Due South

0:01:00

A new entrance to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens is finished. The day before reopening, Due South’s Leoneda Inge speaks with the head of the Gardens to talk about how to visit, and what you can expect now that the project is complete.

Bill LeFevre, Executive Director of Sarah P. Duke Gardens

0:13:00

Graham, a Greensboro police officer, had heart problems, and in the past her chronic condition had been treated by cardioversion. But a doctor didn’t offer the treatment because of a positive pregnancy test. 

ProPublica is investigating Graham’s, and other women’s, deaths related to tightening abortion laws following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

Lizzie Presser, covers health and social policy at ProPublica where she won the 2025 Pulitzer for public service along with several reporters who covered deaths related to abortion laws.

0:33:00

How the health care landscape has changed in the two years since Leoneda Inge first spoke with Dr. Beverly Gray about the end of the legal right to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Dr. Beverly Gray, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University Medical Center, one of the leaders of the Abortion Care Today oral history project, and the co-host of a podcast about abortion access called Outlawed.

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The growing popularity of remote work is one challenge. Cuts to federal research funding is another. 

But those are only two threats to the future of Research Triangle Park, the flagship business park that helped inspire the region’s “Research Triangle” name over the last half century. 

Leoneda Inge speaks with a reporter who’s keeping track of RTP’s planned changes, and whether they will come to pass.

Kayli Thompson, Senior Reporter at the Triangle Business Journal and author of the recent article, “RTP at a Crossroads.”

0:13:00

A new exhibit at the Museum of Durham History tells the story of Research Triangle Park, in some ways the heart of the Research Triangle. Leoneda Inge speaks with two men who helped plan the project.

John Atkins III, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of O’Brien/Atkins Associates, a multidisciplinary design services firm he co-founded in 1975

Robert Teer Jr., real estate planner and developer, and a lifelong resident of Durham. He’s served on the NC Turnpike Authority Board since 2003.

0:33:00

How leaders at RTP are trying to be more than just a business park. Leoneda Inge speaks with two leaders involved in planning, and programming to make that happen. Including Boxyard RTP, a plaza with restaurants and small businesses on the campus.

Travis Crayton, Vice President of Planning and Public Policy Research Triangle Park

Kelly Propst, Vice President of Marketing and Communications Research Triangle Park

This episode of Due South first aired in February.

We're airing a group of specials of the new public radio show Click Here this week, and we're excited to hear your thoughts. For more about the show, check out Leoneda Inge's interview with Click Here host Dina Temple-Raston.

Due South will be back with our regularly scheduled programming on Monday, April 6. Talk soon!

There have been major leadership changes in North Carolina this week. At the General Assembly, the longtime Republican Senate leader Phil Berger conceded following a fierce, close primary battle. In Chapel Hill, there's now an opening at one of the most prestigious college basketball programs in the country. All that and more on this week's North Carolina News Roundup, live from the NC News & Information Summit at NC State's McKimmon Center in Raleigh.

Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief, The News & Observer

Mary Helen Moore, Reporter, Axios Raleigh

Ely Portillo, Executive Editor, WFAE

Felicia Sonmez, Growth/Development reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Dane Huffman, Managing Editor, Triangle Business Journal

Mitchell Northam, Reporter, USA Today

0:01:00

Leoneda speaks with Dina Temple-Raston, host of Click Here — which will air as a special on WUNC the week of March 30.

Dina Temple-Raston, host of Click Here a public radio show from PRX and Recorded Future News

0:13:00

Deciding what each child in a household should eat – and how weight should be discussed with each child – can be challenging. Jeff Tiberii sits down with pediatrician Dr. Joey Skelton for tips on managing and discussing health, diet and weight within families.

Dr. Joey Skelton, board-certified pediatrician and obesity medicine specialist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and author of Your Child Is Not Their Weight: Parenting in a Size-Obsessed World

0:33:00

As a kid in Weddington, NC, Drew Goins watched Jeopardy! with his family during dinner and counted his correct answers on his fingers. When he started needing both hands to keep track, he might have known he had a future on the show.

Goins is now a Jeopardy! winner and uses his love of trivia to guide his work as The Atlantic’s trivia guy.

Drew Goins, a senior editor focused on trivia and other creative projects at The Atlantic

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Student activism is on the rise at North Carolina A&T State University where students like Olu Rouse and Shia Rozier are fighting for voting rights — just like the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was student body president at NC A&T.

