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The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.
Due South

Michael Regan rebuilt the EPA with an eye toward environmental justice. Now, he's watching those efforts get knocked down.

By Leoneda Inge,
Jeff Tiberii, Rachel McCarthy
Published January 13, 2026 at 12:00 PM EST
Former EPA Administrator Michael Regan outside the WUNC Due South studio in January 2026.
Jason deBruyn/WUNC
Former EPA Administrator Michael Regan outside the WUNC Due South studio in January 2026.

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Michael Regan rebuilt the U.S. EPA with an eye toward environmental justice. Now, he’s watching those efforts get knocked down.

Former EPA Administrator Michael Regan in Warren County, N.C. in September 2022. Regan annouced the opening of a new EPA Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights surrounded by longtime environmental justice leaders.
Leoneda Inge
/
WUNC
Former EPA Administrator Michael Regan in Warren County, N.C. in September 2022, annoucing the opening of a new EPA Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights surrounded by environmental justice leaders.

Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator and North Carolina native Michael Regan started his career at the agency, eventually led North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality, and returned to the EPA for the top job during the Biden administration.

Regan joined Due South's Leoneda Inge in our Durham studio for a wide-ranging conversation about his career, his enduring connection to North Carolina's environmental justice movement, and the impact of politics on environmental policy.

Michael S. Regan, Former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

0:33:00

How the Battleship North Carolina got to its home in Wilmington

Sixty-five years ago, a state-wide fundraising effort saved a more than 70 million-pound, 700-foot long behemoth of a WWII warship from being scrapped. The USS North Carolina is now a museum in Wilmington, and it would not have made it there without the contributions of thousands of North Carolina children.

In October 1961, the Battleship North Carolina was nudged up the Cape Fear River by tugboats into Wilmington— and was welcomed by many of the people who helped bring her home.
Battleship North Carolina Memorial
In October 1961, the Battleship North Carolina was nudged up the Cape Fear River by tugboats into Wilmington— and was welcomed by many of the people who helped bring her home. 

The museum now has an effort underway to collect the stories of the “kid heroes” who helped save the ship back in 1961.

Dr. Jay Martin, Executive Director, Battleship North Carolina

Camille Williams, fundraised as an elementary school student for the 1961 effort

Admission ticket
Battleship North Carolina Memorial
An admission ticket issued to North Carolina students who gave 10 cents to save the Battleship.

Due South
Leoneda Inge
Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
See stories by Leoneda Inge
Jeff Tiberii
Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Jeff joined WUNC in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and WUNC’s Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary “Right Turn,” launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.
See stories by Jeff Tiberii
Rachel McCarthy
Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.
See stories by Rachel McCarthy