Due South

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We are mere weeks away from the Winter Olympics, set for northern Italy. We check in on a North Carolina snowboarder, a bobsledder, and others looking to make a mark on the Games.

Josh Sullivan, Social Media Producer, WUNC News

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Writer W. Ralph Eubanks takes Due South on a journey over the loamy land of the Mississippi Delta, a place his family once called home. It's a distinctive region known for fertile soil, blues music, and deeply entrenched poverty. It's also a place Eubanks believes holds up a mirror to the South and the country. 

He talks with co-host Jeff Tiberii about his new book, “When It’s Darkness on the Delta: How America’s Richest Soil Became Its Poorest Land.”

W. Ralph Eubanks, faculty fellow and writer in residence at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture

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Flag football gains a foothold in North Carolina

From local rec centers and high school football stadiums, all the way to the NCAA and soon the Olympics, flag football seems to be everywhere. Even the NFL is getting in on the action. USA Today reporter Mitchell Northam explains the growing popularity of the sport many simply call “flag.”

Mitchell Northam, reporter, USA Today

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Due South’s Most Anticipated Books of Winter/Spring 2026

Due South checks in with Flyleaf Books’ Maggie Robe about some of 2026’s most anticipated books.

Maggie Robe, marketing and events manager, Flyleaf Books

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Classical pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason performs with NC Symphony 

Classical pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason joins Due South to discuss her musical family, her debut as a solo performer and her upcoming performances with the North Carolina Symphony Jan. 22-25.

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, classical pianist and performing artist

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Leoneda Inge chats with Dr. Bernice King, the youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, to discuss her family’s legacy, her work as a social justice strategist and the work of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change amid a changing political climate.

(This Due South encore edition originally aired August 13,2025.)

Dr. Bernice King, strategist, peace advocate and CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change

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The White House Executive Order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” cites content from the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) as an example of how the “Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”

The NMAAHC 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 NMAAHC and the challenges that it, and many other 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

North Carolina is the only state that didn't pass a budget in 2025, and probably won’t until April, at the earliest. 

Plus, changes to in-person early voting, a debate over property taxes, and the rest of the week’s biggest stories on our weekly North Carolina News Roundup.

Claudia Rivera Cotto, State Political Reporter for Enlace Latino NC

Gary Robertson, North Carolina Statehouse reporter for the Associated Press

Brian Gordon, reports on technology, business and labor for The News & Observer

Mary Helen Moore, reporter Axios Raleigh

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WRAL’s Paul Specht shares his recent reporting on a dispute between hospitals and sheriffs about where mental health evaluations for criminal suspects should happen.

Paul Specht, WRAL state government reporter

Related content: Paul Specht's recent reporting for WRAL:

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Public scholar, author and UNC-Chapel Hill associate professor Tressie McMillan Cottom joins Due South to share her thoughts about potential societal shifts in 2026 and sociopolitical expectations for the new year.

Tressie McMillan Cottom, public scholar, New York Times columnist, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science

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Comedian and daytime talk show host Sherri Shepherd brings her new stand-up comedy routine to Durham on January 17. Leoneda Inge talks to the longtime actress and entertainer about her career and her latest tour.

Sherri Shepherd, comedian, Daytime Emmy Award-winning TV personality, actress

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The first woman to head the nation’s second largest credit union talks overcoming failure, learning to lead, and the growth of female representation in banking.

Leigh Brady, President and CEO of the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU)

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Even with the best of intentions, New Year's resolutions can be hard to keep. Especially if they have to do with personal finance. Leoneda Inge speaks with a columnist who answers reader questions and shares ideas for how you can follow through on your financial resolutions.

Michelle Singletary, writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column and newsletter called The Color of Money for The Washington Post

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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.

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

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Sixty-five years ago, a state-wide fundraising effort saved a more than 70 million-pound, 700-foot long behemoth of a WWII warship from being scrapped. The USS North Carolina is now a museum in Wilmington, and it would not have made it there without the contributions of thousands of North Carolina children.

The museum now has an effort underway to collect the stories of the “kid heroes” who helped save the ship back in 1961.

Dr. Jay Martin, Executive Director, Battleship North Carolina

Camille Williams, fundraised as an elementary school student for the 1961 effort

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At James B. Hunt High School, Gov. Jim Hunt’s legacy endures

Eddie Doll, principal of James Baxter Hunt Jr. High School in Wilson, joins Due South to talk about Gov. Jim Hunt’s enduring education legacy.

Eddie Doll, principal, James B. Hunt High School

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Gov. Jim Hunt’s legacy as founder of the Institute for Emerging Issues

Leoneda Inge sits down with Anita Brown-Graham, former director of the Institute for Emerging Issues, founded by Gov. Jim Hunt. They discuss the early days of the institute and Gov. Hunt’s impact on intellectual discourse in North Carolina and beyond.

Anita Brown-Graham, founder and director of the ncIMPACT Initiative and the Gladys Hall Coates Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC School of Government

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The political legacy of Gov. Jim Hunt

The state’s longest serving governor, James B. Hunt Jr., has passed away. Longtime political ECU political science professor Tom Eamon joins Due South to discuss Gov. Hunt’s political impact on the state and what today’s politicians can learn from his governance. 

Dr. Thomas Eamon, professor of political science, East Carolina University

On the North Carolina News Roundup... 

Elected officials react to the operation in Venezuela, while largely remaining mum on the killing in Minneapolis, as the midterm primary emerges on the horizon. 

Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii and a panel of journalists wrap up the first week of 2026, with an ear toward the year to come.

Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief, The News & Observer

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

Zachery Eanes, reporter, Axios Raleigh

Danielle Battaglia, Capitol Hill correspondent, The News & Observer/The Charlotte Observer/McClatchy

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We're one year into President Trump’s second term and people are already talking about 2028. But the 2026 midterm election, featuring a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs in North Carolina, could have major impacts on the political landscape.

Due South’s Jeff Tiberii is joined by WUNC Capitol Bureau Chief Colin Campbell, as well as two political strategists, to talk about the March primary, and the stakes of November’s midterms – for North Carolina and beyond.

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC

Kimberly Reynolds, co-founder and partner at Maven Strategies, former Executive Director, North Carolina Democratic Party

Douglas Heye, Republican strategist and political commentator

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Hillside High School graduate and former band director Jordan Jones discusses his experience performing at the 2026 Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.

Jordan Jones, Hillside High School alumnus, former band director, Hillside High School