Pat Duggins
News DirectorPat Duggins is APR’s news director. As a kid, he watched the Apollo manned moon launches along Florida’s space coast. Pat later spent 14 years covering NASA for NPR. After re-organizing the APR newsroom, he and the team were honored with over 150 awards for excellence in journalism. That includes APR being the first radio newsroom to receive RFK Human Rights’ “Seigenthaler Prize for Courage in Journalism.” Pat holds a master’s degree from the University of Alabama and has published two books on NASA. When he’s not at APR, he enjoys cooking with Lucia, and tending his beloved fig tree.
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The remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur battered parts of the southeastern United States with heavy rain and wind on Thursday, damaging buildings, downing trees and knocking out power as flash flood and tornado warnings were issued along the Gulf Coast. Drenching rain stretches from Central Alabama to Mobile and the Eastern Shore. -
The fate of Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee remains in limbo following actions by the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal judge in Montgomery. This situation appears to be spilling over to other states and the debate over capital punishment. -
The first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season formed Wednesday near the Gulf Coast, bringing intense rain and the threat of dangerous flash floods to states including Texas and Louisiana, meteorologists said. Tropical Storm Arthur was a disorganized cluster of storms that brought rain for days over parts of eastern Mexico and the Gulf. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said conditions were conducive for a short-lived tropical storm to form. -
U.S. Rep. Barry Moore won the Republican runoff Tuesday for Alabama's open U.S. Senate seat, advancing to the fall election with the help of President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Moore defeated political newcomer and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson. Races for AG, lieutenant governor, and U.S. House district 5. -
The National Hurricane Center is watching a cluster of storms along the Gulf Coast could become the first named tropical storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana. -
An endorsement from President Donald Trump is worth a lot in Republican primaries. But can it propel a congressman past an insurgent outsider in Alabama? Is it worth more than $100 million in Georgia? Can it transform a candidate into a front-runner in Oklahoma? Trump has been at the center of this year’s midterm campaigns, and his influence will be tested in different ways Tuesday as four states and the District of Columbia hold primaries. -
APR student reporter Emily Ahearn will examine Alabama’s CHOOSE ACT, which is set to go into effect on New Year’s Day of 2027. Her story airs on Thursday. The measure removes income as a factor for families to get $7,000 in refundable tax credits to “choose” which kind of school they attend. Home schooled children will get $2,000. An analysis of the Associated Press shows children already in private school tend to benefit from scholarships of this type. -
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says his nation wants to ban children under 16 from using a range of social media apps including Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube to protect young people from harmful content and excessive screen time. If so, the United Kingdom will join Alabama ad Australia in limiting young people and social media. -
The Alabama Republican Party said U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville will remain the party’s gubernatorial nominee, rejecting a claim on Sunday that he had not lived in the state long enough to run for governor. -
Alabama's Doris Lemngole won the women's 5,000 in 15:11.71 to claim her sixth national championship. That was until she was disqualified.
