Due South

On the North Carolina News Roundup... Another week, another court ruling, and another brand-new Republican controlled State Board of Elections. Is the saga over? And what might this mean for that still-undecided state Supreme Court race? Meanwhile, at the General Assembly, lawmakers want to make promoting DEI an offense punishable by termination. Duke University moves to cut $350 million from its budget. Pay for public school teachers is again sliding, with educators falling closer to the bottom of the national rankings. A proposed overhaul to homebuilding regulations has many municipalities concerned. And it’s Stanley Cup Playoff time. The ‘Canes are skating on to the second round. Co-host Jeff Tiberii talks with a panel of journalists about those stories and more, on Due South. 

Featuring:

Mary Helen Moore, reporter with the NC Newsroom

Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief, The News & Observer

Laura Leslie, Capitol Bureau Chief, WRAL

Kayli Thompson, reporter for the Triangle Business Journal, covering commercial and residential real estate development

President Trump’s tariffs and trade war have left many business leaders fearful about their economic future. But some industries might benefit from the new policies. The Assembly’s Johanna Still recently reported on several North Carolina businesses welcoming tariffs. “Audacity in Motion,” a new exhibition at Ella West Gallery in downtown Durham, features mixed media explorations of the past and future, with an all-male artist lineup and several artists with deep connections to North Carolina. We hear from guests: Linda Shropshire, founder and owner of Ella West Gallery, and artists Justin Ellis, Steven M. Cozart and Lamar Whidbee. Durham native artist Ernie Barnes’ most famous painting, “The Sugar Shack,” is on display at the Mint Museum in Charlotte until June 20. We talk Jonathan Stuhlman, senior curator of American art, about the importance of Barnes’ work in American art history.

A new podcast takes a look at how America got such a divided media landscape from where we were 20 years ago. According to a Gallup poll, Americans believe they are more divided than ever, too. Eighty percent of Americans say the nation is “greatly divided” on “the most important values.”

One of Carolina Ballet’s founding members is wrapping her career as a principal dancer at the end of the 2025 season. Margaret Severin-Hansen began with the company in 1998 and will continue to work as an educator and director for two of its affiliate programs. We talk to her about her long and storied career and her plans for the future.

Guests

Ben Bradford, host of the mini series Engines of Outrage and the Landslide podcast by Nuance Tales and distributed by NPR

Margaret “Peggy” Severin-Hansen, principal dancer, director of the Ruth S. Shur Summer Intensive and co-chair of the School of Carolina Ballet

Today marks 100 days since Donald Trump was sworn into office for his second term, but efforts to deconstruct the administrative state were in motion long before his January inauguration. There is a framework by which the President, his advisers, and others conservatives have pursued this remaking of many government norms.

Durham-based writer David A. Graham is author of the recently released book The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America. He joins Due South's Jeff Tiberii to help us better understand that playbook.

Guest

David Graham, staff writer for The Atlantic; author of The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America

Chris Vitiello joins Leoneda Inge and Jeff Tiberii to discuss his work as Durham's poet laureate and as the Poetry Fox. Don Fick, founder and organizer of Repair Café NC, has been helping people fix lamps, clocks, toys, and even furniture for almost a decade. Don joins Due South’s Jeff Tiberii to talk about how Repair Cafe works to make things work once again – and helps build skills, and community, along the way.

On the North Carolina News Roundup...  Another development in the decade-long fight over control over the state election board. One Republican congressman is asking the Trump administration to remove red tape as Western North Carolina continues Helene recovery. The Trump administration's efforts to overhaul immigration are having reverberations in Durham and Charlotte. And with state lawmakers on recess, we’ll turn our attention to some more local issues in Zebulon, Pender County, and Lumberton. Plus, the prospects for Roy Cooper jumping into the 2026 US Senate Race. Co-host Jeff Tiberii talks with a panel of journalists about those stories and more, on Due South. 

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC

Claudia Rivera Cotto, Political Reporter, Enlace Latino NC

Brian Gordon, Business & Technology reporter for The News & Observer

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

Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and N.C. State University have all reported visa terminations for some international students. How higher education institutions are responding, and what it could mean for the reputation, and future, of some of the world’s top research universities.  

As the federal implementation date for the Real ID Act looms, North Carolinians in need of DMV appointments to obtain compliant identification are facing challenges due to the agency’s backlog of cases.

Through music, food, and literature, the upcoming Biscuits & Banjos festival in Durham plans to spark conversations, collaborations, and support for attendees.  

Guests
Aaron Sanchez-Guerra, Race, Class & Communities Reporter at WUNC

Richard Stradling, transportation reporter for The News & Observer

Cicely E. Mitchell, festival producer of Biscuits & Banjos, and the owner of Durham Jazz Club Missy Lane’s Assembly Room 

As warm weather emerges in North Carolina, so do the snakes. A reptile expert tells us how to observe — and enjoy — snakes from afar. Then, an emergency medicine doctor tells us what to do if you’re bitten by a venomous snake: first, stay calm, and second, seek medical care.

Featuring:

Jeff Hall, reptile conservation biologist, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

Charles J. Gerardo, MD, MHS, Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine and Professor, Emergency Medicine & Global Health, Duke University

The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice in Durham is a historical site dedicated to the commemoration of the life and work of Reverend Doctor Pauli Murray, a queer, Black human rights and social justice advocate, priest, poet and organizer from Durham. The museum opened to the public in 2024 and is located in and around Murray’s childhood home. 

Last week, the Center lost a federal grant of over $300,000 from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. Just weeks earlier, Pauli Murray’s biography page was removed from the National Park Service and the page for the Pauli Murray House was scrubbed of words like “queer” and “transgender.” 

Due South's Leoneda Inge talks with Angela Thorpe Mason, the Executive Director of the Pauli Murray Center. 

Then, a 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.

Due South's Leoneda Inge talks with Alice Randall, author of “My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present and Future.” And we welcome the future! Award-winning folk and country music artists Rhiannon Giddens and Rissi Palmer tell us how they’ve made it this far in the biz.

Alice Randall, Rhiannon Giddens, and Rissi Palmer will be in Durham later this week for Biscuits and Banjos – a music festival curated BY Rhiannon Giddens. Biscuits and Banjos runs April 25-27 in downtown Durham. Today’s conversation originally aired in April 2024. 

Featuring:

Alice Randall, author of My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future

Rhiannon Giddens, singer, musician and music historian

Rissi Palmer, country and Americana recording artist and host of the Apple Music Podcast, Color Me Country