mcre Media .......[Henry McClure Publisher]

Subject: What do you bring to the party, Braxton? Braxton, I'll be direct. On October 20 the council voted 9-0 to ask voters for an independent city auditor who answers to the council, not to the city manager's office. In my opinion, the need for that auditor is a reflection of your influence on this city. A city doesn't go looking for a watchdog when things are being run well. You don't know development, so you hire consultants to do the thinking. Hotel Topeka is the proof: $554,000 in consultants, $18 million spent, $1 million back. Who in the private sector pays that kind of money to lose that kind of money and still has a job the next morning? Nobody I know. You've been with the city on and off since 2000. The City Attorney's office. Utilities. Out the door in 2012 to work for a private developer. Back in 2017, then shuffled through Utilities, Public Works, Assistant City Manager, Deputy City Manager, and now acting city manager. Every move c...

On October 26, 2026, Ripple officially received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter Ripple National Trust Bank (RNTB). This finalizes the regulatory pipeline that began when the OCC granted preliminary conditional approval in December 2025. [1] (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261026570843/en/Ripple-Receives-Final-OCC-Approval-to-Establish-National-Trust-Bank), [2] (https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/ripple-wins-final-approval-for-u-s-national-trust-bank), [3] (https://thedefiant.io/converge/tradfi-and-fintech/ripple-wins-final-occ-trust-bank-approval-for-rlusd-reserves-and-custody) 🏛️ Scope of the Bank Charter The charter establishes RNTB as a federally supervised national trust bank. It is crucial to note that this is a specialized fiduciary charter, meaning it operates under different parameters than a traditional commercial bank: [1] (https://www.trendingtopics.eu/ripple-bank-charter-occ/), [2] (https://finance.big...

Stormont Vail and Shawnee County Property Taxes Prepared by Henry McClure  |  (762) 291-2765 October 26, 2026 Data source: Shawnee County Appraiser GIS parcel layer and ARES property/tax records, pulled October 26, 2026. Executive Summary Stormont Vail holds roughly a quarter-billion dollars of real estate in Shawnee County, and almost all of it is off the tax rolls. ·         Footprint: 89 parcels titled to Stormont-Vail HealthCare / J C Stormont Hospital, plus 2 parcels held by affiliates (Urish Medical Plaza LLC and Building Blocks of Topeka Inc). 91 parcels in all. ·         Value: $247,766,790 in 2026 appraised value on the 89 Stormont-titled parcels. $245,217,920 of that, about 99%, is classed exempt. Only $2,548,870 is taxable. ·         Exempt: 54 Stormont parcels are fully exempt and paid $0 in general property tax for 2025. 11 more carry $0 app...