Bob Dylan whiskey, fake eggs, family leave: News from around our 50 states

Judging from Instagram feeds, the Valley has a new favorite selfie spot: Wonderspaces Arizona, a different kind of art gallery that aims to bring cutting-edge work to the masses. The first permanent space for a Los Angeles-based startup, Wonderspaces Arizona opened inside the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall Friday with a show titled “Point of View,” featuring immersive installations that visitors can interact with. Taking photos is encouraged, as long as you’re not making money off the images. And 20-somethings are responding by posting glamour shots in front of – or inside – works such as “Submergence” (above), a room-size grid of hanging lights that blink on and off in response to ambient music, creating shifting patterns as you move through the lattice.

State troopers and the American Legion are seeking high school students to participate in this year’s State Police Youth Week. The program at the state police academy in Meriden is for students considering a law enforcement career who’ll be completing their junior year this year. It will run from July 28 to Aug. 3. Cadets will get to experience some of the rigors of state police recruit training, including physical conditioning, inspection of quarters and the 5:15 a.m. reveille wake-up call. They also will learn about patrol techniques, firearms safety, criminal and accident investigations, and defensive driving techniques. Interested students have until May 3 to submit applications, which include personal statements and letters of recommendation, and a $125 fee.

Scientists say climate change is prolonging allergy season and the suffering that goes along with it. Doctors in the state say that they’re seeing more people who are suffering from allergies and that those patients are suffering for longer periods of time. Scientists say deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels are sending more greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Those gases in turn warm the planet and extend allergy season. Some studies have even found additional carbon dioxide may cause some plants to produce even more pollen. Local historical data shows that Delaware appears to be getting warmer. Delaware State Climatologist Daniel Leathers says that has meant a longer span between frosts when plants can bloom and grow.

Officials at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport say they’re on track to break a record for the number of firearms caught this year, WUSA-TV reports. Transportation Security Administration officers snagged the ninth gun of the year Sunday, putting the airport on pace to surpass the 16 found for all of last year. Officials said the gun located Sunday was a .380-caliber handgun, loaded with six bullets. Police confiscated the gun and cited an Arlington, Virginia, man. “This is a troubling trend,” TSA Federal Security Director Kerwin P. Wilson, who oversees the TSA operation at DCA, said in a release. Travelers can take their firearms with them but must pack an unloaded gun in a locked, hard-sided case. They also must declare it to the airline.

A first-of-its-kind report out this week confirms what advocates have long suspected – kids in the state’s foster care system struggle to keep pace in school with their peers. They have lower levels of academic achievement and graduate in far fewer numbers. At a news conference Tuesday, advocates and lawmakers called the report “depressing,” “troubling” and “dismal.” The report, though, is also the first step toward improving outcomes for these kids, says Brent Kent, president and CEO of Indiana Connected By 25. His organization works with young adults as they’re aging out of the foster care system to get them housing, work and education. It’s estimated Indiana has as many as 18,000 school-age children in state custody. It is the state’s responsibility to educate them, Kent says, and right now it’s falling short.

Blank Park Zoo has announced another birth for a pair of endangered rhinos. The zoo says its 9-year-old female eastern black rhino, Ayana, gave birth Friday to a 112-pound female calf. Ayana and her mate, Kiano, produced their first calf, Tumani, in 2016. The African species is considered critically endangered, primarily because of poaching. The newborn isn’t on display while still bonding with her mother. Zoo spokesman Ryan Bickel says people can check on her through the zoo’s social media and live webcams. The zoo will name her through a fundraising contest: $50 per name or three suggestions for $100. The zoo says the names should be in an African language. A public vote will be held on the finalists.

A new nonprofit hopes to help people in food deserts get their goods more easily. The Hope Buss is a group of volunteers who’ve begun organizing free monthly grocery trips for people who don’t have personal transportation. In neighborhoods across the city, grocery stores are closing at an increasing rate, forcing more residents to travel to markets outside their neighborhoods or to purchase food at higher-priced convenience stores. People who don’t have personal vehicles are hit especially hard by the closures. The ride service is based at One Church in Old Louisville. Once a month, volunteers gather at the church to give people rides to the grocery store of their choosing, then offer to drop them off at their homes afterward.

