How high: OLCC detects excessive levels of THC in products advertised as hemp
PORTLAND, Ore. () — Oregon's cannabis regulators are sounding the alarm on 'widespread non-compliance' in the hemp market.
Despite the fact that hemp is defined as a cannabis plant with less than 0.3% of THC, the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Cannabis Reference Laboratory found that all of the hemp flower samples it tested exceeded this threshold. And some contained as much as 30.5% THC.
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These findings, along with several other cases of non-compliance, were uncovered in the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission's on Wednesday. In the report, the commission notes that the prominence of hemp products aimed to offer consumers a non-intoxicating substance — but many brands have wrongly sold marijuana-derived products while advertising them as hemp.
Both the OLCC and ODA probed into 'concerns of contamination and product misrepresentation' in the market by testing 151 cannabis product samples.
Researchers found that 72% of the hemp edibles they successfully purchased for the investigation were prohibited from being sold to Oregon customers. This was due to the amount of artificially derived cannabinoids or delta-9-THC — the primary active ingredient giving users the 'high' feeling — they contained.
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And only 10% of the edibles researchers purchased had a 'clear' potency label that matched the test results.
The investigation also found that one batch of marijuana contained nearly 10 times the amount of pesticides that is legally allowed. The product has since been recalled, according to officials.
In addition to concerns with the legality of the product samples, the commission also raised red flags over the hemp industry's age verification processes. The commission claimed it was able to purchase 91% of the hemp edible samples and 87% of the flower samples it attempted to buy online, without having to adequately verify its age.
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OLCC Commission Chair Dennis Doherty these findings point to an industry-wide need for 'stronger oversight.' Officials have worked toward this since the 2023 passage of House Bill 2931, which established the laboratory used for the report.
'The new legislative measures will help protect consumers, particularly minors, and ensure the industry operates responsibly,' Doherty added in a statement.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Daywatch: Troubled Cook County tech firm used insider lobbyist
Good morning, Chicago. As a fledgling tech contractor looking to build its business in the insular world of Cook County politics, Texas-based Tyler Technologies turned to one of Illinois' most well-connected lobbyists to get the job done. In 2016, Jay Doherty not only lobbied Chicago, Cook County and state agencies, he was also the longtime president of the City Club of Chicago, a popular nonprofit civic organization. Doherty would be convicted in 2023 of conspiracy in a scandal involving one of his other clients, Commonwealth Edison. It was part of a series of linked cases that ultimately ended Madigan's decades-long run as speaker. There is no direct connection between Doherty's work for ComEd and what he did for Tyler. Unlike Tyler's efforts seeking contract opportunities, the ComEd case detailed a vast criminal scheme of bribery and influence peddling as part of the utility's efforts to get legislation passed. But interviews and records about Doherty's work for Tyler and details from his 2023 trial reveal striking parallels in how he repeatedly smoothed paths for both clients, including creating informal interactions at City Club events attended by government officials so the two sides could discuss business outside the office. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: why an alderman wants to give the City Council power to ban short-term rentals, the cost-cutting measures Northwestern University is implementing and our summer books guide. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Los Angeles police swiftly enforced a downtown curfew last night, making arrests moments after it took effect, while deploying officers on horseback and using crowd control projectiles to break up a group of hundreds demonstrating against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. 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Troubled Cook County tech firm used insider lobbyist who was later convicted in ComEd corruption scheme
