CBS Evening News S2026E72 - Episode 72

The Artemis II astronauts are making their final preparations before their historic journey to the moon comes to an end when they splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. Mark Strassmann has the latest. As Vice President JD Vance is on his way to Pakistan for direct peace talks with Iran, President Trump issued new threats and demands Friday as a fragile ceasefire continues to hold. Ed O'Keefe reports from Washington. Inflation rose by 3.3% in March compared to one year ago, the Labor Department reported Friday, the highest such increase since May 2024. That rise was driven by a 21% spike in gas prices in March from the previous month. Jo Ling Kent has details. Questions are still swirling about why first lady Melania Trump decided to make a surprise statement Thursday denying any ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Caitlin Huey-Burns has more on the reaction to the first lady's comments. The White House on Friday released new drawings of President Trump's proposed triumphal arch that will be located near Arlington National Cemetery. According to the drawings, the arch would stand 250 feet high, more than twice the height of the nearby Lincoln Memorial. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been drawn into the case of a woman who was killed in a hammer attack last week at a gas station in Fort Myers, Florida, after a Haitian immigrant was taken into custody on homicide charges in connection with the attack. Nicole Valdes has the latest. A new recording has emerged in the case of Lynette Hooker, a U.S. woman who went missing last weekend while on a boat ride with her husband in the Bahamas. Hooker's husband has been detained in connection with her disappearance, but he has not yet been criminally charged. Cristian Benavides explains. George Strausman of Great Neck, New York, is 102 years old and still works four days a week in his family's construction business. But it's what he does on his day off that is even more remarkable. Steve Hartman has his story in "On the Road."