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 Alabama Forestry Commission has issued a Fire Danger Advisory for the entire state today.Worsening drought conditions, low humidity and strong gusty winds cited as the primary reasons. -
A federal prosecutor says a man who fled to China after leaving an explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa has been indicted along with his sister in Florida on federal charges, and their mother has been detained pending deportation for overstaying her visa. The device was flown to an FBI lab in Huntsville for analysis. -
The newly-established Central Alabama Water authority is claiming most customers have not had fluoride added to their drinking water supply for at least two years. The surprise announcement came Tuesday, on the heels of plans for a system-wide discontinuation of fluoride -
Drought conditions have resulted in hundreds of acres being burned by wildfires across the state of Alabama.The Alabama Forestry Commission reporting Monday, a 290-acre fire near the Tuscaloosa-Hale County line, known as the South Sandy Fire -
Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. scored 24 points and fourth-seeded Alabama earned a fourth straight trip to the Sweet 16 with a 90-65 second-round rout of No. 5 seed Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night -
A federal judge in Birmingham is being asked to block recent actions taken by the newly-created Central Alabama Water authority .A lawsuit filed by former board members William Muhammad and Brenda Lewis, seeks a temporary restraining order against CAW and CEO Jeffrey Thompson, after 135 employees were laid off last week. -
The website of the Alabama Triple-A says the price at the pump continues to go up as U.S. military action against Iran enters its third week. A gallon of regular unleaded in Alabama costs a dollar more than it did a month ago. -
Police in Barcelona say foul play was likely not a factor in the death of University of Alabama student James "Jimmy" Gracey. Officials told the New York Post, "Everything points to it being an accidental death." -
Labaron Philon Jr. finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and No. 4 seed Alabama rallied from an early double-digit deficit to beat 13th-seeded Hofstra 90-70 in a first-round game in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. -
A man was convicted of murder in the 2019 death of Alabama college student Aniah Blanchard, whose disappearance drew national attention, but the jury spared him a possible death sentence Thursday.