This story is a collaboration between Injustice Watch and the Chicago Tribune. As a fledgling tech contractor looking to build its business in the insular world of Cook County politics, Texas-based Tyler Technologies turned to one of Illinois' most well-connected lobbyists to get the job done. In 2016, Jay Doherty not only lobbied Chicago, Cook County and state agencies, he was also the longtime president of the City Club of Chicago, a popular nonprofit civic organization. The dual roles granted Doherty access to the halls of power and enabled him to easily hobnob with decision-makers such as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who regularly appeared at the club's luncheons attended by hundreds of government and business leaders. He was a useful operative in the machine of longtime Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. And he helped fundraise and organize the installation ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, the wife of his longtime friend, Chicago Ald. Edward Burke. At the time Tyler hired Doherty in 2016, there was no indication any of the Tyler executives involved knew their new man in Illinois was also corrupt. Doherty would be convicted in 2023 of conspiracy in a scandal involving one of his other clients, Commonwealth Edison. It was part of a series of linked cases that ultimately ended Madigan's decades-long run as speaker. There is no direct connection between Doherty's work for ComEd and what he did for Tyler. Unlike Tyler's efforts seeking contract opportunities, the ComEd case detailed a vast criminal scheme of bribery and influence peddling as part of the utility's efforts to get legislation passed. But interviews and records about Doherty's work for Tyler and details from his 2023 trial reveal striking parallels in how he repeatedly smoothed paths for both clients, including creating informal interactions at City Club events attended by government officials so the two sides could discuss business outside the office. Tyler executives won't say exactly when they hired Doherty, only that it was sometime in 'late 2016.' Doherty didn't formally report any lobbying activity for Tyler until March 2017. It was a pivotal time for the company. In 2015, Tyler won a $30 million contract to upgrade and digitize the county's property tax system, but in October 2016 the company blew its first major deadline. In a separate contract signed earlier that year, the Supreme Court had agreed to pay Tyler Technologies $8.4 million to digitally connect it to each of the state's 102 county clerk offices. And, despite concerns from some county commissioners regarding Tyler's problems in other localities, the company was trying to score yet a third contract worth $36.5 million to bring the Cook County Circuit Court database into the 21st century. The $265 million tech bill: How a plan to streamline Cook County, state computer systems led to massive costs and delays A review of email correspondence, court and contract records and dozens of interviews by Injustice Watch and the Chicago Tribune reveals how Doherty went to work for his new client. He set up key meetings to lobby Tyler critics. He invited the county's chief technology officer — who was then hashing out final details on its second county contract — to speak at the City Club. And, at another City Club event, Tyler's vice president of sales was placed at the same table as County Commissioner John Fritchey — chair of the board's Technology and Innovation Committee and a leading Tyler skeptic. Over the next three years, Doherty lobbied for Tyler as it navigated blown deadlines and pursued new procurement opportunities even as failed rollouts had some county elected officials calling on Preckwinkle — who as board president was invited to speak 17 times at the City Club during Doherty's tenure — to fire Tyler. Tyler was not fired. Instead, what began as a series of three contracts for a total of $75 million has now ballooned to more than $250 million. A decade later, one of the projects has yet to reach its declared finish line, another is reaching completion this month after a yearslong delay, and the third is still in need of fixes — dogged by slowdowns and shortcomings. Tyler touted its Cook County contract wins to become a national powerhouse in local government technology, reporting $2.1 billion in revenues from taxpayer-financed contracts last year alone. After Doherty's three-year run shepherding Tyler through numerous controversies, the company fired him in 2019 following media reports that federal authorities raided his offices and the City Club as part of their ComEd investigation. Doherty's lobbying methods only came to light through federal trial testimony, Cook County Bureau of Technology emails obtained through the open records act, and internal City Club records obtained by the Tribune and Injustice Watch. Doherty, 71, and his attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. Tyler executives said, through a spokesperson, the company's contract with Doherty required him to comply 'with all applicable laws. Within approximately two business days of learning about the allegations against Mr. Doherty, Tyler ended its agreement with him. Tyler has had no relationship with him since that time. Tyler was not involved in any investigation or prosecution of Mr. Doherty.' The son of a small city mayor in McHenry County, Doherty in the 1980s became an important fundraiser and political consultant for Democratic candidates in Chicago, including members of the Kennedy family and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. He kept six Rolodexes on the credenza behind his office chair and would flip through the cards, cradling a phone to one ear, one former lobbying associate recalled. In 1985, Doherty began his professional relationship with ComEd, receiving a $10,000-per-year retainer to lobby Washington's City Hall, where he claimed to have saved the utility more than $50 million, according to exhibits and testimony in