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Noah’s Ark, an interactive exhibit for kids at the Skirball Cultural Center, might be the only place in Los Angeles where a parent can ask their child if they want to scoop up some animal poop and receive an enthusiastic, “Yes, please!” That’s not to make light of the interactive experience — which is among the most fun and inspiring activities for children at a local cultural institution — just to note that it’s a fun perk.

The beloved 18-year-old exhibit quietly reopened in mid-December after being closed for more than three months to undergo a renovation that includes enhanced gallery spaces, immersive theatrical lighting and new interactive set pieces like a giant olive tree that kids can curl up inside, as well as slides that serve as exits from the ark and a watering hole for puppet animals that have just reached dry land.

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The linchpin of the renovation is a reimagined Bloom Garden planted with native, edible and medicinal plants, and fruit trees including mulberry and pineapple guava — all there to explore at the end of a journey on the ark.

“The goal is not to change the story, but to bring forward a chapter that’s always been there — that moment after the storm, when the work begins,” said Rachel Stark, vice president of education and family programs at the Skirball, adding that the new garden creates “this immersive space where you can imagine the storm waters have receded, the rowboat has washed up onto shore. Things are growing, and you are responsible to help add to that.”

The Bloom Garden, which replaced a simpler ornamental garden, was designed by biodynamic farmer and educator Daron Joffe — known as Farmer D — with the goal of creating a multigenerational space for relaxation and inspiration. It was built around artist Ned Kahn’s existing 100-foot-long Rainbow Arbor sculpture with mist sprayers that create rainbows in sunlight as guests walk through. A trickling stream runs through a valley in the garden, and kids are encouraged to play in and around it. There are hammocks, a sand table and raised garden beds with fresh herbs that families can pick, smell and taste.

Stuffed animals that kids can carry through the exhibit line shelves inside the renovated Noah’s Ark exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

“It’s an inviting space for kids to scramble down into and engage in nature play. It gets them more out of their heads and into the environment,” Joffe said. “I saw kids barefoot out there, which is so cool.”

Parents and children enjoy the Skirball Cultural Center’s new Bloom Garden, which opened alongside the revamped Noah’s Ark exhibit. The garden features raised beds filled with herbs that kids are invited to smell, pick and taste.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

The garden, says Joffe, is a haven for biodiversity, filled with plants that support the full life cycles of butterflies and bees. Shemesh Farms, which employs adults with diverse abilities, will cultivate the garden on an ongoing basis. In addition, the Skirball is looking to hire someone through a Getty Global Art and Sustainability Fellowship. That person will help grow and enhance the garden moving forward.

The Bloom Garden is special in another way: It features the seven ancient plant species that are integral to Jewish teachings, and symbols of the Promised Land — wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

The Skirball, founded in 1996, is a Jewish cultural, arts and education center, but it has always been an inclusive space that welcomes people of all faiths, communities and walks of life. The Noah’s Ark exhibit is based on the story of the biblical flood that caused Noah — at God’s direction — to build a ship for his family and two of each animal on Earth. The boat weathered a punishing storm for 40 days and 40 nights, and when the floodwaters receded, those aboard began a new life.

The exhibit also draws inspiration from hundreds of other flood stories from around the world. Taken together, these stories speak to the resilience of nature and the ability of human beings to cooperate — even when they are very different — in order to make meaningful and lasting change, as well as to be responsible and caring stewards of the earth’s bounty.

Susy Doody and her daughter Joy, 21 months, feed parrot puppets inside the Noah’s Ark exhibit.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

Noah’s Ark is organized into three chapters staged in different areas. The first is an entry room where a storm is brewing and animals are loaded into the ark. The second is the interior of the ark, including a “move-in day” room where kids can rummage through food crates and pick up animal puppets to care for, as well as another room with places where they can feed, bathe, put to sleep and clean up after animals (that’s the fake poop!).

There are also climbing nets that kids can use to ascend to the rafters to take care of the animals up top. A system of pulleys allows children on the ground to hoist food to kids above. The third room is the dry land that kids step onto when they disembark from the ark. It features a rainbow, a massive olive tree with a cozy interior nook and a watering hole for the animals.

I recently took my 9-year-old through the exhibit and she had a blast busily engaging with almost every element of the space. She was particularly taken with a blue tarantula puppet and was encouraged by staff to share her journey through the space with her puppet friend. The only sorrow came when it was time to part ways with the hairy creature she had nurtured during the experience.

Allister Celong, 5, climbs through a rope tunnel in the rafters.

(Dania Maxwell / For The Times)

Over the past 18 years Noah’s Ark has hosted more than a million visitors, with about 50,000 people journeying through the space each year. Joffe noted that the exhibit, with its focus on kindness, empathy and the value of shared labor in pursuit of a healthy, sustainable planet, is more timely than ever in this tumultuous, fractured era.

