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.

Where to spot stellar wildflowers along the Central Coast

The stories shaping California's Central Coast, hosted by Jonathan Bastian.

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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.

The history of diving around the Channel Islands

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.

A bucolic new rehab center for local child sex trafficking victims

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.

To save the whales, scientists bring new ears to the ocean

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.

Author T.C. Boyle on “The Relive Box and Other Stories”

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.

Where to spot stellar wildflowers along the Central Coast

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