Due South

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The co-owners of Gourmand, a French rotisserie, struck out to open a stand-alone restaurant in Asheville’s River Arts District. But before they could open, Hurricane Helene ruined everything. The co-owners are still making food. And still waiting for their restaurant to be service-ready.

Peyton Barrell and Katie Grabach, co-owners of Gourmand, a French Rotisserie restaurant that was set to open in Asheville’s River Arts District before Hurricane Helene

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The Biltmore Estate in Asheville is the largest privately-owned home in the country. The majestic manse welcomes countless visitors each year, but since sustaining significant damage after Helene, the Biltmore has had to work tirelessly to restore its grounds.

Leoneda Inge talks to Chase Pickering, Vice President, Biltmore House Guest Experience & Operations, and fifth-generation Vanderbilt, about the work it’s taken to bounce back.

Chase Pickering, Vice President, Biltmore House Guest Experience & Operations, and fifth-generation Vanderbilt

0:33:00

Parts of Asheville and the surrounding areas are still recovering, one year after Hurricane Helene. But others, like downtown, are already making a comeback. Leoneda Inge talks with Vic Isley of Explore Asheville about the area's recovery efforts and message to visitors.

Vic Isley, President and CEO of Explore Asheville

On the North Carolina News Roundup... 

A mass shooting in the idyllic coastal town of Southport. We learn more about the victims, and the alleged gunman. 

A federal government shutdown could carry on for weeks - how will NC be impacted? 

And a standoff over Medicaid funding continues between the governor and state legislature. 

Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii and a panel of journalists cover the week in NC news.

Guests

Jay Price, Military Reporter, WUNC

Benjamin Schachtman, news director, WHQR Wilmington

Bryan Anderson, freelance reporter, creator of the “Anderson Alerts” newsletter

Claudia Rivera Cotto, Political Reporter, Enlace Latino NC

Michael Hewlett, staff writer for The Assembly who concentrates on criminal justice

Reuben Jones, Washington reporter covering North Carolina, Spectrum News

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With what could be a lengthy federal government shutdown underway, we chat with a DC-based North Carolina reporter, about some of the local impacts of the work and service stoppages.

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

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Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina passed a wide-ranging crime bill that now sits on Governor Stein’s desk. It follows the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, a brutal murder that garnered national attention and stoked political rhetoric around crime and punishment. 

State legislatures across the country have passed laws aimed at improving public safety. But how much impact does legislation have on addressing crime? A report from UNC School of Law finds that more severe criminal laws and punishments do not bring down crime.

Carissa Byrne Hessick, professor of law at UNC School of Law

0:33:00

On her latest album, Marcella Simien plays piano, harmonium, accordion, guitar, and drums, to name just a few. Bringing a wide range of instruments and musical traditions together is her special sauce. From her Creole roots and Zydeco-infused upbringing in Louisiana to the soul music in her new home of Memphis, Simien weaves together new sounds, while staying true to her heritage. 

Simien will be performing with Chicago-based fiddle player and singer-songwriter Anne Harris on October 3rd in Durham as the duo “Magnolias”-- part of PLAYlist, a free concert series presented by Durham Central Park and WNCU 90.7FM. Ahead of that performance, she sat down for an interview with Due South’s Leoneda Inge.

Marcella Simien, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist

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Riverside High School grad Wildin Acosta discusses new book about his 2016 deportation case

In 2016, Wildin Acosta, a senior at Riverside High School in Durham, was detained by ICE agents on his way to school. The Honduras native was kept in detention for months. Students and faculty at Riverside raised media attention about his case through protests, social media campaigns and news coverage, ultimately resulting in his release. Riverside journalism teacher Bryan Christopher worked with Acosta to write a new book about Acosta’s experience.

Wildin Acosta, Riverside High School graduate, who faced deportation as a student

Bryan Christopher, author of Stopping the Deportation Machine: One Immigrant Student’s Arrest and the Kids Who Took on Washington to Get Him Back

Aaron Sanchez Guerra, WUNC’s race, class and communities reporter

0:33:00

Novant Health marks the success of four Michael Jordan Family Clinics in Charlotte and Wilmington

North Carolina ranks tenth in the nation among states with the most uninsured residents. Winston-Salem-based health system Novant Health is working to address this, with the help of NBA legend Michael Jordan. Novant has opened four Michael Jordan Family Clinics since 2019, two in Charlotte and two in Wilmington.

