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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Huntsville defense contractor Teledyne Brown is on a list of twelve U.S. companies under an export ban from China. The communist nation is cutting off customers who are considered “dual use.” In other words, China components that could be used for either civilian or military purposes. -
Crimson Tide forward Mouhamed Dioubate helped Alabama make it to the Elite Eight during March Madness this year. He won’t be there to see the team try again next season. Dioubate is heading to Kentucky by way of the transfer portal. -
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that it is ending a settlement agreement regarding wastewater problems in a rural Alabama county where most residents are Black, closing an environmental justice probe launched by the Biden administration. -
China has announced countermeasures by raising tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125% starting Saturday. This may further worsen the situation for Alabama exports to the communist nation. The U.S China Business Council says Alabama sent $4 billion in consumer products to Beijing in 2024. That doesn’t count $4 million in exported Alabama services that may soon face tariffs as well. -
An Alabama teen who narrowly survived a fierce shark attack last year said she hopes a proposed alert system before state lawmakers can help keep others safe in the water. Lulu Gribbin, now 16, was one of three people bitten by a shark last year, during a string of attacks off the Florida Panhandle. -
Former University of Alabama student Nick Dunlap had seen some big numbers start creeping into his game before he arrived at the Masters. Nothing could have prepared the Huntsville native for the amount of strokes he'd take in eighteen holes -
The dust is barely settled on the college mens basketball season and now Alabama football is back in the limelight. The Crimson Tide’s modified spring scrimmage known as A-Day is this Saturday. It’s a practice session now instead of a full-blown game. While Alabama fans line up to watch this weekend’s modified A-Day game, the gears are turning on what may be a changing landscape in college athletics. -
Alabama exports to China may almost double in price soon. The communist nation is vowing to impose an eighty four percent tax on U.S. imports in retaliation to Donald Trump’s fifty percent tariff. The U.S. China Business Council says Alabama exported four billion dollars in products to China last year. -
Alabama lawmakers voted to put new regulations on pharmacy benefit managers in an effort to curb the closure of small pharmacies across the state. The state House of Representatives voted 102-0 for the proposal that will require pharmacy benefit managers to reimburse independent pharmacists at least at the state Medicaid rate for prescription drugs. The bill now goes to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. -
Alabama legislators unanimously passed a bill that would expedite access to Medicaid for pregnant women, as more states across the South attempt to stem high maternal and infant mortality rates. The "presumptive eligibility" legislation states that Medicaid will pay for a pregnant woman's outpatient medical care for up to 60 days while an application for the government-funded insurance program is being considered.
