Due South

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A Segment: Year in Review: A WUNC reporter recaps the biggest higher education stories of 2025  

WUNC reporter Brianna Atkinson joins co-host Leoneda Inge to talk about the biggest higher education stories of 2025.

Brianna Atkinson, Higher Education Reporter, WUNC

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B Segment: HBCU 101: Enrollment by the Numbers

In a post-affirmative action landscape, some HBCUs are seeing record high enrollment. North Carolina Central University is one of them. Due South sits down with Dr. Ontario S. Wooden, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, to discuss what keeps the university’s enrollment numbers high.

Ontario S. Wooden, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, North Carolina Central University

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C Segment: As the new year begins, ACA enrollees see significant changes to coverage and costs

KFF Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby joins Due South to discuss the changes to the Affordable Care Act in 2026 and how enrollees will be impacted.

Julie Appleby, senior correspondent, KFF Health News

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Efforts are still underway to rebuild roads, bridges, and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. The mayor of Canton wants to make sure his town in the Southern Appalachian Mountains is not forgotten. Meet Zeb Smathers – the long-time Mayor of Canton and his fight to make sure his community is rebuilt after Helene.

Zeb Smathers, Mayor of Canton since November 2017, attorney at Smathers and Smathers Attorneys At Law

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We’re starting off 2026 with a series of interviews with some of the big thinkers in our own backyard: about their resolutions and community-level solutions to help frame up the new year. First up, a conversation about family formation.

Karen Guzzo, family demographer, sociology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and Director of the Carolina Population Center

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The Big Recount: Covering the 2000 presidential election ballot challenge

Leoneda Inge and WFAE’s Steve Harrison talk about their experiences covering the 2000 presidential election ballot challenge.

In 2000, Harrison was covering the Bush/Gore election for the Miami Herald. He shares stories from that time and reflects on an event that reshaped American politics 25 years later.

Steve Harrison, politics reporter at WFAE-Charlotte’s NPR News Source, and former reporter for the Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer.

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The Big Recount: A political scientist weighs in

Leoneda Inge speaks with North Carolina Central University professor Dr. Jarvis Hall about the 25-year anniversary of the Bush/Gore election.

Jarvis Hall, associate professor of political science at North Carolina Central University

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The Big Recount: A radio diary from Florida, the center of the political universe, in 2000

Leoneda Inge speaks with a former student about her time covering the Bush/Gore election recount in a radio production course at Florida A&M University. 

Kara Palmer Smith was a FAMU journalism student and radio producer at the time of the 2000 election ballot recount and following legal challenge. She followed the story as her final project in college.

Kara Palmer Smith, FAMU journalism student and radio producer at the time of the 2000 election

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One North Carolina restaurant in Charlotte has earned one of food’s highest honors. But the Triangle didn’t get completely left off the map. Plus, what the news and various Michelin lists and guides say you should check out in the state and region.

Drew Jackson, food and restaurant reporter at The News & Observer

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Emmy Award-winning chef and cooking show host Carla Hall has teamed up with entrepreneur and executive coach Deb Riegel to launch a new website and program – “The Me Menu” – to help other women find organization, direction and inspiration in middle age.

Carla Hall, chef, author and television personality

Deb Riegel, entrepreneur, executive coach and motivational speaker, co-founders of The Me Menu

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How the restaurant leaders will use the $50,000, and how The Chicken Hut fits into Durham history as host to famous and influential Civil Rights leaders.

Tre Tapp, second-generation owner of the Chicken Hut

We're taking a short break, but will have new episodes for you again next week!

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Stafford Braxton was working as a photographer with a mall Santa when he noticed a trend: Black families would approach him and ask if there was a Santa their kids could visit who looked more like them. Braxton realized there was a need to fill and "Santas Just Like Me" was born.

Braxton talks with co-host Leoneda Inge about getting that business off the ground, the joys and challenges of the work and the persistence it often takes to recruit his Santas.

Later in the hour, Warren Keyes and Joe Griffin, also known as Santa Warren and Santa Joe, meet Leoneda in the studio to talk about how they got into their work with "Santas Just Like Me" and what it means to them to be part of this expanding group of Santas from Charlotte to Greensboro to Durham to Raleigh. (This interview originally aired on Dec 6, 2023.)