Dr. Michael Hoben, family physician and Chief Medical Officer Population Health Services at Novant Health

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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.

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

0:33:00

Leoneda Inge talks to the Greensboro native Daphne Fama about her debut gothic horror novel, House of Monstrous Women. The novel is set in the Philippines in 1986 and draws on Fama’s childhood experiences of listening to Filipino folklore. She talks about the experience of crafting the book, including researching black magic in the Philippines.

Daphne Fama, author of “House of Monstrous Women”

Twenty years ago, the old-time string band Carolina Chocolate Drops turned heads and wowed audiences. They were young. They were Black. And with their fiddles and banjos, they launched a movement that would challenge long-standing stereotypes about traditional music in America. 

Today we’re sharing a special program called “Reclaiming the Banjo” – a collaboration between WPLN in Nashville, Tennessee and WUNC’s podcast The Broadside. 

It’s all about a Black folk music revival sweeping the country and its deep roots in North Carolina. We follow the movement to reclaim the Black roots of folk and country music we’ll travel from a festival in our backyard all the way to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

• More from The Broadside

On the North Carolina News Roundup...Today, Due South broadcasts from Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville. It has been one year since Helene caused widespread destruction in Western North Carolina. One hundred and eight people died in what was the deadliest modern storm in state history, and the total damage in the region exceeded $60 billion. Co-host Jeff Tiberii talks with reporters from BPR about what happened a year ago in Western NC, and what has happened since. Also, political updates, including the crime bill sent to Governor Josh Stein's desk.

Laura Hackett, Helene Recovery Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Lilly Knoepp, Senior Regional Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Helen Chickering, Morning Edition Host and Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

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

Mary Helen Moore, reporter, Axios Raleigh

It has been one year since Helene. We honor the first anniversary with a collection of voices and stories, from Western North Carolina. Remembering the deadliest storm in modern history and looking ahead, a year after Helene. 

This hour of Due South is a collection of voices of those who lived through the storm and includes reports on some of the lingering issues that face the region.

Featuring:

Leah Wong Ashburn, President/CEO Highland Brewing

Maureen Copelof, Mayor of Brevard

Kevin Corbin, NC state Senator

Beth Holmes, Spruce Pine Town Council

Lilly Knoepp, Senior Regional Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR)

Laura Hackett, Helene Recovery Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR)

Zachary Turner, Climate Reporter, WFAE

Amy Diaz, Education Reporter, WFDD

Katie Meyers, Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR)

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The effort to end DEI programs across the federal government is having a range of impacts, including the future of science. Due South’s Jeff Tiberii talks with Lynn Bonner and Brandon Kingdollar of NC Newsline about their recent article titled “NC’s next generation of scientists fear careers are going ‘up in smoke’ as NIH grants end.”

Lynn Bonner, Investigative Reporter,  NC Newsline
Brandon Kingdollar, Reporter, NC Newsline

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A program supporting graduate students at Duke University was recently shut down. The Chronicle’s Dylan Halper asked why. Dylan talks with Leoneda Inge about reporting the story titled “School of Medicine abruptly shutters grad support program, ‘DEI’ office without warning students or faculty”. Two people directly impacted by the closure also join the conversation.

Dylan Halper, University News Editor, The Chronicle
Jennifer Ocasio, PhD, former director of BioCoRE (Biosciences Collaborative for Research Engagement)
Kavya Raghunathan, PhD candidate in cell biology, Duke University

0:33:00

Today, as we explore the local impact of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle DEI, we turn to our national parks. The National Park Service faces funding cuts while also grappling with the White House’s directive to move away from what it calls “divisive” ideology in telling the history of our country. Due South’s Leoneda Inge talks about national and regional impacts with Jeff Hunter of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Jeff Hunter, Southern Appalachian Director, National Parks Conservation Association

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What the state’s most recent job numbers say about growth, and how North Carolina’s economy is doing while much of the U.S. is in a holding pattern from the global trade war.

Michael Walden, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at NC State University

The two previous recessions in the U.S. disproportionately affected specific economic and demographic groups. Future recessions could be even worse, according to a new study by economists with the liberal Economic Policy Institute.

Valerie Wilson, Director, Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute

Ismael Cid Martinez, economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy

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 new memoir Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries and a professor of English Studies at Western Carolina University