Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Volunteers place crosses on the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol on April 11. Activists were holding a 24-hour vigil featuring a gathering of Newtown clergy and 3,300 grave markers to "remind Congress action is needed on gun violence prevention." The number 3,300 represents the supposed number of people who have died as a result of gun violence since the tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
The Washington Monument is reflected as a couple walk hand-in-hand beneath cherry trees along the Tidal Basin in Washington on April 8, 2013. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is in full swing, with peak bloom occurring early this week.
earthcam.com
From the National Cherry Blossom Festival website:
The beautiful and delicate cherry blossoms cultivated in the National Mall and Memorial Parks have inspired generations of viewers since 1912. A gift from Japan, the flowering trees symbolize friendship between nations, the renewal of spring, and the ephemeral nature of life.
Click to view live video from EarthCam’s Cherry Blossoms Cam
Allen Pleus / Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP
A striped beakfish swims in a water-filled well or bait box, March 22, aboard a 20-foot-long Japanese boat that washed ashore recently at Long Beach, Wash. Biologists say five of the fish, plus other Japanese species of sea creatures, arrived alive, apparently hitching a ride across the Pacific Ocean on debris believed to have come from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami.
Read more from KING 5: Fish found in tsunami debris on display at Seaside Aquarium
Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images
Same-sex marriage supporters demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court on March 27, in Washington, D.C.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
A demonstrator holds a Bible while marching outside the Supreme Court in Washington, on March 26, as the court heard arguments on California's voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8.
Pete Marovich / Zuma Press
Pro same-sex marriage activist Ryan Toney, 18, of Washington, D.C. stands in front of the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.
Nicholas Kamm / AFP - Getty Images
Opponents of same-sex marriage participate in the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. on March 26.
Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
Same-sex marriage supporters and same-sex marriage opponents argue their points in front of the US Supreme Court on March 26, in Washington, D.C.
Demonstrators for and against same-sex marriage rallied outside the U.S. Supreme Court with signs on Tuesday and Wednesday, as the court heard cases on California's Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.
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Tacoma News Tribune / Getty Images Contributor
Dr. Edmund Kwan performs a root canal as Dr. Tom Sullivan removed a growth from the eye lid of Boris, a Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium Polar bear on Feb. 23 at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal health care hospital in Tacoma, Wash.
Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune
Head veterinarian, Dr. Karen Wolf, clips the massive claws of Boris the Polar bear during a physical at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash.
Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune
Carson Reed, 6, hugs his stuffed polar bear, Poley, after a physical for Boris the real Polar Bear is performed by his dad, Dr. Jim Reed, and other team members.
Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune
A pair of gloved hands are dwarfed by the furry paws of Boris the Polar Bear at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal health care hospital in Tacoma, Wash.
A sleeping giant, Boris the Polar bear underwent a full physical Saturday, at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal hospital in Tacoma, Wash., as a team of veterinarians, technicians and staff also performed a root canal and some minor eye surgery on the 27-year-old polar bear. Continue reading 'Root canal, eye work for Point Defiance polar bear' on The News Tribune.
Editor's note: Images shot by Tacoma News Tribune's Dean J. Koepfler on Feb. 23, but made available to NBC News today.
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Win McNamee / Getty Images
Protesters disrupt the start of a confirmation hearing for John Brennan before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Feb. 7, 2013, in Washington, D.C.
Published at 6:05 p.m. ET
By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News: At his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, defended Obama’s policy of targeted killings of terrorists, saying that some Americans had a misimpression that “we take strikes to punish terrorists for past transgressions. Nothing could be further from the truth. We only take such action as a last resort to save lives when there’s no other alternative” to avert a threat to the nation.
Alluding to some raucous protesters who had interrupted and delayed the hearing earlier, Brennan said, “They really have a misunderstanding of what we do as a government, and the care that we take, and the agony that we go through” to ensure that innocent bystanders or civilians aren’t hit in targeted killings. “People are reacting to a lot of falsehoods that are out there.” Read the full story.
Gary Cameron / Reuters
John Kerry, the new U.S. Secretary of State, holds the diplomatic passport he was issued at eleven years old, while greeting employees of the State Department in Washington on Monday. Kerry's father, Richard, was a U.S. Foreign Service officer in Berlin after World War II.
