Author Archive

Phil Busse

Phil Busse

Phil Busse has spent the past 20 years as a journalist, attorney and educator—and doing his tour of duty with alt-weeklies.

He has served as the Editor for the Source, a popular weekly newspaper in Bend, Oregon and was the founding Managing Editor for the Portland Mercury. While in law school, he wrote crime and legal stories for the Eugene Weekly and started his writing career as the first environmental beat reporter for San Francisco Weekly.

In 2006, Phil started the Media Institute for Social Change (MediaMakingChange.org), an educational non-profit. Based in Portland, Oregon, the organization hosts college students each summer to teach them how to produce public interest film and radio documentaries—and, in 2013, helped launch XRAY.FM, a talk and music radio station that won Willamette Week’s readers choice for Best Local Radio Station in 2015.

Phil is truly surprised that he ended up as a newspaperman; as a kid, he believed that he would grow up to be a spy, and has spent a lifetime acquiring the proper skills—he is certified SCUBA diver, knows how to tie a bow tie and can mix (shake) a mean martini.

Phil graduated from Middlebury College in 1992 and earned his law degree from the University of Oregon in 1997.

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Salmon fishing ended more than a month ago, and there are conservation reasons to let the spawning fish be. But there is also the practical reason not to fish salmon right now; that is, salmon who are spawning simply do not eat. Oh sure, points out “Pritch,” who identified himself

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The cyclocross races hosted by the Southern Oregon Outlaws are rarely quiet. At a recent event, a few people line a muddy course; they whistle and hoot, and bang on cow bells. Riders swing around a hairpin turn, and, without slowing any forward momentum, swing a leg off their bikes,

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“The good news is they didn’t go up,” says Angus Duncan, speaking about greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon over the past decade. But, he adds, “the bad news is they didn’t go down.” For the past eight years, Duncan has chaired the Oregon Global Warming Commission, a group that makes

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In a new series, the Rogue Valley Messenger catches up with public officials in the region, and asks for their insights into local issues—and solutions. Pam Marsh is a member of the Ashland City Council and the liaison to the Housing & Human Services Commission as well as the executive

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Under sunny skies on Labor Day weekend, some of the “hikers” arrived in Shady Cove by raft, pushing across the Rogue River at a point where a proposed gas pipeline would cross the river—that is, if the activists don’t stop it first. About 200 people were there to greet them.

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With traditional curriculum failing some students, a new wilderness program grows in the woods Lorenzo Mussell did not have an orthodox childhood. He grew up in Kenya. He talks about walking around barefoot, squatting around an open fire, eating food with his hands, and making toys out of bits and

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Entering his second year, Superintendent Brian Shumate counts his victories and stares down challenges   In early February 2014, teachers from the Medford School District went on strike. For months prior, teachers had expressed concerns about middling salaries and what they complained were poor working conditions. In a press statement

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Somewhat quietly, and with little public attention, the newly enacted Board of Trustees for Southern Oregon University unanimously voted to extend the contract for interim President Roy Saigo beyond its expiration date of next June. Saigo has served as president for one complete academic year, and entere his second full

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With school returning, it is often a time for renewed school pride. But over the past 18 months, a story has been unfolding at the University of Oregon that casts a dark shadow over the state’s largest school—and, more directly, questions the importance placed on sports that has overwhelmed decency and morality. A year and half ago, a female student

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Climate City Brewing is not quite a year old and already has found its footing. The third contemporary brewery in Grants Pass, Climate City is actually drawing from the city’s turn-of-the-century history (as in, 1900s, not 2000s) to bring something new to the area—and the results are wonderful. Not only