The stories shaping California's Central Coast, hosted by Jonathan Bastian.
Santa Barbara is having a vigil tonight for the 34 people who died in the Conception diving boat fire. We look at the history of diving in the area. Also, a new collection of personal essays written by a Westmont professor addresses the complex process of grieving.
Hope Refuge helps underage sex trafficking survivors transition to a new life of freedom. And a San Luis Obispo Assemblyman hopes to keep California’s last nuclear power plant running with his proposal to reclassify nuclear power as renewable energy.
Laura Capps will challenge Das Williams in the upcoming County Supervisor election with a family-values campaign just as the first recreational cannabis store opens in Santa Barbara.
Scientists hope to reduce whale fatalities from ship collisions. A new sound technology will detect when the endangered animals are present and then alert cargo ships to slow down. More Mesa is on the market for $65 million and community members may come together to try to purchase the coastal bluffs. And during Prohibition, Santa Barbara served as a hideaway for rum runners and many of the surrounding islands and caves were used for illegal operations.
Santa Barbara author T.C. Boyle explores how technology affects our lives in his short story The Relive Box. In Testimonios: Early California Through the Eyes of Women the authors have translated and transcribed taped oral histories from early California settler women as tell their often forgotten stories. Hollywood screenwriter Billy Ray talks about his work writing political stump speeches. And Santa Barbara is the hometown of some world-famous foods.
Pacific Standard employees took to social media to express their shock and anxieties over the magazine’s abrupt end. As fears of deportation grow among undocumented immigrants, complaints about fraudulent immigration lawyers are also on the rise. The city of San Luis Obispo may take a bold stand against public art that honors individuals over ideas. And a new hashtag spreads awareness that women often pay more than men for identical products.
The last standing nuclear power plant in California may face safety issues if there's an electrical power outage during wildfire season. A new Sea Center exhibit at Stearns Wharf looks at efforts to revive the endangered wild abalone. And the Ensemble exhibit at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art highlights the intersection of sound and art.
A couple’s regenerative farming practices in Moorpark inspires the popular documentary “The Biggest Little Farm.” Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days’ tradition of selling decorated eggs on the sidewalk is under scrutiny for its environmental footprint. A new report suggests ideas for addressing lower State Street’s high vacancy rate. And Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams may see a challenger within his own party in 2020.
The youngest of a 15-generation family farm in Carpinteria leaves the family history of growing fruit and flowers to embrace the “green rush” of cannabis cultivation. After six deaths this year at the Oceano Dunes Vehicular Recreation Area - and some unhappy neighboring residents - the Coastal Commission is taking a hard look at California’s last public beach open that allows vehicles. And saxophonist Ted Nash from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra plays his musical interpretations of some famous paintings at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Kids’ free summer food programs are seeing low attendance following fears of increased ICE raids. California regulators hear public comment on ideas for decommissioning Platform Holly - the only oil drilling platform in the Channel that lies in California state waters. Berkeley economists reevaluate the cost of closing the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant.
Santa Barbara County uses a state grant to boost programs aimed to keep minors out of prison. An iconic Santa Barbara architect weighs in on his ideas for better downtown housing design. Lotusland’s renovated Japanese Garden offers an opportunity for contemplation.
County Supervisor, Das Williams, discusses cannabis permits in Santa Barbara County. Scientists look to explain the spike in gray whale deaths. Some new wine trends might impress your friends.
William Finnegan talks surfing, writing, and growing up.
Ventura approves a 24-hour homeless shelter. Marc McGinnes talks his new book “In Love with Earth”. And State Street gets cozy with some new shared commercial spaces.
The public weighs in on fracking California’s public lands. Gun shows will continue at Ventura County Fairgrounds. Trash collection rates rise in Santa Barbara. And a lifelong Santa Barbara forager shares his mushroom tales.
A memorial helps mark this week’s five year anniversary of the deadly Isla Vista shootings. Pest control issues crop up for avocado farmers in Carpinteria who neighbor with cannabis cultivators. And, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Goleta all remain slow to issue permits for pot shops.
Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, talks about his new book “Some Stories: Lessons from the Edge of Business and Sport.” And the Rosewood Miramar hotel in Montecito opens its flagship restaurant, Caruso’s.
Santa Barbara homeless residents will receive more wrap-around services, but may also face tougher rules on city park behavior. One woman explores the culinary and social joys of eating out alone. The Squire Foundation partners with the Santa Barbara Public Market to bring the Short Edition Story Dispenser. The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara brings multi-media artist James Benning’s show Quilts, Cigarettes & Dirt to Santa Barbara.
Plains All American and DCOR face court decisions for business in the Santa Barbara Channel. A new program at UCSB hopes to encourage more students to study the humanities. Three UCSB music students share the stage with world-famous cellist and humanitarian, Yo-Yo Ma, while he offers the public a free master class at the Grenada Theater. And a new fee may be placed on bottles of wine sold in Santa Barbara county as a way to raise money for regional wine marketing.
The Santa Barbara City Council voted to require landlords to provide one-year leases to tenants. It also took a big step toward approving a "just cause" eviction ordinance. After years of drought water conservation, the City of Santa Barbara lifts its restrictions. Matt Kettman, food editor at the Santa Barbara Independent, visits Montecito’s $550 a plate restaurant, The Silver Bough.
Debris nets go up in the slide zones of Carpinteria and Montecito in an effort to save money and reduce mudslide risks. Large container ships are asked to voluntarily slow down as the pass through the Santa Barbara Channel during the summer to reduce coastal air pollution and reduce the risk of striking endangered whales.
The trees at the Ellwood Mesa preserve have been dying off, and the California Monarchs are following suit. Santa Barbara’s newest poet laureate talks about her two year tenure and her quest to take poetry from the university to the streets. And first it was helicopter moms, now it’s lawnmower parents.
The city of Santa Barbara gets a state grant to try and help the roughly 900 people who are homeless in the city. Old Town Goleta has a reputation for being pretty sleepy. Can a booming beverage industry pour some life into the area? Bakers in Santa Barbara are going to extremes to make the perfect tartine loaf. And as we head into spring, one local nonprofit prepares to receive thousands of wild baby animals in distress.
An investigation by the Ventura County Fire Department says power lines owned by Southern California Edison started the Thomas Fire. The debate continues over whether or not the county should approve new onshore oil drilling near Santa Maria. And hundreds of ultramarathoners will descend on the Los Padres Mountains this weekend for the Nine Trails Race.
Birds are chirping, creeks are flowing and wildflower buds are beginning to pop up and down the Central Coast. A landscape architect who understands the complicated and delicate nature of creating public memorials offers advice to Montecito. And neuroscientists from UC Santa Barbara have developed a new theory that helps explain why some people drink too much.
A new Crisis Intervention Team in Santa Barbara County pairs a sheriff’s deputy with a mental health specialist. Photographer James Balog explains the massive impact humans are having on the elements. And KCRW tours Santa Barbara's largest landfill, which is nearing capacity.
