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

Due South

NC's political spouses. Plus, a Picasso painting theft and Charlotte Symphony musical director Kwame Ryan.

By Jeff Tiberii,

Published March 24, 2026 at 12:00 PM EDT

0:01:00

A look at the inner lives of North Carolina’s political wives

The Assembly’s Billy Warden discusses his discoveries about the lives of North Carolina’s political spouses in a candid new profile that includes interviews with First Lady Anna Stein and Susan Tills, wife of Sen. Thom Tillis.

Billy Warden, marketing specialist, writer, contributor to The Assembly

0:13:00

The theft of a fake Picasso painting is the subject of a new book

Whit Rummel joins Due South to discuss the lore his family safeguarded for years – for their own safety.

His new book, The Accidental Picasso Thief: The True Story of a Reverse Heist, Outrunning the FBI, and Fleeing the Boston Mob tells the story of how his family came to be in possession of a famous painting allegedly heisted by members of the Boston mob.

Whit Rummel, screenwriter and author of The Accidental Picasso Thief

0:33:00

Charlotte Symphony music director Kwame Ryan on his 20-plus-year career and recent Grammy win

When director Kwame Ryan arrived at the Charlotte Symphony at the start of the 2024-25 season, he came with international experience, a Cambridge University education and a robust background in opera and symphonic music. Since his arrival, he has become the first Black conductor to win a Grammy for Best Opera Recording.

Kwame Ryan, Grammy Award-winning conductor and music director for the Charlotte Symphony

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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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.

See stories by Stacia Brown