The AP reports: As a 12-year-old in postwar Berlin of the 1950s, Kerry recounted how he could have caused a diplomatic incident by riding his bicycle around the destroyed and divided German capital, past the burnt out Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate and - using his first diplomatic passport - into the Soviet-controlled eastern part of the city.
"If the tabloids today knew I had done that, I can see the headlines that say, 'Kerry's Early Communist Connections!'" he joked, before describing more seriously how he explained to his irritated parents why he felt the need to cross the Iron Curtain. Full story
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Jordan Stead / Reuters
Brad Bambusch cocks back to hurtle a powdery projectile during an official attempt to break the Guinness world record for the largest snowball fight, in Seattle, Jan. 12.
SEATTLE -- Organizers trucked in 162,000 pounds of snow from mountain passes to Seattle Center and broke the record for most participants in a snowball fight – attracting 5,834 participant to supplant the mark set by the Republic of Korea with 5,387.
Jordan Stead / Reuters
A crowd throws snowballs at each other during Guinness World Records breaking world's largest snowball fight in Seattle, Jan. 12.
Jordan Stead / Reuters
Groups of attendees took to their recently built snow forts for cover.
AFP - Getty Images
Ice and snow changes our environment, as winter engulfs our world.
Organizers in Seattle trucked in over 160,000 pounds of snow and attracted 5,834 participants in order to claim the title for the largest snowball fight. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.
Michael Reynolds / EPA
Members of Congress applaud as Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois walks up the east steps of the Senate on Jan. 3 with assistance from Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia, left, and Vice President Joe Biden.
Michael Reynolds / EPA
Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, left, waves with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia as Kirk returns to the Senate. Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, right, look on.
By Tracy Connor, NBC News: In the year since he had a major stroke, Sen. Mark Kirk has taken his recovery one step at a time. On Thursday, the Illinois Republican took 45 more – climbing the stairs to the Senate’s front door while colleagues cheered him on. “Yeah, Mark!” the crowd shouted as Kirk, 53, mounted the steps, slowly and stiffly, with Vice President Biden grasping his right arm. Full Story
Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images
Vice President Joe Biden, right, and Sen. Joe Manchin help Sen. Mark Kirk to climb up the stairs upon his return to the Senate. A stroke devastated the left side of Kirk's body and left him so close to death he saw angels – with New York accents – at his hospital bed.
Video: Sen. Kirk welcomed back to Capitol with cheers
Previously on PhotoBlog:
Elaine Thompson / AP
A 14-foot Christmas tree appears to be crashing through the roof of a one-story house Thursday, Dec. 20 in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood. Homeowner Patrick Kruger created the illusion of the tree crashing through the roof by cutting a 14-foot tree into two pieces and attaching the top six-foot section to a piece of plywood that's bolted to the roof. According to MyNorthwest.com, Kruger, who is an architect, studied the physics of an object breaking through a roof then added sheathing and typical roof construction materials to create the effect.
Story: Wreck the halls? Christmas tree grows through the roof
Slideshow: Holiday season lights up
Susan Walsh / AP
Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the second-longest-serving senator in history, lies in state in the Capitol rotunda in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Vice President Joseph Biden, left, and Speaker of the House John Boehner put their hands over their hearts as the flag-draped casket of Sen. Inouye arrives at the Capitol rotunda.
The AP reports: Sen. Daniel Inouye, the second-longest serving senator in U.S. history, was remembered Thursday as a man who gallantly defended his country on the battlefield and gracefully sought to better it during the 50-plus years he represented his beloved state of Hawaii.
Colleagues and aides lined the Capitol rotunda five deep to say farewell. The rare ceremony demonstrated the respect and good will he generated over the years. Only 31 people have lain in the Capitol rotunda; the last was former President Gerald R. Ford nearly six years ago. The last senator who died in office and was accorded the honor was Democrat Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, in 1978. Full Story
Evan Vucci / AP
The casket of Sen. Inouye is carried into the Capitol.
Susan Walsh / AP
Sen. Daniel Inouye lies in state in the Capitol rotunda.
Joshua Roberts / Reuters
A flag flies at half staff at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Dec. 17. Friday's school shooting in Connecticut prompted a renewed effort by lawmakers to re-evaluate gun rights, as a top Democrat vowed Sunday to introduce new legislation on the first day of the new Congress next year. Read Story.
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