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Kansas
Links to Kansas Government and more:
KANSAS.GOV- THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE http://www.kansas.gov/index.php OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR http://www.governor.ks.gov/default.htm 785-296-3232 (2nd Term 2007-2010) Kansas Legislature Attorney General
http://www.ksag.org/home/ Find Your Representatives http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/redistricting.do Kansas Senate U.S. Senators from Kansas Senator Pat Roberts (R) 302 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-3514 202-224-4774 www.roberts.senate.gov/ 2nd Term (2003-2008) Senator Sam Brownback (R) 303 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-1604 202-224-6521 www.brownback.senate.gov/ 3rd Term (2005-2010) Maps for each district http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.html#list Representatives from Kansas. Contact your county clerk to see which one represents the district you Representative Dennis Moore(D) 431 Cannon House Office Bldg Washington, D.C. 20515-1603 202/225-2865 www.moore.house.gov/ Representative Jerry Moran(R) 1519 Longworth House Office Bldg Washington, D.C. 20515-1601 202/225-2715 www.jerrymoran.house.gov/ Representative Nancy Boyda(D) 1711 Longworth House Off. Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 202/225-6601 http://boyda.house.gov/ Representative Todd Tiahrt (R) 401 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-1604 202/225-6216 www.house.gov/tiahrt/ Kansas Government Agency & Association Listing Links to agency and association listings http://www.kansas.gov/government/agency_association_listing.html KANSAS LEGISLATURE http://www.kansas.gov/index.php Current Happenings http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/curHapsIndex.do Listen Live House http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-house/index.do Senate http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-senate/index.do |
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Kansas Votes
Their Votes Your Views http://www.kansasvotes.org/forum/forums/t/3359.aspx Kansas Legislation http://www.statesurge.com/states/6-kansas-legislation Statescape Policy Tracking and Analysis http://www.statescape.com/?gclid=CN36uMaZpZkCFQazsgodOETLpw The Kansas State Library Web site that has links to governmental Web sites that cover just about every issue in the public domain. http://www.kslib.info/ http://kslibinfo.wetpaint.com/?t=anon The general state of Kansas Web site with links to state agencies and numerous other resources. www.kansas.gov The Legislature’s Web site. You can look up bills, track their progress and get committee information. You can also find out who your legislator is and how to get in touch with him or her. www.kslegislature.org The Kansas State Library Web site that has links to governmental Web sites that cover just about every issue in the public domain. www.kslib.info To check on a bill or leave a message for a legislator by telephone, call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-432-3924. |
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Kansas Counties
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Kansas State Capitol
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KANSAS is rich with history. In fact, Kansas' history predates statehood and even that of the United States. From the first documented traveler, over 400 years of trials, tribulations, and triumphs have helped mold Kansas into the vibrant, prosperous, rich State we know today.
KANSAS FACTS Birth Date: January 29, 1861, as the 34th state Capital City: Topeka Population: 2,688,418 (2000 - US census report that comes out every 10 years) Largest Cities: Wichita, Kansas City, Overland Park, Topeka Smallest Cities: Freeport, Oak Hill, Benedict, Frederick Major Industries: Aircraft Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Education Geographic Size: 82,282 square miles--ranked 15th in geographic size Geographic Center of Continental US: Near Lebanon in Smith County Highest Point: Mount Sunflower in western Kansas--4,039 feet Lowest Point: The Verdigris River in southeast Kansas--680 feet Time Zones: Mostly central time zone. Some counties in the far west portion of the State are in the mountain time zone. Nickname: Sunflower State (unofficial nicknames: Wheat State, JayHawker State) State motto: "Ad Astra Per Aspera" Latin for "To the stars through difficulty". State Tree: Cottonwood, adopted 1937 State Flower: Native Sunflower, adopted 1903 State Bird: Western Meadowlark, adopted 1937 State Animal: The American Buffalo or Bison, adopted 1955 State Insect: The Honeybee, adopted 1976 State Reptile: The Ornate Box Turtle, adopted 1986 State Amphibian: Barred Tiger Salamander