Tariffs, trade wars, and market turbulence are enough to make anyone nervous. At the same time, many of the Triangle’s grant-supported researchers and federal workers are also facing job insecurity. It’s enough to make anyone desperate for some sage financial advice. The Washington Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary joins Due South’s Leoneda Inge to share some hard truths and provide some hope for a path forward. Guest Michelle Singletary , personal finance columnist , The Washi...
May 13, 2025•50 min
Editor's note: This Due South interview was recorded before recent tariff negotiations with China. The prices of imported goods are almost certain to go up, as tariffs from the U.S. take effect. While President Trump has instated a 90-day pause, it doesn’t apply to a 145% tariff on China. And, NC School districts relied on federal funding to buy local produce, but that federal funding is now gone. Plus, NPR’s Emily Feng shares stories of a growing and changing China in Let Only Red Flowers Bloom...
May 12, 2025•50 min
On the North Carolina News Roundup... A resolution in the state Supreme Court race, six months after Election Day. Jefferson Griffin, the Republican challenger, conceded defeat to Allison Riggs, the Democratic incumbent. Griffin lost in November and spent months exhausting legal challenges. There is new oversight at the NC State Board of Elections, with Republicans now in control. What does that mean in a state that is often home to razor-thin margins? And US Senator Thom Tillis breaks again wit...
May 09, 2025•50 min
Six months after the election, we have a resolution from November's NC Supreme Court race. Jefferson Griffin, a Republican, conceded to Allison Riggs, the Democratic incumbent, ending months of challenges. Plus, the NC State Board of Elections is now controlled by Republicans, and for the first time in more than a century, no longer under the purview of the Governor. What does this mean for election administration in our state? Political scientist Chris Cooper fills us in. Then, even under the b...
May 07, 2025•50 min
Each spring, High Point, North Carolina becomes the center of furniture design and manufacturing during the Spring Market. This year there was a twist – a looming tariff war. Plus, how two students' lives have changed, a year after an Israel-Palestine protest. Student activist Laura Saavedra Forero’s prestigious Morehead-Cain scholarship was suspended for a semester after she was charged with impeding traffic and resisting an officer at a pro-Palestinian protest. Brendan Rosenblum held an Israel...
May 06, 2025•50 min
Real IDs go into effect May 7; Why does everyone hate the DMV?; 'Sinners' captures the Deep South
May 05, 2025•50 min
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...
May 02, 2025•50 min
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. W...
May 01, 2025•36 min
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 educa...
Apr 30, 2025•36 min
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 b...
Apr 29, 2025•37 min
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.
Apr 28, 2025•37 min
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. ...
Apr 25, 2025•38 min
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...
Apr 24, 2025•36 min
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,...
Apr 23, 2025•36 min
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 ...
Apr 22, 2025•38 min
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 do...
Apr 21, 2025•50 min
Who has access to homeownership in North Carolina? Spring is typically home buying time, but housing affordability concerns combined with general economic uncertainty may mean that even fewer people in the Triangle are looking or able to buy homes. News & Observer real estate journalist Chantal Allam joins co-host Jeff Tiberii to talk about the homeownership gap, the history of restrictive covenants in our region, and who has access to homeownership in North Carolina now. Chantal Allam , Rea...
Apr 18, 2025•50 min
Commerce and economic leaders in North Carolina say many large companies are in a holding pattern, waiting to make decisions on new factories, or other major investments. During Reconstruction, a community of free Black residents formed a “kingdom” in Western North Carolina. They called it “Happy Land.” Novelist Dolen Perkins Valdez’s new book of the same name gives a fictionalized account of this little-known Appalachian history. And, a book about fixing the problems that lead to Black women fa...
Apr 17, 2025•50 min
The latest update in NC's Supreme Court race We get an update on the still-undecided election for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Judges recently broke with precedent in upholding a lower-court ruling. Still, the saga is not over. Next stop: federal court. WUNC’s Rusty Jacobs fills us in. Rusty Jacobs , Voting and Election Integrity Reporter, WUNC ‘Why it's so hard to find a good couch’ from WUNC's podcast The Broadside Ahead of the High Point Spring Market, a look into the ways the ...
Apr 16, 2025•50 min
Due South’s Leoneda Inge talks with Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz, an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and director of the Native Policy Lab at the University of Iowa, about her recently published book, The Indian Card: Who Gets to be Native in America . Then, NC A&T professor Leah Barlow made a TikTok for the 35 students in her Intro to African American Studies class. It ended up reaching millions and inspired an online network of Black educators providing free lectures call...
