From Gift to Global Symbol: How Washington got its cherry blossoms | March 24, 2026

0:11 Hello and welcome to CNN 10.

0:13 I'm Coy Wire here with your daily 10

0:14 minutes of news for you this Tuesday, March 24th.

0:17 We will start with a motivational reminder.

0:19 You never truly appreciate what you have until it's gone.

0:23 A good example is toilet paper.

0:24 Thank you for making me and my team a part of your day.

0:27 Now, let's get you your news.

0:29 On this day in 1989, an oil supertanker called the Exxon Valdez

0:34 crashed into Bligh Reef off Alaska's southern coast,

0:37 spurring one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.

0:40 More than 11 million gallons of crude oil eventually

0:43 spilled into the surrounding waters of the Prince William Sound,

0:47 wreaking havoc on the ecosystem.

0:49 The spill quickly spread into the Gulf of Alaska,

0:52 polluting thousands of square miles of ocean,

0:54 damaging more than 1,300 miles of coastline.

0:57 Local communities that depended on fishing

1:00 and tourism to survive were heavily devastated.

1:03 My husband's a fisherman and has been since he got out

1:05 of high school and our livelihood has just gone down the tubes.

1:08 If we don't produce, if we can't fish,

1:11 if we can't deal with our livelihood, then this town will die.

1:15 I think it brings most of us to tears

1:17 of because of what happened to such an incredible environment.

1:21 But the spill's biggest impact,

1:23 damage to the pristine region's abundant wildlife, was catastrophic.

1:27 What we have in Prince William Sound is obviously very severe damage.

1:33 Very severe environmental damage both to the beach

1:37 areas uh and to uh the wildlife.

1:42 The barnacles are dead, the muscles are dead,

1:44 the the kelp is dead, the beach is covered with with tar.

1:48 Studies estimate the spill killed around 250,000 seabirds,

1:52 4,000 sea otters, 22 orcas, and billions of fish eggs.

1:57 Some species in the area have yet to recover.

2:00 Initial cleanup efforts involved thousands of workers and lasted 4 years.

2:04 To this day though, oil still remains in parts of the region.

2:08 Investigators determined the crash was caused

2:10 by a combination of crew error and equipment failure.

2:13 The incident led to a number of reforms.

2:16 Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990,

2:19 protecting the sound from certain tankers and standardizing

2:22 requirements like reinforced hulls to help prevent future spills.

2:27 NASA is one step closer to sending humans back around the moon.

2:31 The Artemis 2 rocket has officially rolled out to the launch pad in Florida.

2:35 The move began this past Friday at Cape Canaveral as the rocket

2:39 slowly made its way out of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

2:42 According to NASA, the rocket's 4-mile journey to the launch

2:45 pad took more than 10 hours on a crawler transporter.

2:50 One slow step for a rocket, one giant leap towards deep space exploration.

2:54 If all goes as planned, lift off could come as soon as April 1st.

2:59 No April fools here, just a mission decades in the making.

3:03 Now to an incredible advancement in the world of emergency medicine,

3:06 a futuristic foam that gets injected into the body,

3:09 potentially saving the life of someone bleeding internally.

3:13 It's known as rescue foam and it expands inside the body

3:17 to help stop potentially fatal internal bleeding while surgeons go to work.

3:22 Our Jaclyn Howard got the chance to see how the innovation

3:25 works and talked to the first person ever to receive the treatment.

3:30 All right, Dr.

3:30 Hooley, let's take a look.

3:32 [music] This is how it would look in the human body.

3:34 You might think this is just a cool science project,

3:37 [music] but it may actually be able to save your life.

3:41 Wow.

3:42 Oh my goodness.

3:44 [music] It could be a game changer.

3:45 It's called rescue foam and the material works

3:48 a lot like a human version of Fix-a-Flat.

3:51 [music] Doctors inject it into the abdomen, it quickly expands,

3:55 and it creates pressure from inside the body to slow life-threatening bleeding.

4:00 It saved my life.

4:01 It really did.

4:02 We've been given an exclusive interview with Ronald Farms.

4:06 [music]

4:05 He's the very first person in the world

4:07 to be treated with this futuristic material.

4:10 [music] By all science, I shouldn't be here.

4:13 By all medical personnel, I should not be here.

4:15 That's what every one of them have told me.

4:18 It was a miracle.

4:19 How does it feel to be back here now, walking, recovering?

4:24 Very sobering.

4:24 [music] Dr.

4:25 Hooley and them had told my family even if I made it through the surgeries,

4:31 I would never walk again.

4:33 Lo and behold, here I am walking thanks to the good Lord.

4:36 It was last year when Farms was seriously injured in a car crash in Alabama.

4:41 He was 34 years old and he had just moments to live.

4:44 And I said, "Lord, forgive me for failing you." Cuz I knew I

4:48 had a destiny here on this earth and I thought this was it.

4:51 When Farms arrived at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital,

4:55 doctors immediately knew he could be a candidate for rescue foam.

4:59 [music] The foam has to be extracted through the same

5:02 type of surgery we would use to treat intra-abdominal bleeding.

5:06 So, we only want to use it in someone we know is going to go to surgery.

5:10 The foam gives doctors just enough time to prep for surgery and it's during

5:14 that surgery when the foam is then taken out after it's already done its job.

