Due South

Leoneda Inge chats with a panel of local reporters about this week's top North Carolina news stories. Guests: Dawn Vaughan, Capital Bureau Chief, News & Observer; Danielle Battaglia, Washington, D.C. correspondent, News & Observer/Charlotte Observer; Bryan Anderson, reporter, Anderson Alerts

NC’s Latino churches manage concern over possible ICE visits 
With news of the Trump Administration’s authorization for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to visit churches, once protected spaces, to make arrests, the state’s predominantly Latino churches are working to prepare their congregations for potential interactions during services. Celeste Headlee talks to Ricardo Correa, pastor of Monte Sinai Durham. 
Ricardo Correa, pastor of Monte Sinai Durham, state director and national advocacy director for the National Hispanic Pastors Alliance

Ten years ago, three young Muslim Americans were murdered in Chapel Hill in a case that received national and international attention.
What was first called a “parking dispute” by police and many media outlets was eventually shown to be what the victims’ families and countless others knew immediately – that the murders were hate crimes. Filmmaker Tarek Albaba joins co-host Leoneda Inge to talk about his documentary about the murders, “36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime." We are also joined by Durham District Attorney Satana Deberry and UNC law professor Joseph Kennedy.
Tarek Albaba, filmmaker, director of "36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime"
Satana Deberry, District Attorney, Durham County
Joseph Kennedy, Willie Person Mangum Distinguished Professor, and Martha Brandis Term Professor of Law, UNC School of Law

WCPSS Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor speaks with Leoneda Inge about the district's policy on potential ICE visits. Dr. Brian Klausner stops by the studio to discuss his work with treating patients experiencing chronic homelessness in Raleigh. National Geographic Explorer in Residence Tara Roberts discusses her new book, Written in the Waters: A Memoir of Home, History, and Belonging. 

Due South kicks off a series of conversations with mayors in our region to get to know the stories behind the people leading our towns and cities. 

We begin with a conversation with a former mayor — the longest serving mayor in Durham's history, Bill Bell. Leoneda Inge talks with Bell in our Durham studio about his legacy, the challenges and opportunities facing the Bull City, and about the downtown Durham street that was recently renamed in his honor: William V. “Bill” Bell Way.

In our second "Meet the Mayors" conversation, Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee shares her family’s history of political and civic engagement, talks about balancing life as a part-time mayor with her full-time job, and delves into Carrboro’s lawsuit against Duke Energy.

Then, in a conversation originally aired on Dec. 17, 2024, student-athlete Kyrstin Johnson reflects on her all-too-brief experience as a gymnast at Talladega College, only the second Historically Black College and University to have a gymnastics team. Johnson won a college national championship in vault for Talladega in April 2024 and three months later, the program at Talladega was forced to end, due to lack of funding. She’s now competing for the women’s gymnastics team at Temple University, where Kyrstin's hip hop floor routine featuring Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" recently caught the attention of the internet.

How historic markers are approved in North Carolina
North Carolina highway historical markers can be seen all across the state – and these markers can make a big difference when it comes to which NC stories, historical moments, and people are memorialized and commemorated. Leoneda Inge talks to Ansley Herring Wegner of the NC Office of Archives and History about how markers are approved and what it takes to get a marker erected and noticed by the public.
Ansley Herring Wegner, Supervisor, Historical Research and Publications, North Carolina Office of Archives and History

A Raleigh post office is renamed in honor of Millie Dunn Veasey, a NC-born "Six Triple Eight" member
In January 2025, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law, re-naming a Raleigh Post Office on Brentwood Road as Millie Dunn Veasey Post Office. Born in Raleigh in 1918, Veasey was a member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) from 1942-1945.
Dr. Alyshia Smith, CEO of the Durham V-A Health Care System
Yves-Marie Applewhite, Assistant Director for Experience for the Durham V-A Health Care System

A new one-man show celebrates NC's Black veterans
Dr. Sonny Kelly’s one-man show, The Ongoing Fight for Freedom: Stories of NC Black Veterans, is his most recent effort to preserve, and popularize, the history of Black North Carolinians.
Sonny Kelly, Phd., actor and instructor of Communication at Fayetteville Technical Community College

A panel of local reporters unpack the week's top stories, including the legal battle for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, financial help for damage from Hurricane Helene, immigration crackdowns and the state's first stand-alone children’s hospital. 

And a check-in with WFAE's environmental reporter Zach Turner about federal climate policy changes under the Trump administration, and what they mean for the state's energy use and climate emissions plans.

Guests: 

Claudia Rivera Cotto, reporter at Enlace Latino NC 

Rusty Jacobs, Voting and Election Integrity Reporter at WUNC 

Lucille Sherman, Axios Raleigh Reporter

Zack Turner, WFAE Environmental Reporter

NPR Music's Sidney Madden chats with Leoneda Inge about the Southern women dominating this year's rap nominations at the Grammys. Mary Lambeth Moore discusses her podcast, Recovering Debs, which tackles the complicated history of North Carolina's debutante societies. Dr. Nikita Y. Harris discusses her mission to archive artifacts from Black debutante societies across the country. 

UNC-Chapel Hill psychology and neuroscience professor Kurt Gray joins Due South co-host Leoneda Inge to talk about his book, Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground. And Leoneda Inge chats with North Carolina poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green about her current work and her approach to writing.

Sandra A. Gutierrez, Nancie McDermott and Ryan Mitchell are three chefs and cookbook authors whose work distinguishes them as authorities in their fields. 

Recently, they gathered at Croasdaile Country Club in Durham to discuss their passion for Latin America, Asia and Southern cuisines, respectively, with Due South co-host Leoneda Inge.

This Due South encore conversation originally aired in March 2024. 

Guests 

Sandra A. Gutierrez, food journalist, professional cooking instructor and author of five cookbooks, including The New Southern-Latino Table and Latinismo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America

Nancie McDermott, cooking teacher and author of fourteen cookbooks, including The Wok & Skillet Cookbook: 300 Recipes for Stir-Frys and Noodles

Ryan Mitchell, pitmaster, co-author of Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque and co-founder of True Made Foods

Jenn White speaks with Leoneda Inge about covering the news in this current moment, the second Trump term, and her "If You Can Keep It" series about politics and democracy on 1A.

And, Anisa Khalifa host of WUNC's podcast The Broadside shares the story of how tax incentives, BBQ, and Bojangles helped make the Tar Heel State the epicenter of Japanese investment.

Plus, Bill Arthur talks about his article in The Assembly about Southern Season's humble beginnings, how it became a Triangle area institution, and the legacy it left behind.

Guests:

Jenn White, host of NPR and WAMU's 1A

Anisa Khalifa, host of WUNC's podcast Embodied

Bill Arthur, freelance writer and former reporter for The Charlotte Observer