Apr 15, 2025•50 min
The remains of a North Carolina WWII veteran return home The remains of one of the final victims of the Pearl Harbor bombing have been identified and brought to North Carolina. Neil Frye was 20 years old, and serving as a Mess Attendant 3rd Class in the Navy on the USS West Virginia. For decades, his relatives wanted final confirmation that Frye died, but until recently his remains had not been identified. Jay Price , Military reporter for WUNC The town of Fountain is the latest stop on our Main...
Apr 14, 2025•50 min
On the NC News Roundup... We take a look at the local economic impact of fast-paced tariff developments, check in on state legislative happenings and discuss why Tax Day has been extended in North Carolina. Co-host Jeff Tiberii talks with a panel of journalists about those stories and more, on Due South. Guests: Dawn Vaughan , Capital Bureau Chief, News & Observer; Lynn Bonner , Investigative Reporter, NC Newsline; Adam Wagner , Editor/Reporter, NC Newsroom; Reuben Jones , Spectrum News Wash...
Apr 11, 2025•50 min
The latest in the ongoing saga over NC’s Supreme Court seat. What Republican Jefferson Griffin’s win (for now) with the state appeals court means, and what happens next. With the fast-approaching, sold-out live taping at DPAC, Peter Sagal needs all the help he can get to prepare. Thankfully, he’s got a one-on-one study session with Due South’s Leoneda Inge. But he better get ready, because she’s got a news quiz of her own for him… And, the Environmental Protection Agency's largest facility in Re...
Apr 10, 2025•50 min
Lush language abounds in local naturalist’s book about the ‘Wild South’ Spring in the South brings a bevy of sights and sounds. In her new book, naturalist and writer Georgann Eubanks chronicles fifteen natural phenomena from across the region that are simultaneously routine and breathtaking. Eubanks talks with Due South’s Leoneda Inge about The Fabulous Ordinary: Discovering the Natural Wonders of the Wild South. Georgann Eubanks , author of The Fabulous Ordinary: Discovering the Natural Wonder...
Apr 09, 2025•50 min
How a political power grab led to unprecedented control of funds for sexual abuse survivor programs in NC A budget move by Republican lawmakers in North Carolina redirected funding for sexual assault victims “away from Democratic-led agencies that had long overseen such money,” ProPublica reports. Doug Bock Clark , reporter in ProPublica’s South Unit. Hummingbird season begins in NC If you’re a bird watcher or even just someone with a keen eye, you may spot those fast-fluttering wonders – hummin...
Apr 08, 2025•50 min
Who has access to homeownership in North Carolina? Spring is typically home buying time, but housing affordability concerns combined with general economic uncertainty may mean that even fewer people in the Triangle are looking or able to buy homes. News & Observer real estate journalist Chantal Allam joins co-host Jeff Tiberii to talk about the homeownership gap, the history of restrictive covenants in our region, and who has access to homeownership in North Carolina now. Chantal Allam , Rea...
Apr 07, 2025•50 min
On the North Carolina News Roundup... Financial markets take a tumble after the president’s latest announcement on tariffs. Some Republicans are pushing back and speaking out. Including North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis who says tariffs could do irreparable harm to North Carolina farmers. Will his overtures make any difference in the ongoing trade wars? Two NC State students have left the country after their visas were revoked by the State Department. The university says no reason was given. An...
Apr 04, 2025•50 min
The Duke men's basketball team plays in the Final Four this weekend and has its sights set on a possible sixth national championship. While the program’s success is clear, its history is complicated. Javier Wallace, a postdoctoral associate at Duke University and a former college athlete, teaches a class at Duke called "Race, Sport & Education: Duke Men’s Basketball." The course delves into the story of CB Claiborne, Duke’s first Black athlete and basketball player, and uses the team's histo...
Apr 03, 2025•50 min
Wildfires in North Carolina Six months after Helene’s flooding devastated parts of western North Carolina, wildfires have now added to the destruction in the region. While fire officials say the current fires are getting under control, the conditions that led to them are not going away. Jeff Tiberii talks with NC State's Robert Scheller about why wildfires are becoming so common in our state and across the Southeast -- and what the future might hold. Robert Scheller , Associate Dean for Research...
Apr 02, 2025•50 min
The foreign correspondent based in China for seven years recently returned to Duke University for a conversation hosted by the Asian Pacific Studies Institute (APSI), and for her class reunion. Plus, a conversation with Durham County's Tax Administrator breaking down county property revaluations. And, a Raleigh office space buy up in North Hills reflects commercial real estate industry’s hope. Guests Keyar J. Doyle , Durham County Tax Administrator Emily Feng , foreign correspondent for NPR who ...
Apr 01, 2025•50 min