5:19 There's always adrenaline in trauma,

5:20 but it's rare that we encounter something that has

5:23 never been done before or that we've never done before.

5:26 Rescue foam was developed by Arsenal Medical

5:28 and some experts do worry about potential side effects.

5:32 Some experts worry self-expanding foam could risk causing

5:35 bowel injury or unintended pressure on the chest.

5:39 But Dr.

5:40 Hooley, he says he is confident the benefits outweigh the risks.

5:45 The side effects that we see from rescue

5:47 foam usage are manageable compared to intra-abdominal hemorrhage,

5:52 which is oftentimes fatal.

5:54 I just thank the Lord that he gave the knowledge,

5:57 the gifts, the talents to these people.

5:59 How you doing?

6:00 It helped save my life.

6:01 Good to see you, too.

6:02 You look great, man.

6:05 [snorts] 10-second trivia.

6:07 What part of the flower produces pollen?

6:09 Petal, stem, anther, or root?

6:19 If you said anther, you are in full bloom.

6:22 Like a tiny pollen factory, an anther can release thousands,

6:26 sometimes millions of pollen grains from a single flower.

6:30 One of the most iconic indicators that spring has sprung in the United States,

6:34 the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.

6:37 And as the trees begin to show early signs of blooming,

6:40 the symbolism behind the natural landmark is also on full display.

6:44 The original blossoms were a gift from Japan.

6:47 In 1912, 3,020 cherry trees were planted around the Tidal Basin,

6:53 East Potomac Park, and the Potomac River waterfront.

6:56 They were a gift from Tokyo's mayor at the time and were welcomed

7:00 in an elaborate friendship ceremony with President

7:02 William Taft and First Lady Helen.

7:05 Ever since the blooms have become an iconic

7:07 backdrop for US presidents and diplomatic visits.

7:10 An estimated 1.6 million people visit the nation's

7:14 capital each spring just to see them up close.

7:17 Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced

7:21 that Japan will present the US with an additional 250

7:25 cherry trees soon to coincide with the 250th anniversary

7:29 of the founding of the United States this summer.

7:32 At the Whipsnade Zoo in England, some tiny feet are already making big moves.

7:38 At the UK's largest zoo,

7:39 3-month-old southern white rhino calf Mick is taking his very

7:43 first steps outdoors before quickly picking up the pace.

7:47 And once he gets going, there is no slowing down.

7:50 Not far behind, reticulated giraffe siblings Leoni

7:54 and Duke are also stretching their legs.

7:56 Wobbling at the start,

7:58 then finding their footing as they explore their outdoor home.

8:01 With only about 10,000 southern white rhinos

8:04 and 11,000 reticulated giraffes left in the wild,

8:07 these little steps are part of a much

8:09 bigger journey helping protect the future of their species.

8:13 Now to the Great Lakes for a frigid rescue you will have to see to believe.

8:17 A snowmobiler near Michigan's Mackinac Island

8:20 found himself stuck on a shrinking patch

8:23 of floating ice in the middle of Lake Huron during a blizzard, nonetheless.

8:28 Windy, whiteout conditions prevented an aerial rescue,

8:31 so the Coast Guard diverted a nearby cutter crew to make the save.

8:35 The ship was able to reach the man just in time and safely

8:39 brought him aboard where he was treated for hypothermia symptoms and stabilized.

8:44 The crew was even able to hoist his snowmobile aboard

8:46 just as the patch of ice reduced to nearly nothing.

8:49 Talk about a great save.

8:57 Today's story getting a 10 out of 10,

8:58 a small business owner with a zest for doing good in his community.

9:02 What started as a gift for his high school

9:04 teachers has become big business for 24-year-old Max Crawford.

9:08 His signature spice blend, the Max Mix,

9:11 is now sold in more than 150 stores across the Midwest and he's got a following.

9:16 Max has Down syndrome.

9:18 He was autographing bottles at a Kansas City

9:21 grocer this weekend to mark World Down Syndrome Day.

9:24 He just wants what everyone else wants and he wanted

9:27 to have his own company and he wanted to be taken seriously.

9:30 $1 from every sale goes to a Kansas City organization

9:33 that helps adults with intellectual

9:35 or developmental disabilities live independently.

9:39 If you're not in the Midwest but love a good spice blend and a great cause,

9:42 yes, you can get the Max Mix online.

9:45 We see you, Max.

9:46 Thanks to everyone who have made us friends

9:48 on our socials and our CNN 10 YouTube channel.

9:51 We have a shout-out today going to Miss McLeish and Miss

9:54 Acevedo at Buffalo Grove High School in Buffalo Grove Illinois.

9:58 We love your school motto, be kind, be curious, be brave, be long, rise up.

10:03 And this shout-out goes to Mrs.

10:06 Hughes and friends at Random Lake Middle School in Random Lake, Wisconsin.

10:10 The treats you sent to my crew from your hometown were so delicious.

10:14 Submit those unique vocabulary words and definitions

10:17 to our latest post on Instagram @CNN10 @CoyWire.

10:21 We'll choose a winner to work into tomorrow's Your Word Wednesday.

10:25 Make it an awesome day, y'all.

10:26 See you later, alligators.

10:27 I'm Coy Wire, and we are CNN 10.