Stafford Braxton, founder of "Santas Just Like Me"

Joe Griffin, aka Santa Joe

Warren Keyes, aka Santa Warren

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After more than 130 years, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has gained full federal recognition. Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii talks with Sarah Nagem of the Border Belt Independent about that journey. We also hear from three past Due South guests who share their reactions to the news and their hopes for the future of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

Sarah Nagem, editor, Border Belt Independent

Brittany Hunt, Assistant Professor, School of Education at Virginia Tech

Ronny Bell, Fred Eshelman Professor and Chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ryan Emanuel, Associate Professor, Duke University, and author of On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice

Listen to Due South's previous conversations with Brittany Hunt, Ryan Emanuel, and Ronny Bell and his brother Joseph Bell, MD. Dr. Joseph Bell, the first Native American pediatrician in North Carolina, passed away in June.

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Leoneda Inge and WFAE’s Steve Harrison talk about their experiences covering the 2000 presidential election ballot challenge. 

In 2000, Harrison was covering the Bush/Gore election for the Miami Herald. He shares stories from that time and reflects on an event that reshaped American politics 25 years later.

Steve Harrison, politics reporter at WFAE-Charlotte’s NPR News Source, and former reporter for the Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer.

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Leoneda Inge speaks with North Carolina Central University professor Dr. Jarvis Hall about the 25-year anniversary of the Bush/Gore election.

Jarvis Hall, associate professor of political science at North Carolina Central University

0:33:00

Leoneda Inge speaks with a former student about her time covering the Bush/Gore election recount in a radio production course at Florida A&M University. 

Kara Palmer Smith was a FAMU journalism student and radio producer at the time of the 2000 election ballot recount and following legal challenge. She followed the story as her final project in college.

Kara Palmer Smith, FAMU journalism student and radio producer at the time of the 2000 election

On this week’s North Carolina News Roundup, we widen our lens to talk about some of the biggest stories of the year: Lumbee recognition, immigration raids, the NC Supreme Court race, redistricting, Chantal and Helene recovery, and no state budget are just a few of the topics covered by co-host Jeff Tiberii and a panel of reporters.

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

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC

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

Claudia Rivera Cotto, Political Reporter, Enlace Latino NC

Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief, The News & Observer

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From data centers to gas pipelines to PFAS, WUNC reporter Celeste Gracia talks with co-host Leoneda Inge about the biggest North Carolina environmental stories of the 2025.

Celeste Gracia, Environment Reporter, WUNC

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Exploitation in sports is nothing new. And when we think about power dynamics, marginalized athletes and missed educational opportunities, we often think of collegiate players. Yet the manipulation of young athletes is not confined just to college campuses. It can permeate into the youth ranks, and impact those arriving from outside America.

Javier Wallace is a former athlete and now a postdoctoral associate of African and African American studies at Duke University. Wallace joins co-host Jeff Tiberii to talk about his new book, Basketball Trafficking: Stolen Black Panamanian Dreams.

Javier Wallace, postdoctoral associate of African and African American studies, Duke University

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Elena Schneider reports on concerns that congressional and local Republican representatives have, and discusses how North Carolinians’ response could shape the balance of power in Washington.

Elena Schneider, a national political reporter, Politico

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Year in Review: WUNC reporters recap biggest stories of the year

WUNC's Race, Class & Communities Reporter Aaron Sánchez-Guerra talks about immigration raids, the climate of fear felt in many North Carolina communities, and the other big stories he covered in 2025.

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra, Race, Class & Communities Reporter, WUNC

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A new investigation by The Assembly finds North Carolina’s “…Lawyers Who Kept Screwing Up”

Federal judges repeatedly cited lack of professionalism and timeliness from state lawyers in federal court. Even after repeated efforts for change, judges worry there isn’t a clear mechanism for meaningful consequences that could change the behavior. The state says it doesn’t have enough lawyers, and those it does have are overworked.

Jeffrey Billman, is a politics and law reporter for The Assembly

Michael Hewlett, is a criminal justice reporter for The Assembly

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Comedian Alonzo Bodden talks aviation, family and returning to Raleigh for New Year’s Eve

Alonzo Bodden is a comedy veteran with more than 20 years in the stand-up game. A frequent guest on NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, Bodden got his start in aviation before pivoting to a career in humor. He will perform on New Year’s Eve at the Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh.

Alonzo Bodden, stand-up comedian and actor