With its incisive political coverage, razor-sharp cartoons, and in-depth reporting on the city’s explosive music scene, the Bugle American became a lifeline for artists, activists, and readers from Milwaukee to Madison hungry for independent journalism.

Then, on a cold night in February 1975, everything nearly ended. A firebomb ripped through the Bugle American offices, threatening the lives of staff and burning the building to the ground. The crime was never solved. But the paper didn’t die.