San Luis Obispo County is preparing for an employee strike. For the first time in its history, SLOCEA—the county’s largest employee union—plans to strike Tuesday, December 11 through Friday, December 14. The county and union have not been able to come to an agreement over current and future wages and benefits. KCBX News recently sat down with San Luis Obispo County’s manager and met with a SLOCEA member to learn more.

UC Santa Barbara has broken ground on a new student farm, in an effort to address on-campus food insecurity.

In the earliest days of cartoon movies, hopeful artists had to make their way to Los Angeles studios to learn animation. Now, digital tools let students learn the basics in far more places—including Allan Hancock community college in Santa Maria, which offers an associate degree in the field.

The tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain are in port in Morro Bay, California until December 18. Join correspondent Tom Wilmer aboard the Lady Washington for a visit with Captain D.B. Smith, 3rd Mate Eric Dowell, and David Livingstone, chief mate aboard the Hawaiian Chieftain. 

Federal firefighters based at Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County are trained to respond to a wide array of emergencies, including range, forest and structure fires, medical emergencies, aircraft incidents and mutual aid response to the surrounding region in Lockwood Valley. Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with firefighters Greg Fryer and Jason Hall.

Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the day a SoCalEdison electrical transformer blew up and sparked a small brush fire in Ventura County. 60-mile-an-hour winds fanned that into the Thomas Fire, at the time considered the largest wildfire in California’s modern history. That was, until the Mendocino Complex and Camp Fires eclipsed it.