statement, Trump claimed George supports measures including reducing prison populations, expanding sanctuary city policies, opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), restoring cashless bail, cutting police funding and resisting anti-crime initiatives. He argued that such proposals would weaken public safety in the US capital and reverse recent improvements.
George becomes favorite after primary victory
Janeese Lewis George secured the Democratic nomination earlier this month after winning the party’s mayoral primary in Washington, DC. Given the city’s strong Democratic voting base, her victory has positioned her as the leading candidate to succeed outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser in the November general election.
Trump vows to protect Washington
Trump insisted that his administration would not allow Washington, DC, to be “destroyed,” arguing that the city has become significantly safer through crime reduction efforts and urban renewal projects. He also announced that he intends to meet with George, while describing the US capital as “again a Safe and Prestigious Community.”
Repeating his criticism, Trump said: “Many people, including myself, have worked long and hard to get it there, and we will not let it be destroyed by a Communist adherent who has no intention to, MAKE WASHINGTON GREAT AGAIN!”
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