met my new VA home health nurse last week. she informed me that ive been diagnosed with liver cancer.
I asked her if somebody should have mentioned that to me. my life is so hectic, i never even thought about it til yesterday. now i can't get any medical folks from either agency to call me back. but they did ask if i'd come in a fill out a release of information. I declined. Life's a trip. cmon now...
Shemia Fagan, the former Oregon Secretary of State who resigned in 2023 over her pay-for-play scandal involving an Oregon dispensary contract, has ended her ethics violations case with the state of Oregon. Final judgment: $1600 fine.
The federal investigation into her ended two weeks ago with no charges being filed. Fagan had also been investigated for using taxpayer funds for lavish vacations.
Currently, she is appealing to the Oregon Bar Association to get her law license back, which she put on hold in 2021 when she was elected to the position.
Fagan, who along with current Rep Val Hoyle, Governor Tina Kotek, and former AG Ellen Rosenblum, gave an unusual amount of political access to the couple who own La Mota. Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell put on lavish parties and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to Fagan, Hoyle, and Kotek. In turn, the La Mota couple was given an opportunity to write a cannabis audit that would be very advantageous to their business. This audit was what led to Fagan’s resignation. Hoyle, who was also implicated, has refused to cooperate with Oregon authorities, including refusing to hand over her phone records.
Now, the La Mota couple has apparently fled to New Mexico, where they opened several dispensaries there and used their clout to immerse themselves into the NM political machine as well. They still owe the state of Oregon millions in taxes.
Mitchell came from a wealthy hotelier family in Miami and used money from an inheritance to buy into the Southern Oregon cannabis market prior to the state legalizing the drug. Cazares is from Texas. There has been rumors that they are connected to cartel drug syndicates.
When the couple first moved to Oregon, they bought dozens of properties around the state and opened over 100 LLC’s for their cannabis enterprise, some with such dubious names as Black Market Distribution, LLC. Most of these are now inactive.
Insiders into their NM enterprise say that Cazares regularly brags that she sells Oregon weed out of her NM dispensaries, which would be a federal crime, if true. While in Oregon, the couple got fined multiple times for selling their product out of state.
Former AG Rosenblum refused to investigate the La Mota couple. Current AG Dan Rayfield has stayed away from the case as well. He also received donations from Cazares and Mitchell.
Former OLCC director, Steve Marks, was one of the individuals who was a fall guy due to the La Mota scandal. Kotek, Fagan, and Rosenblum conspired to force his resignation due to the bogus Bourbongate scandal, claiming Marks was giving preferential treatment to wealthy bourbon buyers for allocated bottles. In truth, Marks had actually voiced his grave concern over his bosses giving the La Mota couple carte blanche over the cannabis audit. Marks has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit with the state.
on January 20th, we put the right ones in and take the left ones out. we do the hokey pokey and we turn this country around. cause that's what it's all about.
Did you know that there is a fully accredited Oregon high school operating in the Multnomah County Inverness Jail? Through the work of a Multnomah Education Services District teacher, adults in custody under the age of 24 can earn a standard high school diploma, pursue a GED and receive college support.
An exciting new addition to the Inverness School is computers – allowing for better technology literacy and access to GED completion. On this day, students worked with their teacher learning about two online resources for continuing education and for finding work after their release.
According to the Northwestern Prison Education Program (2024), incarcerated individuals who participate in prison education programs have a 43% reduction in recidivism rates and greater employment opportunities. These outcomes benefit the individuals and our communities.