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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Charitable groups and local municipalities across Alabama are opening warming stations as temperatures plunge to the upper teens with wind chills near zero degrees. About 240 million people were under cold weather advisories and winter storm warnings Saturday as a powerful system threatened to bring howling winds, flooding and heavy snow to the East Coast — including blizzardlike conditions stemming from a “bomb cyclone” in the Southeast. -
The Alabama prison system has moved three well-known inmate activists who supported a 2022 prison strike and were featured in an Oscar-nominated documentary about the troubled system to isolated cells with little contact with others, family members and attorneys said. -
NASA has delayed the launch of an rocket designed, built, and tested in Alabama on a mission around the moon. The four astronauts’ upcoming trip is being postponed because of near-freezing temperatures expected at the launch site. The first Artemis moonshot with a crew is now targeted for no earlier than Feb. 8, two days later than planned. NASA was all set to conduct a fueling test of the 322-foot moon rocket on Saturday, but called everything off because of the expected cold. -
Alabama is preparing for the coldest air of the season.The National Weather Service has issued an Extreme Cold Warning for the Tuscaloosa Area as well as the Gulf coast from midnight to until noon on Sunday. The agency says Huntsville and all of north Alabama will be under a Cold Weather Advisory during that same time frame. The forecast, in general, is for bitter temperatures and gusty winds, which could make it feel as cold as four degrees below zero. -
Alabama singer and songwriter Jason Isbell is nominated for three Grammy awards. He’ll be considered in the categories of “Best Folk Album.” The title track from the album is up for “Best American Roots Song,” and another number from the album, “Crimson and Clay," will compete for “Best American Roots Performance.” Isbell talked on “APR Notebook” about recording his album “Foxes in the Snow,” and how it came about during a hard time for him, personally. -
An Alabama man is facing federal charges for allegedly plotting to kill former President Joe Biden.Prosecutors say the suspect, identified as 23-year old Adam Benjamin Hall, drove to Atlanta in June of 2024, with intentions of shooting the president while he was participating in a debate with Donald Trump at CNN. -
A little known artist is about to get some of the spotlight in a new art exhibit in Alabama. The Birmingham Museum of Art is unveiling a collection of French modern art. The exhibit will contain work from well-known names like Claude Monet and Mary Cassat. The show also features paintings by the lesser-known artist Marie Bracquemond. -
The judge in Alabama center Charles Bediako’s eligibility lawsuit against the NCAA has recused himself from the case. Tuscaloosa Circuit Court Judge James Roberts filed the order Wednesday, according to court documents. AL.com first reported Roberts' recusal. -
What could be better than having six Grammys? One answer could be three more. Alabama singer and songwriter Jason Isbell is nominated for three Grammy awards. The winners of the recording industry’s highest honor will be announced on Sunday. Isbell will be considered in the category of “Best Folk Album.” The title track from the album is up for “Best American Roots Song,” and another number from the album, “Crimson and Clay," will compete for “Best American Roots Performance.” -
Latrell Wrightsell scored 21 points, all on 3-pointers, and Labaron Philon Jr. had 18 as No. 23 Alabama routed Missouri 90-64 on Tuesday night. Aiden Sherrell added 16 points and Charles Bediako had 14 for the Crimson Tide. Wrightsell went 7 for 10 from 3-point distance and took only one shot inside the arc.
