Free Republic

A man found floating in the Tidal Basin early Thursday was a tourist from the Chicago area who disappeared near the same spot on Easter Sunday, officials said. Sarath Kumar Potharaju, 35, of Grayslake, Ill., went missing the afternoon of March 31 during a tour that stopped at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. D.C. police said that it was unclear how he ended up in the water but that there were no signs of trauma. “It’s still a mystery,” said Vijay Kolluru, an uncle who came to the District on Thursday. “We are still wondering how he ended up there,”...

The 3,750 cherry blossom trees that line the Tidal Basin and surrounding national parks in Washington, D.C., survived winter blizzards and will again bloom during the peak tourist season, according to the National Park Service. Agency horticulturalist Rob Defeo says only four or five trees were destroyed and that crews are working seven days a week to prepare for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs from March 27 to April 11. The damage is nothing we haven't seen in 90-plus years," he said. "I guarantee you, by the time the festival comes around, you won't even know there was...