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 dairy aisle at a Publix supermarket in Tuscaloosa looked bare as people throughout the southern U.S. stock up on water, food, and generators as they prepare for the storm. -
Philip Rivers interviewed with the Buffalo Bills for their head coaching job on Friday, the latest twist in a busy couple of months for one of the most prolific passers in NFL history. The 44-year-old Rivers has no previous NFL coaching experience, having worked since his initial retirement from the league as a high school coach in his native Alabama. -
Charles Bediako will play against Tennessee on Saturday, Alabama coach Nate Oats said Friday, even while calling the NCAA system that allowed professional players to return to college “broken.” -
Alabama's jobless rate is holding steady.It was two-point-seven percent in December, unchanged from November. However, it's down from three-point-three percent year-over-year. U.S. filings for jobless aid for the week ending January 17 rose. -
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency ahead of the icy blast approaching the state. Ivey signed the proclamation for nineteen northern counties -
Colorado Springs and El Paso County leaders are opposing Colorado's lawsuit challenging the relocation of U.S. Space Command headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama. -
Millions of Americans from New Mexico to Alabama to the Carolinas are bracing for a potentially catastrophic ice storm that could crush trees and power lines and knock out power for days, while Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston could see enough snow to make travel very difficult or nearly impossible, forecasters say. -
A groundbreaking film on Alabama’s prison system is a step closer to one of Hollywood’s highest honors. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named “The Alabama Solution” as a nominee for Best Documentary. The film was shot with footage taken by inmates inside the state’s prisons. APR student reporter Emily Ahearn spoke with the co-producers of the film, who also directed. -
More than 40-million dollars in state funding has been approved for road and bridge repair projects in Alabama. Governor Kay Ivey said the grants from the Rebuild Alabama Act will go to support 25 separate construction projects in cities and counties across the state. Twenty of the projects will include local matching funds. Governor Ivey recently released the 2025 New & Expanding Industry Announcement Report. -
Alabama Power Company crews are on standby for power outage repairs in north Alabama this weekend.Nearly two thousand utility crews are for deployment to portions of north Alabama this weekend.