State March: "The Kansas March," by Duff E. Middleton, adopted 1935 State Song: "Home on the Range," by Dr. Brewster Higley, adopted 1947 Agriculture and Livestock Principal crops grown in Kansas are wheat, sorghum (milo), hay and corn. Approximately 10 million bushels of wheat are harvested each year in Kansas. Reno, Sumner and Thomas counties lead the state in wheat production. At least 90% of the land area in Kansas (47 million acres) is devoted to agriculture production. Kansas ranks first in the number of commercial cattle processed with 8.03 million head (1999). Buffalo have made a comeback in Kansas with more than 6,000 head raised on ranches and refuges. Industry transportation equipment, food processing, printing and publishing, chemicals, machinery, apparel Natural Resources petroleum, natural gas, salt, helium, cement, crushed stone Military Bases Fort Riley – Army (Riley County) Fort Leavenworth – Army (Leavenworth) McConnell Air Force Base (Wichita) Air National Guard (Topeka) Hills/Prairies The Smoky Hills are rugged limestone hills in central Kansas. The Flint Hills, in east central Kansas, cover several million acres of undulating, virtually treeless prairie and are also the largest segment of true tallgrass prairie remaining in the United States. The Gypsum Hills in south central Kansas provide a panorama of buttes and mesas. Geological Formations Kansas was once the bed of a huge inland sea and vast deposits of limestone exist throughout the state. Monument Rocks and Castle Rock, both chalk formations, tower over the surrounding plains in Gove County. In and around Gove County, historically significant fossils have been unearthed with many on display at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays. The most significant is the “fish within a fish” fossil. Seasons All four seasons are experienced in Kansas. Statewide, the average annual temperature is 56 degrees. The average rainfall is 26.5 inches statewide; however, precipitation decreases as you travel west. The average in southeast Kansas is 45 inches annually, while the western border averages just 15 inches of rain. Time Zones Kansas is divided by two time zones: Mountain and Central. Four of the western counties observe Mountain Time. The east-west span of Kansas is great enough that the sun rises and sets on the western border 30 minutes later than on the eastern end. Kansas Travel "As Big As You Think" http://www.travelks.com/ National Parks Cimarron National Grassland (Morton County) Fort Scott National Historic Site (Bourbon County) Fort Larned National Historic Site (Pawnee County) Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (Chase County) Nicodemus National Historic Site (Graham County) Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site (Shawnee County) The STATE OF KANSAS Organized as a Territory: 30 May 1854. 10 Stat. 277: previously, part of the unorganized so-called "Indian country" of old Missouri Territory left over from when Missouri had been admitted as a State back in 1821 (NOTE: this is not to be at all confused with that Indian Territory which eventually became the State of Oklahoma and which was established just south of this "Indian country") Admitted to the Union as a State: 29 January 1861 by an Act of Congress (12 Stat. 126) recognizing a State government already formed. (a previous Act of Admission [that of 4 May 1858: 11 Stat. 269], conditional upon adoption of the so-called "Lecompton Constitution", was mooted when that document was rejected in a vote held on 21 August 1858 [also see references elsewhere in this database to Kansas' 2nd and 3rd Constitutions]) The 34th state. CONSTITUTION Enabling Act: [Kansas never had an Enabling Act prior to its Admission as a State] • 1st [Adopted: 2 November 1855 Convention convened, 23 October 1855. This was the so-called "Topeka Constitution" put forth by so-called "Free Staters" opposed to the actions of the pro-slavery Territorial legislature which, after expelling its anti-Slavery members on 2 July 1855, had subsequently passed a series of measures in defense of Slavery in Kansas; a Convention of such Free Staters had met at Lawrence in August 1855 and, after repudiating this pro-Slavery legislation, met again in Big Springs, 5 September 1855, to elect delegates to a convention in Topeka which was specifically authorized to draw up this 1st State Constitution, Ratified: 15 December 1855 ratified by a vote of 1,731 to 46; the "Topeka Constitution" was rejected by President Franklin Pierce when, as part of a Special Message to Congress on 24 January 1856, he referred to this document as the product of "persons confessedly not constituting the body politic"; thus, this Constitution never became effective] • 2nd [Adopted: 7 November 1857 Convention convened, 5 September 1857. This