Pat Duggins

Picture this: you find yourself in an unfamiliar room. The only obvious exit is locked and there are no windows. Hidden in the room are locked boxes, random clues, and secret keys—all things you’ll need to escape. But you’d better hurry, because you only have 60 minutes to get out. APR Student reporter Josh Hollis has more...

Escape rooms are a growing trend across America and this form of escapist entertainment, literally speaking, has just reached Alabama. Three different escape room businesses have opened in the state since April.

This Sunday the city of Selma will remember the fiftieth anniversary of an event that became known as Bloody Sunday. Voting Rights marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 were attacked by state troopers and a sheriff’s posse. History like this may be fresh in the memories of our parents and grandparents. But a group of student journalists from the University of Alabama got to experience the story for themselves. Alabama Public Radio newsroom intern Sarah Sherrill was among them, and she files this report…

Next week marks five years since Alabama's super tornado outbreak of 2011. The National Weather Service recalls 154 tornado warnings across the state that day. The Alabama Public Radio news team will be checking back with many of the people our listeners heard from in the hours following the killer storms. APR's Pat Duggins put together this audio remembrance from that day.

Thousands of people crowded the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma yesterday to remember what became known as “bloody Sunday.” Voting marchers in 1965 were attacked by State Troopers and a Sheriff’s posse armed with clubs and tear gas. The weekend observance was attended by President Obama and the children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior. APR news director Pat Duggins and reporter Stan Ingold teamed up to bring us this audio postcard…

Same-Sex Marriage Legalized SUPERSPOT / AuBuchon

05210 February 9, 2015

Alabama became the thirty seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage today. Couples throughout Alabama have been applying for – and receiving – marriage licenses. But as APR’s Alex AuBuchon reports, some judges aren't going along with that federal ruling...

Alabama considers itself “water rich,” with rivers and ground water filling apparent needs for agriculture, hydroelectric production, and home use. Still, environmentalists rank the state among the worst for water pollution, and blame governmental mismanagement for problems including no regulation of water use or dam construction. This prompted the Alabama Public Radio news team to spend most of 2015 investigating the condition of Alabama’s water supply and the health of its rivers.

“At that time, we’d been singing songs, we shall overcome, and before I’d be a slave…be dead and buried in my grave,” says Bennie Lee Tucker. He’s seventy four years old, and he spent the last fifty five of those years here in Selma. “And we gonna let nobody turn us around, no more Governor Wallace…no more white folk,” he says.

On the front porch of his home on Eugene Avenue, Tucker recalls March 7th, 1965. It was the height of the voting rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior wasn’t the name on everyone’s mind that day.

There’s been a new twist in Alabama’s same sex marriage controversy. No new marriage licenses for same-sex couples will be issued, at least for now. APR's Pat Duggins reports...

Investigators from Washington say a leaking natural gas pipe likely caused a deadly explosion in Birmingham three years ago. The blast at the Charles P. Marks Village in Birmingham's Gate City neighborhood was caused by a large crack in a sixty two year old cast iron pipe. The explosion killed one man and injured several others. Investigators think leaking gas built up in an apartment until a pilot light set it off. The NTSB says soil around the cracked pipe absorbed the rotten egg smell that typically warns bystanders of a natural gas leak.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is responding to allegations he had an affair. The Governor has admitted to making “inappropriate remarks” to a female aide two years ago. Bentley spoke to reporters after former law enforcement secretary Spencer Collier held a conference saying Bentley had an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer. Bentley apologized for the inappropriate comments, but says that is as far as it went…

“I am truly sorry and I accept full responsibility. I want everyone to know though, that I have never had a physical affair with Mrs. Mason.”

The acting head of Alabama’s top law enforcement agency went looking for internal problems, and he may have found one. Stan Stabler says an investigation is underway into the possible misuse of state funds. Stabler says the findings have been submitted to the Alabama attorney general's office for further action. Stabler ordered an internal review of the agency after stepping in for director Spencer Collier, who’s is on medical leave.

Damage crews are combing an area in southwest Jefferson County as a possible tornado site. At least four people were injured and taken to a local hospital in the Bessemer and McCalla areas near Interstate-459. Jason Holmes is a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham. He says preliminary data shows a twister is likely to blame for the injuries and damage in that area…

“We have had numerous reports of trees and powerlines down and a few reports of some structures damage. We do not know the extent of the damage but we will be out in that area.”

Fans of writer Harper Lee came from as far as Maryland to Monroeville over the weekend for a candlelight vigil for the author who died just over a week ago. APR's Pat Duggins was there to put together this audio postcard with remembrances of the author of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Same-Sex Marriage Legalized SUPERSPOT / AuBuchon

05210 February 9, 2015

Alabama became the thirty seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage today. Couples throughout Alabama have been applying for – and receiving – marriage licenses. But as APR’s Alex AuBuchon reports, some judges aren't going along with that federal ruling...

2015 marked the fiftieth anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” in the town of Selma, Alabama. Voter rights marchers, in 1965, were attacked by State Troopers and a Sheriff’s posse who used horses, tear gas, and clubs to beat back the crowd.

Water Opener

September 3, 2015

All year long on Alabama Public Radio, we’ve been looking at water. Specifically, the condition of Alabama’s drinking water supply and the health of our rivers. The APR news team will present a number of stories over the coming weeks on the subject. It’s a story of politics, pollution, economics, and the obvious need that water is there when you turn on the tap. To that end, APR news director Pat Duggins travelled from one end of Alabama to the other to answer the question—where does your water come from?

“At that time, we’d been singing songs, we shall overcome, and before I’d be a slave…be dead and buried in my grave,” says Bennie Lee Tucker. He’s seventy four years old, and he spent the last fifty five of those years here in Selma. “And we gonna let nobody turn us around, no more Governor Wallace…no more white folk,” he says.

On the front porch of his home on Eugene Avenue, Tucker recalls March 7th, 1965. It was the height of the voting rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior wasn’t the name on everyone’s mind that day.

It’s Sunday afternoon on Lake Guntersville. It’s ninety five degrees outside and Douglas Webster is calling it a day.

“It’s okay. It’s a little slow. Still, the fry…we were finding fry around the piers.” And if you don’t know what a fry is… “Baby fish,” says Douglas Webster. He's a bass fisherman. That’s where all the lingo comes from Water laps While Webster secures his bass boat, Braulio Pedroso is just now putting his fishing rod in the water…