Doherty's federal criminal trial. Ten years later, he began serving as the unpaid president of the City Club of Chicago, a 122-year-old nonprofit civic organization hosting bipartisan candidates' debates, journalist panels and speeches by political heavyweights from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. But starting in 2011 Doherty began using his lobbying firm, Jay Doherty & Associates, to funnel $1.3 million from ComEd to four Madigan allies for no-show subcontractor positions 'to influence and reward' Madigan, who helped orchestrate passage of three ComEd legislative proposals worth at least $150 million to the utility, prosecutors alleged. The utility admitted its role in the bribery scheme and agreed to pay the government a $200 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. Madigan was charged in a connected but separate case in which he was convicted in February on bribery and conspiracy charges. Madigan is set to be sentenced Friday. Doherty was convicted in 2023 of six counts, including conspiracy and falsifying records. His sentencing date is scheduled for August. A relentless political consultant who worked long hours and on holidays, Doherty kept much of his work for Tyler and others out of the public eye. Fellow lobbyists say he rarely contacted targets at board meetings, instead peppering county officials with short emails to arrange private meetings and phone calls. Lobbying records show Doherty's one-man firm had at least 27 clients since 2014, but also show Doherty sometimes failed to disclose his activity as required. In 2021, the city fined him $75,000 for failing to register as a lobbyist for three companies. His trial also revealed how much he leaned into his position as president of one of Illinois' most venerable civic organizations to boost his lobbying clients. In one wiretapped conversation with another ComEd lobbyist who turned government witness, Fidel Marquez, Doherty explained why ComEd made significant charitable donations to the City Club while paying his lobbying retainer, which rose to $450,000 per year. ComEd executives understood the importance of the City Club as a place where Doherty could facilitate informal contacts with government officials, he told Marquez. 'They saw the value of being able to sit next to people in soft situations,' Doherty told Marquez in February 2019 as Marquez wore an FBI wire. Marquez responded: 'No, they, they, they know very, very well the value of a good relationship.' 'Yeah, and, and a soft relationship,' Doherty responded. 'A soft one, yes,' Marquez said. Marquez explained on the witness stand in Doherty's criminal trial that Doherty enabled ComEd leaders to appear as featured City Club speakers, and arranged for them to sit alongside government officials at the head table with the event's speaker, where they could 'get to chat with them for a little while.' At least half a dozen times, Doherty introduced ComEd executives at City Club events without mentioning he was also the company's lobbyist, the nonprofit's online archive shows. It helped boost the revenues of City Club — which raised and spent more than $1 million per year — when Doherty featured government officials who oversaw contracts as luncheon speakers, and brought in his clients to sit with them at reserved tables where they could talk privately, according to interviews and trial testimony. They were the same tactics Doherty used to benefit Tyler, the Tribune and Injustice Watch found. Four months before he reported any official work as Tyler's lobbyist, Doherty began taking steps that would benefit the rapidly growing Texas tech company. Among his late 2016 moves was booking Cook County's chief technology officer, Simona Rollinson, as a featured City Club speaker for the first time since she took the job four years earlier. Emails show Doherty had lobbied Rollinson for several years on behalf of other tech clients. He did not note that work or Tyler when he introduced Rollinson before her appearance at the City Club on Feb. 21, 2017. In her speech about ongoing efforts to upgrade the county's aging computer systems, she took credit for being a tough tech contract negotiator. Without naming Tyler, she declared the company was on schedule to install cloud-based, mass appraisal software for the county. 'We're going live with the assessor's office next year,' Rollinson announced. Her City Club prediction would prove premature. Tyler's revamp of basic Cook County assessor's office functions — called iasWorld — was scheduled to go live in December 2018, but it did not happen until 2021 after years of complaints about delays and cross-accusations of incompetence, government records show. In the weeks before and after Rollinson's City Club speech, final negotiations for Tyler's court contract were also taking place behind the scenes, records show. In emails, county and Tyler officials grappled over remaining sticking points, formed strategies to address board opposition, and discussed their talking points. Emails and lobbying disclosures also show Rollinson was scheduled to meet with Doherty and two of his other tech clients in the days leading up to crucial board votes. Rollinson, who no longer works in government, did not respond to requests for comment from the Tribune and Injustice Watch. On