The author’s grandfather, Antonio Martinez, met the artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Depression-era Detroit.
Louis Aguilar
A guest author for Bridge Magazine.
Louis Aguilar, a senior reporter for BridgeDetroit, has been writing about the epic nature of his native Detroit since 2004. Before joining BridgeDetroit in 2020, he was a business reporter and investigative reporter for The Detroit News. He is a former staff writer for The Washington Post, Denver Post, Westword (Denver’s alternative weekly) and Colorado Springs Gazette. You can reach him at laguilar@bridgedetroit.com.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Efforts across community begin to turn the coronavirus tide for Detroiters
The pandemic hit Detroit harder than most cities, but coordinated efforts have made a difference, and begun to pay off.
Posted inUrban Affairs
Detroit food banks overrun by coronavirus demand
Despite adding capacity, food banks throughout Michigan are running out of food, crushed by the hunger created by the pandemic’s economic strain.
Posted inUrban Affairs
‘We need help’: Coronavirus ‘devastating’ black cities in outstate Michigan
Racial disparities that struck southeast Michigan are repeating in Flint, Saginaw, Lansing and Ypsilanti, highlighting inequities in health care. And even as Detroit cases ebb, the mourning is just beginning: ‘I just feel numb,’ one says.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Despite brutal day, signs of hope in Michigan’s coronavirus curve
COVID-19 cases spiked yet again statewide on Tuesday, but Detroit’s rate is beginning to slow — and Michigan’s curve is looking less like that of New York by the day.
Posted inMichigan Government
Are lottery ticket sales next thing to go in Michigan amid coronavirus?
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she’s ‘taking a very serious look’ at halting the sale of lottery tickets in stores because people still aren’t getting the message about social distancing.
Posted inUrban Affairs
As coronavirus bears down, Detroit enters a grim new phase
In metro Detroit, the epicenter of Michigan’s outbreak, the pandemic is spreading rapidly as hospitals, government leaders and residents deal with medical shortages and some painful goodbyes.
Posted inUrban Affairs
White House worried about rapid spike in Detroit coronavirus cases
The White House weighs in as Detroit reels from a spike in cases. The virus has struck a civil rights leader, state lawmaker and police officials, and health experts warn this is the beginning: ‘The people of the state are in serious risk,’ Mayor Duggan says.