The amount of teenagers and young adults picking up online chess has skyrocketed in the past several months, flooding the popular chess playing website, Chess.com. However, new users find themselves puzzled: what sparked their recent interest in chess? KCSB’s Jennifer Zwigl has the story.

For the third year in a row, Elings Park is hosting a squadron of four-legged friends to help clear out the landscape. The Park’s Executive Director Dean Noble spoke with KCSB’s Max Tu about why these creatures are there, and why he keeps bringing them back.

Every year, Santa Barbara County awards someone the title of “Teacher of the Year.” This year, the title was granted to Greg Wolf, a social sciences teacher at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School. So, what exactly does it take to win Santa Barbara County’s teacher of the year? KCSB’s Rosie Bultman sat down with Wolf to find out.

The conversation of unionization is not new on UC Santa Barbara’s campus. We’ve talked a lot about unions on this newscast, especially in the fall during the strike involving grad student researchers, TAs, tutors, readers, post-docs, and academic researchers across all UC campuses. The latest initiative to unionize involves UCSB’s dining commons employees. Uma Clemensau works at the De La Guerra Dining Commons on campus, and she sat down with KCSB’s Jackie Sedley on May 18th, 2023 to discuss new efforts to unionize workers across the four campus dining commons.

The Santa Barbara Airport has implemented a program to help those with disabilities to manage a stressful environment. KCSB's Rosie Bultman interview Angie Doss to hear more about this initiative.

The Interactive Learning Pavilion is a new hub for students and there’s a ton of opinions on this new building. Hear from the architects on the inspiration behind the design and hear from UCSB students about this new modern building on campus. KCSB’s Jennifer Yoshikoshi and Abbey Guerrero have the story.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student Kristin Smart was only 19 years old when she disappeared after a college party in 1996. Twenty five years later, a fellow student was convicted of her murder and was recently sentenced to 25 years to life. KCSB’s Joyce Chi has the story.

Montana’s first openly trans lawmaker has been barred from the House floor due to her opposition to a bill banning gender-affirming care. Find out more in this recap of a Washington Post story by KCSB’s Sandy Ganesh.

An AI Study finds that Earth is likely to breach the key warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next 10-12 years, even with major pollution cuts, marking one of the most precise and pessimistic climate change studies done on the topic. KCSB’s Jennifer Zwigl has the story.

After nearly 30 years of being out of compliance with federal and state laws, UCSB increases funding in an attempt to return Native American remains and artifacts to their respective tribes. KCSB’s Jennifer Zwigl has the story.