was the so-called "Lecompton Constitution" which was put forth by "Slave Staters". The originally planned ratification vote called for in this document's "Schedule" only provided for a choice between this Consitution with Slavery permitted or this Constitution with Slavery prohibited (that is: there was no way to vote against this Constitution per se). The Territorial legislature- now under the control of the Free Staters- passed a law on 17 December 1857 ordering the "Lecompton Constitution" to be submitted to a "full and fair vote" (that is, with a third alternative- that of rejecting the "Lecompton Constitution"- on the ballot) come the following 4 January (the date this Constitution's Schedule had set for the first election of State officers under the document), Ratified: 21 December 1857 Despite the new requirement for a third "against" option put forth by the Territorial legislature only days before, the original ratification vote of this date went ahead anyway and- with Free Staters boycotting it- this Constitution with Slavery permitted was ratified by a vote of 6,226 to 589 for this Constitution without Slavery (some sources cite the vote as 6,143 to 580). Meanwhile, the legislatively-authorized ratification vote was held only in anti-Slavery areas of the Territory on 4 January 1858 along with the "State" elections held Territory-wide: here, the "Lecompton Constitution" was overwhelmingly rejected by a vote of 10,126 against to 138 for this document with Slavery and 24 for this Constitution without Slavery (Free Staters also captured control of all the "State" offices elected at the same time in any event). The adoption of this "Lecompton Constitution" had been supported by President James Buchanan in his first Annual Message to Congress on 8 December 1857 and was reiterated by the President in the Special Message to Congress on 2 February 1858 in which he submitted a copy of this document to that body; Congress passed an Act of Admission with conditions (as noted under the "3rd Constitution", below) on 4 May 1858, but this "Lecompton Constitution" had no chance of ever becoming effective once the Free Staters had won the "State" elections held under what had been, after all, a Slave Staters' document] • 3rd [Adopted: 3 April 1858 Convention convened, 23 March 1858. This was the so-called "Leavenworth Constitution", the answer of Free Staters to the Slave Staters' "Lecompton Constitution" of 1857: it had been drafted as a reaction to what Free Staters felt was a rigged original ratification vote for that other Constitution on 21 December 1857; however, Congress had- in the meantime- passed an act, on 4 May 1858, admitting Kansas as a State under the "Lecompton Constitution" pending a new ratification vote up or down on that other document on 21 August 1858: the "Lecompton Consitution" was overwhelmingly rejected by a vote of only 1,788 for it as opposed to 11,300 against, Ratified: 18 May 1858 ratified by vote of 4,346 to 1,257. After the "Lecompton Constitution" was soundly defeated once and for all in August 1858, this "Leavenworth Constitution" was put forth by the Free Staters as a viable alternative to that other Constitution based on claims that it had already been ratified by the People of Kansas prior to this latest ratification vote "do-over". The Buchanan Administration, however, strenuously opposed this "Leavenworth Constitution" on the same grounds on which the previous Administration had opposed the "Topeka Constitution"- that the drafting Convention was not truly representative of all the political factions in the Territory- and, thus, it never became effective] • 4th (1861--) [Adopted: 29 July 1859 Convention convened, 5 July 1859. This was the so-called "Wyandotte Consitution" which formed the basis for Kansas' being admitted to the Union as a Free State (and- as things turned out- the very last State admitted to the Union prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War). The Free Staters now being in complete control of the Territorial government, this Constitution was drafted in order to deflect any claim by pro-Slavery opponents that either of the two previous Constitutions drafted by Free-Stater Conventions (that is, those drafted at Topeka and Leavenworth) were illegal; by holding yet a third Free-Stater Constitutional Convention, this potential problem was deftly avoided, Ratified: 4 October 1859 ratified by vote of 10,421 to 5,530; effective upon Admission, 29 January 1861] EXECUTIVE BRANCH Chief Executive • GOVERNOR Successor to a Vacancy • Lieutenant Governor [elected on same ticket with GOVERNOR; nominated with Governor as well] Major Executive Officers Elected Statewide All States 2009 Office holders • Governor: 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2002, 2006. Term Limit: 