Phil Busse

The security guard wasn’t gone for more than five minutes. But that was enough time for a disgruntled neighbor–or neighbors–to break three large plate-glass windows at the new Starbucks along SE Division. He, she, or they also tossed a Molotov cocktail at the coffee shop. The homemade bomb failed to ignite, but the message was […]

“It is the worst-kept secret in Oregon,” one longtime political insider told me. She was referring to Neil Goldschmidt’s confession last week to an affair with a 14-year-old girl. The year-long tryst occurred 30 years ago, during which time Goldschmidt was the “golden boy” 35-year-old mayor of Portland. To many longtime political insiders, the news […]

additional reporting by Joshua Cinelli The photo showed James Jahar Perez handcuffed to the car door’s post. He had already been shot three times in the torso and then tasered for several minutes. Even so, the first officers to respond to the scene assessed him as a danger and, before radioing emergency care, cuffed him. […]

Currently, officers are asked to write a report each time they place a person in handcuffs. But there is no similar requirement that an officer must write a report–or even tell his supervisor–when he pulls a gun on a suspect. For the past year, community activists and civil rights attorneys have demanded a change in […]

Judge Frank Bearden opened court on Friday by announcing, “I do want to point out that this is simply one step on the way toward the Supreme Court and the legislature.” Presiding over one of the most important civil rights cases in Oregon history, Judge Bearden was sitting in the eye of a legal storm. […]

More than two weeks have passed since an officer shot and killed James Jahar Perez. Since then, many people have remarked on the similarities between this police shooting and the death of Kendra James nearly a year ago. Both victims were black. Both were stopped for minor traffic violations. Both raise troubling questions about racism. […]

This week, all candidates running for local office must reveal their “Contribution and Expenditures” (C&E) reports. These public records document every penny gathered and spent by the candidates, and to a large extent, the C&E tells the most honest story of how each person is running his or her campaign. But even before city council […]

On Wednesday, council member Erik Sten will introduce an idea that could radically reshape the politics of Portland. Under the ordinance, campaigns will be publicly financed–that is, if a candidate gathers 1,000 $5 donations from registered voters, he or she will receive $150,000 to pay for a campaign. The money would be supplied by a […]