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

Due South

State legislature's "power grab" pulls elections authority away from NC governor. Plus, columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom.

By Jeff Tiberii,

Leoneda Inge, Cole del Charco, Stacia Brown

Published February 12, 2026 at 12:59 PM EST

Cindy Hinkle reaches for a stack of ballots as election workers prepare to mail out absentee ballot requests at the Wake County Board of Elections office in Raleigh on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. — File photo. Cindy Hinkle reaches for a stack of ballots as election workers prepare to mail out absentee ballot requests at the Wake County Board of Elections office in Raleigh in 2022.

0:01:00

State gubernatorial powers shrink with loss of control over the state elections board

How the transfer of power away from NC’s governor is affecting, “everything from utilities to environmental regulation.” Republicans in the state have sought to take power away from the governor’s office, according to a report by ProPublica.

Jeff Tiberii speaks with the reporter behind the story and discusses how election oversight is now more firmly in the hands of the legislature.

Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica reporter covering threats to democracy, elections and voting rights.

0:23:36

Tressie McMillan Cottom's resolutions for 2026

Public scholar, author and UNC-Chapel Hill associate professor Tressie McMillan Cottom joins Due South to share her thoughts about potential societal shifts and sociopolitical expectations for 2026.

Tressie McMillan Cottom, public scholar, columnist for The New York Times, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science

A version of this segment originally aired in January 2026.

Due South

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.

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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.

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Cole del Charco

Cole del Charco is an audio producer and writer based in Durham. He's made stories for public radio's All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Marketplace. Before joining Due South, he spent time as a freelance journalist, an education and daily news reporter for WUNC, and a podcast producer for WFAE in Charlotte.

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Stacia Brown

Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A, as well as WUNC’s The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for WUNC's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway.

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