March 21, 2017, Tyler Vice President of Sales Eric Cullison met with Fritchey and separately with tech committee vice chair, Sean Morrison, to discuss their concerns about the pending $36.5 million contract with Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown, Cullison's lobbying records show. At a County Board hearing the next day, Commissioner Robert Steele raised questions about problems Tyler was having in other parts of the country. County Court Clerk Dorothy Brown's top deputy, Bridget Dancy, said at the hearing county officials reached out to other satisfied counties, and Tyler had demonstrated they knew how to convert and transfer data. Much of the data, images and talking points Dancy used originated from Cullison, emails show. Contacted by phone, Dancy said all the information she used came from other county officials. After the hearing, commissioners 'returned' it for further study until the next month. Although he had already been under contract with Tyler for months, Doherty registered his first lobbying activity for the company that day, disclosing the meetings with Rollinson, Fritchey and Morrison. Three weeks later, records show Cullison reported lobbying Rollinson at an April 10 'event' the day before a crucial Finance Committee vote. Although Cullison did not report any details about the event, Fritchey recalled being seated at the speaker's table with Cullison at a City Club luncheon. The next day, the Cook County Board approved the court clerk's $36.5 million contract with Tyler. Fritchey voted 'present.' 'It wasn't lost on me that it was one of the only times I recalled sitting at the City Club speaker's table or that I was seated with one of Jay's clients who had a large pending matter before my committee,' Fritchey said in an interview. 'You unfortunately can't help but think that he was leveraging his role at one of Chicago's leading civic institutions in furtherance of his private lobbying activities.' Charities such as the City Club can jeopardize their tax-exempt status if they're used to enrich their own officers, allegations Doherty had successfully faced down years before. In 2009, longtime City Club board member Kathy Posner complained to then-state Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office about Doherty's use of the club's staff, downtown office and power-elite database for his political consulting business. In response to the allegations, the City Club hired three attorneys who once worked in the AG's office to negotiate an agreement with Lisa Madigan's office. The agreement resulted in no violations, but City Club revised its bylaws and corrected its past financial reports — while keeping Doherty on as club president, records and interviews show. 'We investigated the allegations and none of it was true,' said Mike Hayes, one of the three attorneys who defended the City Club against the whistleblower's allegations. A year after the AG's investigation wrapped, in 2011, Doherty began working covertly with associates of Lisa Madigan's father, Speaker Madigan, according to trial testimony. He continued using City Club's offices and staff for his private lobbying work and showcasing his clients at club events, according to trial testimony and court records. He listed the City Club offices as his lobbying business' address; an administrative aide split her time between the club and his lobbying firm; and filing cabinets at the City Club office held folders on lobbying activity by two of Speaker Madigan's no-show subcontractors. 'If the AG had done its job and stopped Jay in his tracks back then, he wouldn't have been able to keep abusing City Club's tax-exempt status for his lobbying,' Posner said in a recent interview. Lisa Madigan declined to comment, but top staffers who investigated the City Club allegations in 2009 said she never meddled in the probe. In an email response to questions, Tyler executives said Doherty was recommended by a 'highly respected and well-established' vendor the company refused to name. The company said the vendor called Doherty 'a resource who could help Tyler navigate the County's complicated operational landscape.' Doherty reported Tyler paid him $45,325 to lobby Cook County officials. Tyler would not confirm his compensation or respond to other specific questions about Doherty's work. Tyler said Doherty's role was limited to Cook County, and he did not 'engage with' the Illinois Supreme Court, which had a separate contract at the same time. By the fall of 2017, Tyler faced serious problems on its Cook County property tax contract. Rollinson by then had become one of Tyler's critics. On Nov. 15, 2017, Rollinson wrote to Tyler 'to express my concern regarding Tyler's management.' Doherty met with her the same day, his lobbyist disclosure reports show. Doherty's last lobbying contact with Rollinson was in May 2018, records showed, but days later, she left her county post and moved back to the private sector. 'Jay, like most lobbyists, was more interested in lining his pockets than protecting taxpayers from dubious business and utility deals,' said Andy Shaw, a former executive director of the Better Government Association where he acted as liaison for City Club whistleblowers. 'This, sadly, is the 'Chicago Way' — on steroids.' Mitra Nourbakhsh contributed.
