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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So, what did you do today? Jimmy Wales of Huntsville invented Wikipedia. How's that for a "mic drop" moment? The online encyclopedia, which is updated by anonymous editors, has its critics. Elon Musk counts himself among them. Authoritarian regimes reportedly hate Wikipedia. However, the website has viewers, a lot of them. By some accounts, billions of people visit Wikipedia, both the English version and in 300 other foreign languages. That's billions with a “B” every month. Jimmy Wales is also out with his first book. It's called "The Seven Rules of Trust." We'll discuss how that's the philosophy behind Wikipedia. Wales also grew up in Huntsville, in the shadow of the Apollo man moon landings.
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U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley will provide a classified briefing to key lawmakers overseeing the military on Thursday as they investigate a U.S. military attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs that included a second strike that killed survivors. Congressman Mike Rogers of Alabama, the Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said he was “satisfied” following a conversation with Hegseth on the attack, but that he also wanted to hear from Bradley.
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It was seventy years ago today that civil rights icon Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat on a Montgomery City bus to a white male passenger. The incident helped spark the Montgomery bus boycott a few days later. That 381-day long action would help propel Parks and Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior into the international spotlight.
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Lawmakers from both parties said Sunday they support congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, citing a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for all crew members to be killed as part of a Sept. 2 attack. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, and the ranking Democratic member, Washington Rep. Adam Smith, issuing a joint statement on Saturday on the matter.
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Ty Simpson and Isaiah Horton connected three times for touchdowns, the last on a fourth-down play in the waning minutes, and No. 10 Alabama escaped Auburn with a 27-20 victory in the rivalry known as the Iron Bowl on Saturday night.
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The United States Soccer Federation proposed 14 American sites among 20 possible venues to host games for the 2031 Women's World Cup, including seven U.S. stadiums to be used for next year's men's tournament. Birmingham is among possible alternate sites.
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Black Friday is coming up in Alabama and industry observers say it will be part of the busiest national holiday shopping season ever. The National Retail Federation says consumers are expected to spend over a trillion dollars between now and Christmas. That’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the weeks leading up to December twenty fifth. The Alabama Retail Association says consumers in the state spent roughly eighteen billion dollars last year between November and December.
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Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is trying to simplify things for his team in the Iron Bowl. He wants his players to handle the crowd noise at Jordan-Hare Stadium and the emotions that come with playing a rival. Everything else, he believes, will work out. It sounds easy. It hasn’t been that way for the Crimson Tide in their last three trips to Auburn. The Tigers will also bask in the glory of former player Bo Jackson's Heisman win. Auburn will honor him during the game.
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The Crimson Tide Men's Basketball team may have more than turkey to feast on during Thanksgiving Day. Labaron Philon scored 20 points, Aden Holloway added 17 points and a career-high 10 assists, and No. 8 Alabama beat Maryland 105-72 on Wednesday night in a consolation game of the Players Era Championship Tournament.
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The United Launch Alliance company is gearing up for the next use of one of its remaining Alabama built Atlas-V rockets to launch the next mission of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station. That flight could come as soon as April of 2026. The contractor, and its Atlas boosters which are built at the ULA factory in Decatur, are currently under contract to launch for Starliners.