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 hasn't looked the same since coach Nick Saban's retirement. It raises speculation about the future of his replacement, Kalen DeBoer. The eighth-ranked Crimson Tide have dropped three of their last four games following a 31-17 loss at Florida State on Saturday, a game in which the Seminoles bullied Alabama on both sides of the ball. -
President Donald Trump wants to eliminate the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and House Republicans overseeing federal budget negotiations did not include funding for it in their budget proposal. That’s where Alabama is seeing an impact. -
New quarterback Tommy Castellanos led a punishing rushing attack for Florida State with 78 yards and a touchdown as the Seminoles stunned No. 8 Alabama 31-17 on Saturday, ending the Crimson Tide's streak of 23 straight wins in season openers. -
Number eight ranked Alabama might be without starting guard Jaeden Roberts for its season opener at Florida State on Saturday. The latest from head coach Kalen DeBoer is that Roberts is still in a concussion protocol. Roberts, a fifth-year senior who has started 21 games over the past two seasons, missed the last two weeks of practice. -
The first Black mayor of a tiny Alabama town overwhelmingly won election this week, four years after white residents locked him out of the town hall and refused to let him serve. -
A new survey conducted by the group Associated General Contractors of America and the non-profit National Center for Construction Education and Research focused, in part, on the impact of new federal immigration policy on the building industry. Roughly one third of projects in the U.S. reportedly have been delayed due to federal immigration enforcement. Alabama is considered among the states more likely to be impacted. -
Alabama plans to appeal a federal judge's order to swiftly draw new state Senate districts for next year's legislative elections. The Associated Press says this development was revealed in court filings. -
A federal judge has ordered a new trial for an Alabama death row inmate after tests showed it was another man's DNA on the victim's body. Chief U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks last week ruled that Christopher Barbour must get a new trial. Barbour, now 56, was convicted of the 1992 stabbing death of Thelma Bishop Roberts in Montgomery. -
2005’s Hurricane Katrina killed 238 people in Mississippi and left only concrete slabs in many areas. With beachfront rebuilding crawling along a decade later, Gulfport began offering property tax breaks to those who built near the water. When it comes to rebuilding with hurricane fortified codes, Alabama is credited with leading the nation. -
The most unpredictable race for Mayor of Mobile in around twenty years lived up to expectations last night. State House member Barbara Drummond and former Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis will face each other in a runoff in late September.