It has been a place of comfort over the years.

“It is a beloved place — one that many visitors grew up coming to,” said Stark. “And then bring their kids back and their grandkids.”

Jan. 3 (UPI) — Nine child care centers shown in a viral video alleging fraud were inspected and operating normally, Minnesota officials said on Friday.

Officials with Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families in a news release said state inspections of the daycare centers showed those that were open had children inside of them and were operating as expected.

“Children were present at all sites except for one — that site was not yet open for families for the day when inspectors arrived,” DCYF officials said.

They did not indicate if the inspections provided advanced notice to the respective daycares, and the news release referenced does not appear on the department’s webpage for news releases.

The most recent news release available is dated for Oct. 27, 2025, and department officials did not immediately respond to a UPI request for comment and access to the cited news release.

DCYF officials also provided information on the nine child care centers and the amounts they received through the state’s Child Care Assistance Program during the 2025 fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30.

The Future Leaders Early Learning Center received $3.68 million, followed by Minnesota Best Child Care Center, $3.4 million, and Minnesota Child Care Center, $2.67 million. All three are located in Minneapolis.

Quality Learning Center received $1.9 million, Mini Child Care Center $1.6 million, and Sweet Angel Child Care $1.54 million.

The Tayo Daycare received $1.09 million, ABC Learning Center $1.04 million and Super Kids Daycare Center $471,787.

The DCYF said the Mako Child Care Center closed in 2022.

The agency said investigators are taking a closer look at four of the nine daycare centers listed but did not identify which ones.

The DCYF released the information on the nine child care centers featured in the YouTube video posted by Nick Shirley that was titled: “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal.”

The 42-minute video had more than 3.1 million views eight days after it was posted to the social media site.

The video spurred the Health and Human Services Department halt all funding to Minnesota child care centers pending a federal review.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigate fraud claims.

“The onus is on the state to provide additional verification,” Andrew Nixon, HHS deputy assistant secretary for media relations, told CNN.

Minnesota officials have until Friday to provide the Trump administration with information verifying the names of children enrolled at the respective child care centers and their parents.

HHS officials also are requiring supporting evidence from day care centers that receive federal funding in all states to better ensure no fraud is occurring.

MINNEAPOLIS — A surge of federal officers in Minnesota follows new allegations of fraud by day care centers run by Somali residents.

President Trump has previously linked his administration’s immigration crackdown against Minnesota’s large Somali community to a series of fraud cases involving government programs in which most of the defendants have roots in the east African country.

Surge in federal officers

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel both announced an increase in operations in Minnesota this week. The move comes after a right-wing influencer posted a video Friday claiming he had found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud.

Tikki Brown, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, said at a Monday news conference that state regulators took the influencer’s allegations seriously.

Noem posted on social media that officers were “conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.” Patel said the intent was to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”

Past fraud in Minnesota

Minnesota has been under the spotlight for years for Medicaid fraud, including a massive $300-million pandemic fraud case involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors said it was the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud scam and that defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.
In 2022, during President Biden’s administration, 47 people were charged. The number of defendants has grown to 78 throughout the ongoing investigation.

So far, 57 people have been convicted, either because they pleaded guilty or lost at trial.

Most of the defendants are of Somali descent.

Numerous other fraud cases are being investigated, including new allegations focused on child care centers.

In news interviews and releases over the summer, prosecutor Joe Thompson estimated the loss from all fraud cases could exceed $1 billion. Earlier this month, a federal prosecutor alleged that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen.

Crackdown targeting Somalis

Trump’s immigration enforcement in Minnesota has focused on the Somali community in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which is the largest in the country.

Trump labeled Minnesota Somalis as “garbage” and said he didn’t want them in the United States.

About 84,000 of the 260,000 Somalis in the U.S. live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The overwhelming majority are U.S. citizens. Almost 58% were born in the U.S and 87% of the foreign-born are naturalized citizens.

Among those running schemes to get funds for child nutrition, housing services and autism programs, 82 of the 92 defendants are Somali Americans, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for Minnesota.

Republicans have tried to blame Walz

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has said fraud will not be tolerated and his administration “will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.”

The fraud could be a major issue in the 2026 gubernatorial race as Walz seeks a third term.

Walz has said an audit due by late January should give a better picture of the extent of the fraud but allowed that the $1-billion estimate could be accurate. He said his administration is taking aggressive action to prevent additional fraud. He has long defended how his administration responded.

Minnesota’s most prominent Somali American, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has urged people not to blame an entire community for the actions of a relative few.