Hey, good morning. It's Patricia Murphy. It's Wednesday. This is Seattle now. The weather is magnificent, and the cherry blossoms are in peak bloom on the University of Washington campus. In a minute, we'll hear the surprising history of these trees. But first, let's get you caught up.

Parents of Garfield High School students are holding a protest outside the school this afternoon in response to increased gun violence in the Central District. A week ago, a junior

at Garfield was shot waiting at a nearby bus stop after school.

The call to action follows a community safety forum earlier in the week.

Four than 300 small nonprofits will get a slice of $640 million donated by McKenzie Scott's

nonprofit yield giving, including Seattle's Northwest Education Access.

Nationally, more than a thousand nonprofits applied to receive the money,

Scott has given away $16.5 billion after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

And if you're enjoying the new expanded Seattle now, a quick request.

It's KUW Spring Pledge Drive, and we're trying to raise

a million dollars in just one day. I know we can do this, and honestly, here's the deal. Your

support is the reason we can make this show. So click the link in the show notes to support Seattle

now and tune in tomorrow for a special episode. That's it for now.

Make sure to come back tonight for evening headlines with Paige Browning.

It's the first week of spring. We've made it through another dark winter. And one sure sign we've

turned a corner, the site of dazzling pink cherry blossoms

lining the University of Washington Quad. The annual bloom draws thousands of visitors, and

peak bloom is not to be missed. When you're under it, you almost feel like you're glowing pink

underneath. And if you can see from above, it's just like a cloud of pink

pillows everywhere. That's Sarah Shores, who knows a lot about these trees. She's the campus

arborist at University of Washington. I think the favorite part about these trees is the culture

that they've created. So the Japanese culture of Hinami, which translates as flower viewing, we've adopted that

...