Movie screens across the Midwest will light up this weekend with a new “Dark Skies” commercial touting the impressive night lights found in northern Michigan. It’s part of the “Pure Michigan” marketing effort focusing on places to visit and unique things to see in the Great Lakes State. “The ‘Dark Skies’ campaign offers visitors the opportunity for a ‘new kind of nightlife’ and will attract visitors to areas that aren’t on the more traditional list of places to travel,” says Dave Lorenz, vice president of Travel Michigan, which is part of Michigan Economic Development Corp. Lorenz says the inspiration for the “Dark Skies” campaign came from Chinese tourists coming to Michigan to see the skies from northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, where fewer city lights interfere with celestial views.

Organizers say Grammy-winning folk singer Patty Griffin will headline the Red Ants Pants Music Festival in central Montana this summer. Apparel company Red Ants Pants owner Sarah Calhoun announced the lineup last week for the 9th annual festival July 25-28 in White Sulphur Springs. Calhoun says Griffin is known for her stripped-down songwriting and pure vocals. Griffin’s gospel album, “Downtown Church,” won a Grammy in 2011. Her folk album, “Servant of Love,” was nominated in 2016. Musicians Bobby Bare and Shakey Graves are also set to perform, as well as more than dozen other bands and musicians. The festival had 18,000 attendees last year, increasing from the 6,000 recorded in the event’s first year.

There were 350 dolphins recorded off the coast of South Carolina in 2008, and it’s unclear how many remain in the face of increasing human activity, crab pot entanglement and other dangers. The executive director of conservation group The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, Lauren Rust, tells The Post and Courier the dolphin population is smaller than people realize. Since the 2008 count, crab pot entanglement deaths have steadily increased, and dozens of sick and malnourished dolphins have washed ashore dead. A virus broke out along the East Coast from 2013 to 2015, killing more than 1,500 dolphins, about 178 of which washed ashore in South Carolina. And while the dolphins seemingly dwindle, funding is being cut at key federal agencies.

Severe damage from floods earlier in the year has forced a temporary closure of the highway that cuts through Zion National Park, park officials say. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway closed Tuesday and will stay off-limits for three weeks. Flooding on March 2 undercut the roadway, forcing park officials to limit traffic to one lane at a time since. Now, to perform the necessary repairs, road crews have closed the roadway entirely, from the historic Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel to Canyon Junction, near the center of the park’s main canyon. A section of the existing road will need to be removed, and a retaining wall below it will be rebuilt, as well as the roadway itself. A federal highway contractor is performing the work.

Mat Wisner is not a software engineer, but he’s hoping more young people will be. Wisner, a Tahuya native who graduated from North Mason High School in 2001, is the man behind Amazon’s new program geared toward getting kids interested in computer science at any age, starting as early as kindergarten and up to the summer after college. “A younger child usually only has two or three jobs in mind, and it’s usually a doctor because it’s what they see,” he says. “If you want to make a systemic difference, you have to win their hearts and minds before college. Computer science and these jobs need to be marketed better.” Amazon Future Engineer, which the company dubs its “childhood to career initiative,” has four components: a K-8 focus, a high school component, a four-year college scholarship and an internship at Amazon after college.

A special 414 flag is flying over City Hall this week. It’s not just a nod to the area code – it’s a reference to April 14, which has become known as Milwaukee Day. Milwaukeeans Andy Silverman, Timm Gable, Rachel Fell, Brent Gohde and Chelsie Layman first established the salute to the city on April 14, 2010, and the unofficial holiday has grown since, with several local businesses getting in on the fun. Milwaukee Day was even a clue for a “Jeopardy!” question last year. The Milwaukee Day website has a list of happenings for the special day this Sunday, with more likely to be announced.