KCRW The 805 Stories from the Central Coast

Local federal workers are picking up free food as the government shutdown continues. More than 1000 PG&E workers in San Luis Obispo fear for their jobs as the utility declares bankruptcy. Santa Barbara is beginning to automatically enroll residents into the county’s emergency alert system. And an art show explores the laborious, sometimes hopeless task of striving for justice.

One year ago, torrential rain pelted the hillside community of Montecito, which was scorched a month earlier by the Thomas Fire. It unleashed a flow of mud and boulders the size of cars and killed 23 people. We check in with the community one year later and talk about what’s being done to prevent another debris flow.

A proposal to build tiny homes for the homeless in downtown Santa Barbara comes to a bitter end. A local production of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ has an unusual twist -- a woman playing the role of Scrooge. And an energy company scraps its plan to build a new power plant on Oxnard’s coast.

A year ago, the Thomas Fire swallowed large swaths of Ventura County and lept into Santa Barbara’s front country, setting the stage for the late-night debris flow that took 23 lives. As we observe those anniversaries, we’re checking back with those we spoke with in the immediate aftermath.

A local environmentalist says we should spend more time and money preparing for natural disasters than responding to them. A Ventura resident who lost his home in the Thomas Fire says rebuilding is taking longer than he’d hoped. Local animal shelters are becoming critical evacuation centers. And California counties must now hold public meetings on their relationship with federal immigration agents.