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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Philanthropist Melinda French Gates is making her presence known in Alabama. And in the process, a Tuscaloosa women’s health center is getting an international spotlight. Here’s at what four years and five million dollars can do. Our story begins with breaking news from four years ago. -
Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has been arrested on drug possession charges in Alabama after police say they pulled him over for erratic driving and found marijuana and meth in his vehicle. -
Days before “Obsession” opened in theaters, its 26-year-old director, Curry Barker, made a bet with his manager and agent. They said if the movie opened above $20 million, they would all get tattoos.“Obsession” fell just short. It debuted with $17 million. They were still thrilled. Barker made the horror film with just $750,000. It was enormously successful. It was also just for starters. -
With wildfires burning across many Western states, wildland firefighters gathered Sunday to pay tribute to three of their own who died after they were trapped by flames a week ago. Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson, of Alabama, were remembered for being courageous public servants who left a lasting impact on the communities where they worked. -
Lulu Gribbin, of Mountain Brook, was 15 when she survived a shark attack off the coast of Florida. She lost her left hand, part of her right leg and almost her life. Gribbin’s story has inspired new federal legislation to authorize emergency alerts to mobile phones to warn beachgoers when a shark has bitten someone in the area. Her home state of Alabama approved such a warning system last year. -
Photographs of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. adorned with flower lei from Hawaii residents who traveled to Selma, Alabama, to join him on a pivotal Civil Rights march went on public display in the state Capitol in Honolulu. The Selma-to-Montgomery marches galvanized passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which did away with most barriers such as poll taxes and other forms of voter discrimination targeting Black Americans in the Deep South. -
America is just a few days away from the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That day may involve fireworks, a backyard cookout, and possibly a rendition or two of the Star Spangled Banner. Mobile area author Watt Key is known for his classic novel “Alabama Moon,” which was made into a motion picture. But, he's also an indirect descendant of Francis Scott Key, who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner,” and F. Scott Fitzgerald who penned "The Great Gatsby." -
President Donald Trump didn't get what he wanted in some of the biggest Supreme Court cases this year. The list includes tariffs, birthright citizenship and the attempted firing of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. But he also emerged from the term with even greater power. However, the 1964 decision in an Alabama legal case that helped define freedom of the press and defamation in the U.S. went unchallenged. -
Jon Meacham is among many historians reflecting on the complex legacy of Thomas Jefferson. He notes that Jefferson's life and work resonate deeply as the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary. Jefferson embodied contradictions, advocating for both states' rights and federal power. Alabama Governor George Wallace gets a mention. -
America is just a few days away from the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That day may involve fireworks, a backyard cookout, and possibly a rendition or two of the Star Spangled Banner. Our national anthem hits home with my guest on the national award-winning APR Notebook. Mobile area author Watt Key is known for his classic novel “Alabama Moon,” which was made into a motion picture. But, he's also an indirect descendant of Francis Scott Key, who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.”
