2012 was a year of triumph and tragedy for Alabama. The Alabama Public Radio news team consists of News Director Pat Duggins, reporter Stan Ingold, and anchor/reporters Maggie Martin and Ryan Vasquez. APR produced in-depth coverage of stories ranging from the Copper Top shooting where a gunman with a military assault weapon wounded seventeen people at a crowded bar in Tuscaloosa, to the pair of EF-2 tornadoes which touched down just west of downtown Mobile, to the Alabama Crimson Tide’s 21-0 victory over the Louisiana State University Tigers to clinch the 2012 BCS college football championship in New Orleans. APR’s Stan Ingold reported on a business which allows the families of dearly departed hunters to remember their lost loved ones with a “bang,” by loading their cremated ashes into shotgun shells. Ryan Vasquez reported on a former Alabama inmate challenging the State’s policy of segregating prisoners with HIV/AIDS. News Director Pat Duggins travelled to Gulf Shores during the final hours before the arrival of Hurricane Isaac, where volunteers desperately worked to save loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings buried in the sand along the shore from being drowned by Isaac’s rough surf. And Reporter Maggie Martin produced a three part series on Alabama’s efforts to bring a “gay rodeo” to the State.
Most Outstanding News Operation--Alabama Public Radio
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Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson, and Mayor Walt Maddox, brief the press during the manhunt for whoever wounded 17 people at the Copper Top bar near the campus of the University of Alabama
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The Alabama Crimson Tide wins its 14th college football championship by defeating the Louisana State University Tigers at the 2012 BCS football championship in New Orleans
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The APR news team followed victims of the April 27, 2011 tornado which devastated parts of Tuscaloosa. The result was the radio documentary "Winds of Change."
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Volunteers along Alabama's Gulf coast work in the final hours before the arrival of Hurricane Isaac, to dig up and rescue endangered loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings at risk of drowning in the heavy surf.
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APR reported on a business in South Alabama, which packs the cremated remains of hunters into bullets and shotgun shells for their families to use.
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Proponents of a gay rodeo want to bring this type of event to Alabama. Competitors shown here are taking part in the gay rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas
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The Alabama Public Radio news team. L to R--Reporters Stan Ingold, Maggie Martin, and Ryan Vasquez. News Director Pat Duggins (seated)
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