KCBX | Central Coast Public Radio

SLO County farms and ranches to get new forensic crime-fighting tool

Law enforcement in San Luis Obispo County has a new tool to help fight property theft, particularly farm equipment. It’s called SmartWater, but it’s not the bottled water you can find in a convenience store.

Issues & Ideas: Nipomo Mesa air pollution, tiny libraries and serving in Vietnam during Woodstock

Growing AgTech industry inspires new course at Salinas nonprofit

NPR

A Rising Generation Asserts Itself On Climate Change

Spurred by what they see as a sluggish, ineffectual response to the existential threat of global warming, student activists from around the world are skipping school Friday, for what organizers call a Global Climate Strike. The young activists are protesting as the U.N. prepares to hold its Climate Action Summit on Monday in New York City. The strike's figurehead is 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who traveled from Sweden to New York on an emissions-free sailboat . A little over...

North America Has Lost 3 Billion Birds, Scientists Say

Investors May Prefer Companies With More Women In The Workforce

Oceano voters to decide on new tax for fire and emergency medical services

By Greta Mart • Sep 10, 2019

Next year there’s going to be a big change in voting dates in California. Instead of the primary election being held in June, it’s moving up to March 3, 2020. On that ballot, Oceano voters will decide a special tax measure to fund fire and emergency medical services.

Brush fire near Buellton shuts down northbound Hwy. 101

By Greta Mart • Sep 9, 2019

Caltrans closed northbound lanes of Highway 101 due to a fast-moving brush fire that broke out around 3 p.m. on Monday.

Issues & Ideas: Refections on the 'Conception,' surviving a mass shooting, and solutions journalism

By Tyler Pratt & Greta Mart & Randol White/CapRadio & Erika Mahoney/KAZU • Sep 9, 2019

We're back! After a month-long hiatus, KCBX's weekly news magazine returns.

VA yanks authority from California agency overseeing veterans' education

By Felicia Mello/CALmatters • Sep 7, 2019

The U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs has canceled its contract with a California state agency that approves colleges—like San Luis Obispo’s Cal Poly—to receive GI Bill funds, after a lengthy dispute over how to regulate for-profit and out-of-state schools.

San Luis Obispo divers recall trips on the 'Conception'

By Tyler Pratt • Sep 5, 2019

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4:14

The tragedy of Monday morning’s fire on a Santa Barbara diving boat near the Channel Islands is being felt throughout the Central Coast scuba diving community. The cause is still unknown of the fire that engulfed the boat, the 'Conception,' and killed 34 people onboard. Two divers from San Luis Obispo had been on the boat many times before and had planned to go out on it again.

The Reluctant Therapist: Messages from our gut and innate wisdom

By Elizabeth Barrett • Sep 4, 2019

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59:48

Maintaining mental health requires learning to recognize the messages from our gut and innate wisdom before we get into trouble. When we tune in to what we need, life seems to fall into place —although it may not be in the place we expected to be. Tune in for a conversation with the Reluctant Therapist, Elizabeth Barrett, and her guest about creating a meaningful life in unexpected ways. Another show from the road with ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Is nuclear power a renewable energy source?

By Tyler Pratt • Sep 3, 2019

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4:14

Diablo Canyon in San Luis Obispo County is California's last remaining operating nuclear power plant. It’s slated to shut down in about five years. But a new proposal, which involves amending California’s state constitution, is aimed at trying to keep the facility open. Central Coast state Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham put the idea in front of the legislature last week.

Cal Poly cybersecurity program works to uncover human trafficking

By Tyler Pratt • Aug 29, 2019

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3:06

A Cal Poly program is helping combat human trafficking. Staff from the university’s California Cybersecurity Institute (CCI) recently met with law enforcement officers from across the state to demonstrate how to spot signs of human trafficking operations in places like massage parlors.

U.S. Navy may be warming to Central Coast offshore wind energy development

By Greta Mart & Logan Kimball • Aug 27, 2019

Recently there’s been behind-the-scenes movement in the effort to bring offshore wind energy development to the Central Coast.

Flights resume after Santa Barbara Airport crash

By Briana Willson • Aug 26, 2019

UPDATED August 26, 2019: Flights at the Santa Barbara Airport have resumed after a plane made an emergency crash landing there late Sunday night. Federal authorities have been on the scene since early Monday morning to investigate the cause of the crash. Flights were cancelled for 19 hours following the crash.