Olu Rouse and Shia Rozier, students at North Carolina A&T State University

0:13:00

Today, we look back at the life and voting rights impact of Reverend Jesse Jackson, who passed away last month. Bishop William J. Barber II was Rev. Jackson’s friend and confidant. He shares his memories of Jackson and explains Jackson’s unique ability to reach and unite voters across the “rainbow.”

Bishop William J. Barber II, President of Repairers of the Breach, Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign

0:33:00

As the United States turns 250 years old, a new book of poetry pays tribute to Black historical figures across the country and the centuries. Poet and professor Joshua Bennett talks with Due South’s Leoneda Inge about his poem “Chapel Hill, North Carolina” for George Moses Horton, the first African American man to publish a book in the South.

Joshua Bennett, Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at MIT and writer of the new poetry collection "We (The People of The United States)"

0:01:00

A look at the inner lives of North Carolina’s political wives

The Assembly’s Billy Warden discusses his discoveries about the lives of North Carolina’s political spouses in a candid new profile that includes interviews with First Lady Anna Stein and Susan Tills, wife of Sen. Thom Tillis.

Billy Warden, marketing specialist, writer, contributor to The Assembly

0:13:00

The theft of a fake Picasso painting is the subject of a new book

Whit Rummel joins Due South to discuss the lore his family safeguarded for years – for their own safety. His new book, The Accidental Picasso Thief: The True Story of a Reverse Heist, Outrunning the FBI, and Fleeing the Boston Mob tells the story of how his family came to be in possession of a famous painting allegedly heisted by members of the Boston mob.

Whit Rummel, screenwriter and author of The Accidental Picasso Thief

0:33:00

Charlotte Symphony music director Kwame Ryan on his 20-plus-year career and recent Grammy win

When director Kwame Ryan arrived at the Charlotte Symphony at the start of the 2024-25 season, he came with international experience, a Cambridge University education and a robust background in opera and symphonic music. Since his arrival, he has become the first Black conductor to win a Grammy for Best Opera Recording. 

Kwame Ryan, Grammy Award-winning conductor and music director for the Charlotte Symphony

0:01:00

For a couple weeks, a policy allowing university administration to secretly record professors was in effect. Now, UNC-Chapel Hill has backtracked after detractors shared concerns about free speech rights.

Brianna Atkinson, Higher Education reporter WUNC News

0:13:00

From Huntsville to Houston, the space industry in the US is rooted in the South. And as NASA works towards returning to the moon with the Artemis program, our space history is inspiring new generations of Americans. But in North Carolina, two important sites from the Space Race of the 1960s remain relatively unknown.

This episode of The Broadside was hosted by Jerad Walker and produced by Charlie Shelton-Ormond.

Cliff Bumgardner, director and producer at PBS North Carolina

Brett Tingley, managing editor atSpace.com

0:33:00

We're lifting off today with Astronaut Christina Koch. She grew up here, graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Math, then NC State, and today works for NASA. Koch has spent more than 300 days at the International Space Station and is preparing for a lunar mission on NASA's Artemis II. Christina Koch talks training, outer space food, and common questions she gets. 

This interview originally aired May 6, 2024.

Christina Koch, NASA Astronaut

Related:

• WUNC News: Christina Koch is headed to the moon, exactly like she dreamed she would

On this week’s North Carolina News Roundup... North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger protests Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page’s narrow, 23-vote lead in the primary. Former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson admits he lied about pornography allegations during his 2024 gubernatorial campaign. And Vice President J.D. Vance promises answers to Sen. Thom Tillis’ questions regarding Operation Charlotte’s Web.

Bryan Anderson, Statewide Politics Reporter for The Assembly

Adam Wagner, editor/reporter, NC Newsroom

Danielle Battaglia, Washington correspondent, The News & Observer 

Laura Leslie, editor, NC Newsline

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March Madness is here — so are bracketology and betting. But in the two years since sports gambling became legal in North Carolina, the stakes are much higher than those of a casual NCAA tournament office pool. WRAL sports investigative reporter Brian Murphy joins co-host Jeff Tiberii to talk about changes in how North Carolinians place their wagers, and who pays the price.

Brian Murphy, Sports Investigative Reporter, WRAL

0:13:00

Charlotte-based reporter Danny Funt’s new book on legalized sports gambling in the United States highlights society-wide costs, as well as the personal price paid by players and fans.

Danny Funt, author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling