On this week’s North Carolina News Roundup... Primary election results, including the latest on the miniscule margin between NC Senate leader Phil Berger and Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page. Senator Thom Tillis sounds off on now-former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. All that and more on the Friday News Roundup.

Adam Wagner, reporter and editor covering state politics for the North Carolina Newsroom
Bryan Anderson, Statewide Politics Reporter for The Assembly, creator of the “Anderson Alerts” newsletter
Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief, The News & Observer
Eric Bazail-Eimil, national security reporter at POLITICO with a focus on the Department of Homeland Security

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Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to a Duke professor, and other fallout from the latest release of files by the Department of Justice. 

Leoneda Inge speaks with a reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Emmy Martin, reporting intern at The Chronicle of Higher Education, previously Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tar Heel during the 2023-24 academic year.

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Humidity and heat in the South are creating another housing problem: mold. 

Multidisciplinary researchers at Duke University are collaborating to understand mold’s impact on human health.

Two reporters in Asheville have been studying the phenomenon, and how mold is a growing problem. Their article for Grist is titled "A hotter, wetter South is becoming a breeding ground for mold."

Asiya Gusa, microbiologist, Duke Climate and Fungi Research Group (CLIF)

Laura Hackett, Helene Recovery Reporter at Blue Ridge Public Radio

Katie Myers, reports on climate change in Appalachia through a partnership between Grist and Blue Ridge Public Radio

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What critics are saying about Fayetteville native J. Cole’s newest album “The Fall-Off." 

Plus, whether the Triangle’s biggest music festivals will even happen this year, and the state of North Carolina music. Due South's Leoneda Inge speaks with a panel of NC music journalists.

Brian Burns, Music Reporter WUNC News

Ryan Cocca, Founder and Editor of Super Empty, a North Carolina hip-hop outlet

Mir.I.Am, founder of Carolina Waves, a multiplatform outlet about North Carolina music, and the host of the platform’s weekly radio show on K97.5

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A Segment: Primary Election Debrief

Political reporters analyze the results of North Carolina’s primary election, including the race between Democratic incumbent Valerie Foushee and primary challenger Nida Allam for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional seat.

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC

Adam Wagner, reporter/editor covering state politics for the North Carolina Newsroom

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B Segment: Durham’s first public library for Black residents partners with Duke University Libraries

In 1918, the Durham Colored Library was founded to provide book-lending services for Black residents during segregation. Today, the Durham Colored Library has partnered with Duke University Libraries, with support from the Mellon Foundation, to extend and expand its reach.

C. Eileen Watts Welch, President and CEO, Durham Colored Library

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C Segment: In ‘The Book of Alice,’ poet Diamond Forde resurrects her grandmother’s indomitable spirit

In her new collection, The Book of Alice, poet Diamond Forde explores her Southern family roots through researching the life of her late grandmother.  (This Due South encore conversation originally aired January 29, 2026.)

Diamond Forde, poet, assistant professor of English at North Carolina State University and author of the new poetry collection, The Book of Alice

From Cherokee to Currituck and across 100 counties and more than 550 miles, it’s primary election day in North Carolina.

Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii talks to journalists in Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem about the open U.S. Senate seat, Congressional contests that could answer questions about party fissures, and local elections that will shape education.

This statewide NC primary election special is a co-production of public radio stations WUNC News in Durham, Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville, WFAE in Charlotte, WFDD in Winston-Salem, and WHQR in Wilmington.

Featuring:

This is an updated primary special episode that originally aired February 24, 2026.

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Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator and North Carolina native Michael Regan started his career at the agency, eventually led North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality, and returned to the EPA for the top job during the Biden administration.

Regan joined Due South's Leoneda Inge in our Durham studio for a wide-ranging conversation about his career, his enduring connection to North Carolina's environmental justice movement, and the impact of politics on environmental policy.

This Due South encore conversation originally aired January 13, 2026.

Michael S. Regan, Former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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When disaster strikes in the water, we turn to the U.S. Coast Guard. Today, it’s renowned for its fast-moving cutters, skilled helicopter pilots, and daring rescue divers. But 150 years ago, the Coast Guard's predecessor, the U.S. Life-Saving Service, was in total disarray and in desperate need of reform. In North Carolina's treacherous Outer Banks, an extraordinary group of Black men answered the call and saved hundreds of lives against all odds.

Brad Campbell, writer for Our State Magazine

Joan Collins, Director of Outreach and Education for the Pea Island Preservation Society

This episode of The Broadside was hosted by Anisa Khalifa and produced by Jerad Walker.

On the North Carolina News Roundup... Primaries for the 2026 midterm elections, the state’s changing Latino electorate, and major policy developments in Durham. Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii and a panel of journalists discuss those stories and more from the week. 

Bryan Anderson, Statewide Politics Reporter for The Assembly, creator of the “Anderson Alerts” newsletter

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief for WUNC News

Mary Helen Moore, reporter for Axios Raleigh

Claudia Rivera Cotto, Political Reporter, Enlace Latino NC

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Leonardo Williams has been Durham’s mayor since 2023. Before that, he was on the City Council from 2021 through his election as mayor. 

Williams shares his criticisms of decisions by the City Council to end programs he says would help curb gun violence, including using a technology called ShotSpotter, and his vision of what would help.

A string of shootings killing children and other Durham residents led Williams to publicly address gun violence. On Feb. 20, he held a news conference to discuss the shootings, and a partnership between the city and the Violence Reduction Center at the University of Maryland. Durham announced the partnership in 2025.

Leonardo “Leo” Williams, Mayor of Durham since 2023, and a member of the City Council since 2021. Before that, he was a teacher at Durham Public Schools, and he is a restaurant co-owner with his wife Zweli Williams.

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Jeremy Jones found the encrypted journals of his great, great, great, great grandfather, William Thomas Prestwood. After sharing some salacious stories with relatives, he dug into the journals and learned some previously unknown secrets about his ancestors.

Jeremy Jones, author of the memoir Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries and a professor of English Studies at Western Carolina University

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired UNC professor Noel Brewer and the 16 other members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last year. Brewer talks about vaccine policy now and his concerns over the future of public health.

Noel Brewer, PhD., Gillings Distinguished Professor in Public Health and Professor of Health Behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Related:

0:33:00

The 2025 White House Executive Order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” cites content from the National Museum of African American History and Culture as an example of “divisive, race-centered ideology” at the Smithsonian.

The museum has deep ties to Durham, where the late Phil Freelon, the museum’s architect of record, built his career. Architect Zena Howard worked with Freelon for many years and was senior project manager for building the museum.

Howard joins Due South’s Leoneda Inge to reflect on the impact of the museum and the challenges that many public spaces focused on history face today.

(This Due South encore edition originally aired April 22, 2025.)

Zena Howard, Principal and Global Cultural and Civic Practice Chair, Perkins&Will

From Cherokee to Currituck and across 100 counties and more than 550 miles, it’s primary season in North Carolina. 

Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii talks to journalists in Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem about the open U.S. Senate seat, Congressional contests that could answer questions about party fissures, and local elections that will shape education.

This statewide NC primary election special is a co-production of public radio stations WUNC News in Durham, Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville, WFAE in Charlotte, WFDD in Winston-Salem, and WHQR in Wilmington.

Featuring:

Chris Cooper, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs and Director of the Haire Institute for Public Policy at Western Carolina University, author of 'Anatomy of a Purple State'

Felicia Sonmez, Growth and Development Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Gerard Albert III, Western North Carolina Rural Communities Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Amy Diaz, education reporter, WFDD

Rachel Keith, reporter and host, WHQR

Steve Harrison, politics reporter, WFAE

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC

Adam Wagner, reporter and editor, NC Newsroom

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For Hayti residents, affordable housing redevelopment is long overdue

A revitalization project focused on the long-overlooked historically Black community of Hayti in Durham is still fighting for affordable housing for residents. Henry McKoy, director emeritus of the project, Hayti Reborn, joins Due South to discuss planning efforts and obstacles.

Henry McKoy, president and CEO of Carolina Community Impact and director emeritus of Hayti Reborn

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Soul City hopes to resurge and regrow in Warren County

After federal and local disinvestment, construction in the ambitious Soul City development in Warren County stalled. But there are still residents in Soul City and surrounding communities who have hope that the neighborhood will resurge – including the daughter of its founder, Charmaine McKissick Melton, who still lives in her family’s home.

Charmaine McKissick Melton, youngest child of Soul City founder, Floyd McKissick Sr., and a retired professor of mass communication at North Carolina Central University

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Habitat for Humanity of Orange County seeks to address growing affordable housing needs

Buying a home in Orange County is becoming increasingly prohibitive. Housing prices are on the rise, as wages stagnate. Habitat for Humanity of Orange County is working to address a growing need for affordable housing throughout the county and particularly in Chapel Hill.

Jennifer Player, president and CEO, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County