2 consecutive 4-year terms • Lieutenant Governor: 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2002, 2006. Elected on a ticket with Governor • Secretary of State: 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2002, 2006 • Attorney General: 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2002, 2006 • Treasurer: 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2002, 2006 • Commissioner of Insurance: 4 year term, Election Cycle: 2002, 2006 LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Legislature • LEGISLATURE Upper House • Senate Lower House • House of Representatives JUDICIAL BRANCH Court of Last Resort • Supreme Court Intermediate Appellate Court • Court of Appeals LOCAL GOVERNMENT PRIMARY CIVIL DIVISION All States • county [Type: Broad, Executive and Legislative: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS] MINOR CIVIL DIVISION All States • township [Type: Limited, Executive: Trustee, Legislative: Board] Incorporated Municipalities All States Localities • Kansas Civil Divisions and Municipalities KEY STATEWIDE/FEDERAL OFFICIALS Kansas Officials ELECTION INFORMATION General Election • Tuesday succeeding 1st Monday in November in even-numbered years [KS Constitution: Art.4, sec.2; KS Statutes 25-101] Presidential Primary All States • on or before the 1st Tuesday in April in Presidential Election years (only if, by 1 November of the immediately preceding year, no "common date" shared with at least five other States holding presidential primaries or delegate selection caucuses or conventions has been adopted) [KS Statutes 25-4501] State Primary All States • 1st Tuesday in August in even-numbered years [KS Statutes 25-203] Polling times All States • Polls open: 7 AM local time Polls close: 7 PM local time (NOTE: counties may set different polling hours from the above only if: * the polls are open at least 12 continuous hours * they commence no earlier than 6 AM local time * they end no later than 8 PM local time) [KS Statutes 25-106] LINKS Election Authority • Kansas Secretary of State http://www.kssos.org/main.html Legislature • Kansas Legislature http://www.kslegislature.org/ Democratic • Kansas Democratic Party http://www.ksdp.org/ Republican • Kansas Republican Party http://www.ksgop.org/ • Kansas Senate Republicans http://skyways.lib.ks.us/senategop/ Third Party • Kansans For Life • Kansas Constitution Party • Kansas Green Party • Libertarian Party of Kansas • Reform Party of Kansas • The Socialist Party of Kansas MEDIA • Baldwin City Signal • Clay Center Dispatch • Daily Globe - Atchison • DC's Political Report - Kansas • Derby Daily Reporter • Dodge City Daily Globe • El Dorado Times • Great Bend Tribune • High Plains Journal - Dodge City • Hillsboro Free Press • Hillsboro Star-Journal • Kansas City Jewish Chronicle • Kansas City Kansan • Kansas Press Association • Lawrence Journal-World • Louisburg Herald • Marion County Record • Miami County Republic • NewsLink.org - Kansas • nwkansas.com - Nor'West Newspapers • Osawatomie Graphic • Ottawa Herald - Franklin County • Politics1.com - Kansas • Salina Journal • The Abilene Reflector-Chronicle • The Ark Valley News - Valley Center • The Chanute Tribune • The Coffey County Republican - Burlington • The Daily Union - Junction City • The De Soto Explorer • The Emporia Gazette • The Eudora News • The Garden City Telegram • The Gyp Hill Premiere - Medicine Lodge • The Hays Daily News • The Holton Recorder • The Hutchinson News • The Iola Register • The Johnson County Sun • The Kansas City Star • The Kiowa News • The Leavenworth Times • The Manhattan Mercury • The McPherson Sentinel • The Miami County Republic - Paola • The Minneapolis Messenger • The Mirror - Tonganoxie • The Morning Sun - Pittsburg • The Newton Kansan • The Olathe News - Olathe • The Osage County Herald - Osage City • The Parsons Sun • The Pratt Tribune - Pratt County • The Superior Express - Jewell County Record - Country Connections • The Topeka Capital-Journal • The Wichita Eagle • Vote! Kansas • Wellington Daily News • Wichita Business Journal • Winfield Courier • Wyandotte West Muni Net Guide Your Hub for Municipal Related Research http://www.muninetguide.com/states/kansas.php |
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U. S. Government
Links to U.S. Government and more:
White House Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 www.whitehouse.gov Senator Pat Roberts (R) 302 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-3514 202-224-4774 www.roberts.senate.gov/ 2nd Term (2003-2008) Senator Sam Brownback (R) 303 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-1604 202-224-6521 www.brownback.senate.gov/ 3rd Term (2005-2010) |
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Diamonds N' Spurs
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