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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One of Alabama’s longest-serving death row inmates could soon receive a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal of a lower court's ruling that prosecutors violated his rights by intentionally rejecting potential Black jurors. -
Maxwell Air Force Base is tightening security in response to ongoing operations against Iran.It's one of several U.S. military installations that are expanding security protocols.Maxwell AFB and Gunter Annex in Montgomery will now require 100-percent identification checks at all entry points. -
I became news director at Alabama public radio in September of 2009. One of my first stories involved James Beard award-winning chef Frank Stitt of Birmingham. It was prompted by the 2010 BP oil spill. -
A small group of pro-Iranian protesters in Birmingham staged a rally to condemn the U.S.-Israeli military attacks against Iran over the weekend.The event took place Saturday in the Five Points South entertainment district. On streets around the world, there were protests in outrage or bursts of celebration. -
While Trump attempts regime change in Iran, a similar move in Venezuela hits home for one UA studentThe U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, with President Donald Trump calling on the Iranian public to “seize control of your destiny” and rise up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979. On January 3rd of this year, a similar strike in Venezuela resulted in the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro. APR News heard from a University of Alabama student with family and friends in that South American nation. -
The state’s highest court issued its decision after Crimson Tide Center Charles Bediako requested an injunction that would enable him to continue playing with Alabama during the finals games of the season, and “March Madness.” -
NASA said it's revamping its Artemis moon exploration program to make it more like the fast-paced Apollo program half a century ago. The plan means adding an extra practice flight before attempting a high-risk lunar landing with a crew in two years. This could mean more work in the Huntsville area, with more launches of NASA’s Alabama built super rocket called the “Space Launch System” or SLS. -
Federal energy officials announced a record $26.5 billion loan to electric utilities in Georgia and Alabama, saying the loan will save customers money as the companies undertake a huge expansion driven by demand from computer data centers. -
As of this week, both the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort were at a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, according to publicly available ship tracking data. The Comfort arrived at the shipyard in the southern state on Jan. 23 and is expected to remain there through April, according to the government contract for the work. -
The City of Montgomery was the first Alabama municipality to announce that it will will open its warming center again tonight.Residents can seek shelter and warmth at the Crump Center from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Temperatures are expected to plummet to 24 degrees tonight.Pets are not allowed inside. While Alabama shivers with lows in parts of the state in the upper teens tonight, the northeast is being blanketed with snow.
