Due South

If you live in the Triangle and eat at local restaurants, you’ve likely indulged your palate at one of Giorgios Bakatsias’ cafes, bistros, or tavernas. Giorgios’ restaurant empire dots the region’s culinary landscape, from Chapel Hill to Durham to Raleigh to Wake Forest, and in recent years even expanding out to Wilmington. And after more than four decades in the business, the eatery entrepreneur does not seem inclined to slow his pace anytime soon. 

Then, from the social movements underpinning Social Security and Medicare to the hit TV show "The Golden Girls," James Chappel takes Due South on a journey through American aging, and what the future of aging in our country might look like. His new book is Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age.

Sports are a cornerstone of HBCU culture. They secure exposure, sponsorship and funding for storied and longstanding African American academic institutions that have often been chronically underfunded. 

For this edition of HBCU 101, Leoneda Inge takes a trip into the world of college sports and the critical role sports play at historically Black colleges and universities. 

She chats with Vaughn Wilson of HBCU GameDay about this season's football results and basketball prospects. 

Then CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams-Parker discusses the challenges and joys of being the first-ever woman to run the oldest Black athletic conference in the country. 

And student-athlete Kyrstin Johnson reflects on all-too-brief experience as a gymnast at Talladega College, only the second HBCU 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. 

Guests

Vaughn Wilson, president of Mega Ace Media and HBCU GameDay contributor

Jacqie McWilliams-Parker, commissioner of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association

Kyrstin Johnson, student-athlete and college national champion in vault

N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson is one of the longest serving at a major public research university in recent years, especially in North Carolina. He talks with Leoneda Inge about what he's learned on the job, the highs and lows, and reflects on his long career at NC State. *encore edition - this segment originally aired in August 2024* 

WUNC’s Music Reporter Brian Burns shares NC albums from this year that you should listen to.

Guests

Randy Woodson, Chancellor, N.C. State University

Brian Burns, WUNC Music Reporter 

Jeff Tiberii discusses the week's news with a panel of reporters, including the GOP vote to override Gov. Cooper's veto and the appointment of Bill Belichick to head football coach at UNC Chapel Hill. Guests: Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC; Mitch Northam, Digital Producer, WUNC; Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief, The News & Observer; Lynn Bonner, Investigative Reporter, NC Newsline; Danielle Battaglia, Capitol Hill correspondent, The News & Observer/The Charlotte Observer/McClatchy

In 2024, farms in North Carolina already faced challenges in the form of drought and extreme heat. Then, Tropical Storm Helene brought landslides and flooding to western NC, eroding topsoil and depositing contaminated debris on farmland.

North Carolina Opera is staging a new play based on the life and work of Mary Cardwell Dawson, a voice teacher, opera singer and the founding director of the National Negro Opera Company. 

The Walltown’s Children’s Theatre in Durham has worked for years to bring diverse performers to the stage, giving audiences a taste of the traditional holiday show with enough spin and pizzazz to keep them wanting more.

Guests

Jane Winik Sartwell, staff reporter, Carolina Public Press

Denyce Graves, mezzo soprano, U.S. Global Music Ambassador and founder of The Denyce Graves Foundation

Kim Pacheco, Director of the Walltown Children’s Theatre production "A Christmas Carol: What the Dickens?"

Bill Belichick, who amassed eight Super Bowl victories and more than 300 wins across an illustrious professional coaching career, has signed on to be the next head football coach at Carolina. 

The deal is pending final approval from the Chapel Hill board of Trustees and UNC Board of Governors.

WUNC's Mitch Northam chats with Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii about the latest. 

Guest

Mitch Northam, digital producer at WUNC

After 12 years, the UNC women’s soccer team has reclaimed its title as the NCAA women’s soccer national champion. The News & Observer contributing writer Shelby Swanson was at the game in Cary, where the Tar Heels beat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and tells Due South’s Jeff Tiberii about the goal that won the championship and how the team's "interim" head coach is interim no more.

Then, Ryan Emanuel is a member of the Lumbee Tribe and a professor of hydrology at Duke University. He talks with Jeff Tiberii about his book, On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice, in a wide-ranging and also personal conversation about land and water in what is now eastern North Carolina.

North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarships grow.

Some schools started as “Segregation Academies” in NC that are still operating and more than 85 percent white are receiving taxpayer money.

And, the politics of School Choice in NC.

Guests:

-Liz Schlemmer, education reporter WUNC

-Jennifer Berry Hawes, is a reporter with ProPublica’s South hub who focuses on criminal justice, religion, race and the welfare of women and children

-Josh Cowen, a Professor of Education Policy at Michigan State University and the author of The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers

-Lynn Edmonds, is the Outreach Director at Public Schools First NC and a representative on the Wake County School Board

-Brian Jodice, is the Executive Vice President with Parents for Educational Freedom in NC

In his new book, Facing the Unseen: The Struggle to Center Mental Health in Medicine, Dr. Damon Tweedy writes about the many barriers to access and makes a case for destigmatizing mental illness and care. Dr. Damon Tweedy is professor of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine and a staff physician at the Durham VA Health Care System.

On the North Carolina News Roundup…

Protesters gathered on Jones Street at the state legislature this week in opposition to a bill aimed at stripping some powers from Democrats. In Carrboro, local leaders are suing Duke Energy over climate change. A deep dive into what House Bill 10 means for immigration enforcement in North Carolina. And, the final four teams competing for the 2024 NCAA Division 1 women's soccer championship include three teams from North Carolina.

Join Jeff Tiberii and a panel of reporters for context and analysis of the week's news.

Guests

Claudia Rivera Cotto, Political Reporter, Enlace Latino NC

Gary Robertson, Statehouse Reporter, Associated Press

Paul Specht, Politics/PolitiFact reporter, WRAL

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra, Race, Class and Communities reporter, WUNC

Elle Chavis, Reporter, Duke Chronicle