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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Saturday’s game between Alabama and Tennessee may be symbolized by one catch. Defensive cornerback Zabien Brown intercepted a pass at the Alabama endzone and then ran ninety six yards for a Tide touchdown. That was just part of the Tuscaloosa defense holding the league leading Vols to just four hundred and ten yards. Voters with the AP Top 25 apparently were watching. -
Bama’s Zabien Brown returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown as time expired in the first half during the Tennessee game, in the rivalry known as the “Third Saturday in October.” Brown's pick gave the Tide a 23-7 lead and was all Alabama's defense needed while turning in its best performance of the season. -
Protesters dressed as Uncle Sam and the public television character “Bluey” gathered across from the Richard Shelby Federal Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, as part of the national “No Kings” protest across Alabama and the nation. -
The ongoing standoff between Congressional Democrats and Republicans could have major implications for Alabama getting their healthcare through the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The website Healthcare.org says roughly a half million residents of the state get coverage through the ACA. Alabama’s Department of Insurance estimates the coming rate hikes could reach as high as 25% -
As Democrats dig in for a lengthening government shutdown, former Vice President Kamala Harris is cheering them on as she travels the country touting her presidential campaign memoir amid speculation about another White House run. -
Up to fifteen Alabama cities will take part in tomorrow’s national “no kings” protests. Demonstrators in Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Florence and Birmingham will be among those expected to march and carry signs against the actions of the Trump Administration. -
Airports big and small around the country are refusing to play a video with a message from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in which she blames Democrats for the federal government shutdown and its impacts on Transportation Security Administration operations. The list now includes Alabama. -
A third person was arrested and charged Thursday in connection with a shooting that killed two people and injured 12 others in a crowded downtown nightlife district in Alabama’s capital city in early October, police said. -
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared ready to gut a key tool of the Voting Rights Act that has helped root out racial discrimination in voting for more than a half century, a change that would boost Republican electoral prospects, particularly across the South. Just two years ago, A earlier ruling created Alabama's new minority majority U.S. House seat in District 2, now occupied by Democrat Shomari Figures. -
A second person has been charged with murder in connection with a shooting that killed two people and injured 12 others in a crowded downtown nightlife district in Alabama’s capital city in early October, police said. Montgomery police announced that Dantavious McGhee, 19, was arrested a day earlier and charged with one count of capital murder, nine counts of assault in the first degree and three counts of assault in the second degree.