Chicago Tribune
11 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Daywatch: Troubled Cook County tech firm used insider lobbyist
Good morning, Chicago. As a fledgling tech contractor looking to build its business in the insular world of Cook County politics, Texas-based Tyler Technologies turned to one of Illinois' most well-connected lobbyists to get the job done. In 2016, Jay Doherty not only lobbied Chicago, Cook County and state agencies, he was also the longtime president of the City Club of Chicago, a popular nonprofit civic organization. Doherty would be convicted in 2023 of conspiracy in a scandal involving one of his other clients, Commonwealth Edison. It was part of a series of linked cases that ultimately ended Madigan's decades-long run as speaker. There is no direct connection between Doherty's work for ComEd and what he did for Tyler. Unlike Tyler's efforts seeking contract opportunities, the ComEd case detailed a vast criminal scheme of bribery and influence peddling as part of the utility's efforts to get legislation passed. But interviews and records about Doherty's work for Tyler and details from his 2023 trial reveal striking parallels in how he repeatedly smoothed paths for both clients, including creating informal interactions at City Club events attended by government officials so the two sides could discuss business outside the office. Read the latest in our reporting on the troubled tech firm, from the Tribune's A.D. Quig and David Jackson of Injustice Watch. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: why an alderman wants to give the City Council power to ban short-term rentals, the cost-cutting measures Northwestern University is implementing and our summer books guide. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Los Angeles police swiftly enforced a downtown curfew last night, making arrests moments after it took effect, while deploying officers on horseback and using crowd control projectiles to break up a group of hundreds demonstrating against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Members of the National Guard stood watch behind plastic shields, but did not appear to participate in the arrests. The Chicago-based American Medical Association plans to ask a U.S. Senate committee to investigate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to overhaul a key vaccine advisory group, the medical association said in an emergency resolution. As many worry about labor shortages, others are looking to artificial intelligence to fill the void. AI is already being used to scan fields for weeds and pests and then share that data with farmers to support decision-making. It's becoming increasingly good at making recommendations too, such as suggesting when and how much to fertilize, he said. State election officials have informed Senate President Don Harmon that he will face more than $9.8 million in penalties pending an appeal of a case alleging he broke an Illinois election law designed to rein in big money in political campaigns. A federal judge yesterday struck from the court record a reference to former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan's personal net worth of more than $40 million, agreeing with his defense team that it should have been kept private. Federal prosecutors made Madigan's net worth public for the first time in a response to a sentencing memorandum filed by his attorneys, arguing that the defendant's 'greed is even more appalling given his law firm's success.' If a Far Northwest Side alderman gets his way, Chicago City Council members could gain the authority to block short-term rentals like Airbnb's from popping up in their wards. The university faces serious financial pressure following the Trump administration freezing $790 million in federal funding in April. Northwestern has reached a moment where these measures are necessary to ensure the university's fiscal stability now and 'into an uncertain future,' University leadership said in the email. In a sense, now is the best time to make a position switch. Or, at least, that's how Bears rookie tackle Ozzy Trapilo is looking at it. After playing right tackle during his final two seasons at Boston College, Trapilo is making the move to the left side. He played some left tackle in college, but re-learning the position is still a transition. What can one say about the new 'How to Train Your Dragon' that one didn't say back in 2010, when it was animated, not live-actioned? And really good? One can say that the remake gets the job done, writes Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. One can also say the job is not an inspiring one. Reworking a familiar, proven narrative in an animation-to-'real'-live-action transfer rarely feels, looks and acts like an improvement. But freshness can be irrelevant at the box office for these ventures. (The 'Lilo & Stitch' remake is heading toward the billion-dollar global benchmark.) Most TV detectives have a gimmick. Just doing the diligent work of piecing together a puzzle isn't enough. And to a minor extent, that's true of 'Art Detectives' on Acorn TV, about a policeman who heads up the one-man Heritage Crime Unit in the U.K. His specialty is crime linked to the art world, writes Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz. Summer reading, if you ask me, should meander, without a plan, writes Christopher Borrelli. Pick up, put down, misplace, leave crusty with sand or warped with humidity. Fall is for rigor, winter for hunkering down, spring for peering ahead, but the right summer read is a promising dirt road in a field. Located on Route 66 about 30 miles east of Kingman at the edge of the Peacock Mountains in northwest Arizona, the general store was perhaps destined to become another crumbling ruin when the route was decommissioned in 1985. That is, until Bob Waldmire came to town. Waldmire's family opened the Springfield, Illinois, institution Cozy Dog, which is located on Route 66 and claims to have invented the corn dog. Born in St. Louis, he became a legendary figure of the route's lore with his hand-drawn postcards, maps and murals. Both he and the van he took on his frequent route trips served as the inspiration for the character Fillmore in the Disney Pixar film 'Cars.' Related:
