Aging infrastructure and delayed repairs are an increasing alarm in Michigan. More than $60 billion in fixes may be necessary.
Joel Kurth
As executive editor of impact, Joel Kurth oversees newsgathering, investigations, and coverage strategy at Bridge Michigan. He joined Bridge in 2017 after 17 years as an investigative reporter and editor at The Detroit News, where he led investigations that drove policy changes on water shutoffs and surgical instrument sterilization and resulted in criminal charges against government officials. He and his teams have won more than 60 state and national awards across a 30-year career in Michigan that has also included stints at newspapers in the Upper Peninsula and Saginaw. Joel also authors Bridge's popular weekly News Quiz.
Joel lives in West Bloomfield with his wife and two children.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Is Detroit coming back? It depends on the neighborhood.
Bridge Magazine examines four corners of Detroit. The numbers say the city is improving. The people sometimes tell another story.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Islandview: New development, fears of displacement
Detroit is planning big changes to a little neighborhood near Belle Isle. Some wonder who will benefit.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Bagley: New residents, more investment, old worries
In one of city’s most self-reliant neighborhoods, City Hall plans improvements as old brick homes get new owners.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Q&A: Meet the man reimagining Detroit, one vacant lot at a time
Maurice Cox’s plan for the city: Make its biggest weakness a strength.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Poor in Michigan with no ID. “I am somebody. I just can’t prove it.”
Laws passed to prevent terrorism and identity theft have made it harder to get the state-issued ID needed to escape poverty. A peek inside the poverty trap.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Slideshow: Gorgeous postcards offer valentine to bygone Detroit
Architecture buff turns postcard collection into picture book. Take a peek at the fabulous and familiar with 11 images from Detroit’s colorful past.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Are there two Detroits? A new report says yes, but…
Downtown and Midtown Detroit get more tax breaks and investment than neighborhoods. Why? That’s where the good jobs are.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Arson finally on decline in Detroit. Now for the bad news.
A popular rewards program is set to vanish at year’s end. Homeowners, firefighters and insurers could feel the effects statewide.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Botched elections. Missing ballots. Is this any way to run a democracy?
Michigan’s failed presidential recount last year wasn’t an aberration. It’s part of a pattern that has some concerned about the integrity of elections.