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

Due South

Golden Leaf series: adult smoking rates down in NC, but youth vaping among highest in nation. Plus, the Dedicated Men of Zion.

By Jeff Tiberii,

Leoneda Inge, Stacia Brown, Rachel McCarthy

Published March 12, 2026 at 2:53 PM EDT

0:01:00

North Carolina tobacco use updates and youth vaping

Smoking among adults in North Carolina has dropped below the national average, but our state ranks in the top ten in the country for e-cigarette use among young people. Three experts weigh in on the gains and the big problems still facing North Carolina when it comes to tobacco use.

Kim Bayha, Cessation Director for the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch within the Chronic Disease and Injury Section of NC Division of Public Health, Department of Health & Human Services.

Sally Herndon, former head of Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch, NC Division of Public Health

Tricia Howard, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, Child and Adolescence Behavioral Health at Duke Health

0:33:00

A live performance by The Dedicated Men of Zion

The Eastern North Carolina-based band, The Dedicated Men of Zion, discuss and perform songs from their latest album, Coming Up Through the Years.

Anthony “Amp” Daniels, band leader

Antwan Daniels, Tyjon Harris and Jahiem Daniels, band members

Emmanuel Thomas, keyboardist

Dedicated Men of Zion — Left to right: Anthony "Amp" Daniels, Marcus Suggs, Antwan Daniels, Tyjon Harris. Fountain, NC, 2025.

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Due South Golden Leaf

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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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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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.

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