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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Alabama Tourism is expecting growth in 2025. The state is branding this year as the Year of Alabama trails spotlighting birdwatching, waterfalls, and other natural attractions. The American Automobile Association predicted one hundred and nineteen million motorists heading somewhere around Christmas and New Years. We asked Triple-A spokesman Clay Ingram to read the tea leaves going into 2025 -
Texas A & M saw its nine-game winning streak snapped over the weekend at the hands of the Crimson Tide. The Alabama men’s basketball team beat the Aggies ninety four to eighty-eight in College Station -
Forecasters remain concerned over icy conditions in part of Alabama following snowfall that blanketed parts of the state. Temperatures that warmed in the afternoon could freeze this morning when the mercury was expected to drop. -
The National Football Foundation Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban was selected as part of the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame class. A seven-time national championship coach, Saban is the first of the 2025 class to be announced. -
Alabama is gearing up for winter weather. Forecasters say moisture coming from the Gulf of Mexico and cold temperatures from the west is creating freezing rain, snow, and ice. The cold conditions could persist from the Tennessee Valley to the central part of the state. The concern is that temperatures will warm and then freeze again overnight. -
Here’s a listing of schools in central and northern Alabama that are closing or holding virtual classes on Friday (1/10/2025) due to the forecast of winter like conditions. Parents should check with their child’s school to confirm operational plans for Friday. -
The forecast calls for the coldest temperatures this week tonight with the upper teens along the Tennessee Valley. Communities from Decatur to Mobile are opening warming stations to help those without heat. -
Alabama plays South Carolina tonight after thrashing Oklahoma in its SEC Conference season opener. The Gamecocks fared worse after being smothered by Mississippi State eighty-five to fifty last Saturday. -
It may be January, but the holiday shopping season isn’t over just yet. The National Retail Federation is forecasting close to a billion dollars in returns for those holiday gifts that just weren’t right. That also means extra work for the U.S. Postal Service. -
Sunday night’s tornado warning in Pickens County was a reminder that bad weather can occur almost any time in Alabama. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy are conducting research into how forests may influence the development of severe weather.
