Latest news with #KansasDay
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Delays push opening date back for Kansas Museum of History
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Major renovation work at the Kansas Museum of History is experiencing some delays which has pushed the expected opening date back this year. The Kansas Historical Society (KSHS) began the expansive renovation process at the museum in Topeka in September 2022. The Kansas Historical Foundation helped raise the more than $6 million in funds necessary to complete the project with an opening date set for January 2024. Patrick Zollner, executive director of the KSHS, reported to the Kansas Legislature in December 2024 the timeline for finishing the renovation work was experiencing delays. He told lawmakers the KSHS had hoped to reopen the museum on Kansas Day in 2025, which came on Jan. 29 as people celebrated the state's 164th birthday. Kansas Highway Patrol scraps $48 million plan for new headquarters Zollner reported that it was discovered in May last year the costs associated with the new gallery exhibit walls, ramp and supporting engineering work hadn't been included in the price of the project, leading the KSHS to estimate an additional $904,000 to complete the renovations. The KSHS then turned to the Kansas Legislature to acquire the money for fiscal year 2025 with a proposed opening date sometime in the middle of the year. 27 News reached out the KSHS and Zollner on Feb. 24 to gain a better understanding of the situation and when people might expect the museum to open its doors again. He said work should be completed on the museum gallery by the end of October with the KSHS tentatively hoping for a grand opening in November 2025. The KSHS is still waiting for approval from the Kansas Legislature on the extra $904,000 to complete the necessary work at the museum. Whether the KSHS will receive the additional requested funds is still up in the air. 'With the legislature still in session, it's hard to say,' Zollner said. 'Initially, the House Committee on Appropriations approved the $904,500 supplement to our FY 2025 budget to pay for the museum gallery interior wall infrastructure. However, it was later removed from our budget in their final recommendations. We have yet to testify before the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.' Squatting could become a crime in Kansas with new bill The Kansas Museum of History hasn't undergone major renovations like this for more than 30 years. Once it reopens, people can expect to find new artifacts added to the museum's already extensive collection along with a revamped interior that presents guests with the history of the Sunflower State and that will have brand-new classroom spaces, an outside dining terrace and a lobby café. Sarah Bell, director of the Kansas Museum of History, told 27 News in August 2024 houses between 2,500 and 3,000 artifacts related to the state's history. Iconic pieces of Kansas' past are housed inside the museum such as covered wagons, American Civil War relics, historic aircraft and the oldest surviving locomotive from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The Kansas Museum of History can be found in Topeka at 6425 Southwest Sixth Avenue. You can learn more about the renovation work by clicking here. Found an arrowhead in Kansas? Archaeologist urges you to leave it alone For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Local library celebrates celebrates Kansas Day
TOPEKA (KSNT) -164 years ago, Kansas became the 33rd state. All week, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library (TSCPL) is celebrating Kansas Day in their own unique way. The library is hosting a Kansas-themed scavenger hunt. The hunt leads all over the building, where you can discover facts and history about the state. First Kansas American Kolache set to open in Topeka, here's when The library's communication director, Diana Friend, shared how you can start the hunt. 'We have a scavenger hunt that has been going on all week, and it will go through Sunday,' Friend said. 'Where you go to the kid's library desk and pick up your copy of what you're looking for, and there will be clues all over the library.' Once you complete the hunt, you can head up to the Topeka Room and claim your Kansas themed prize. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas Statehouse's newest art installation, first by woman artist, celebrates suffragists
The Kansas Statehouse's newest art installation, a painting of the state's suffragist icons, is unveiled on Jan. 26, 2025. (Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — A crowd clamored Wednesday at the Kansas Statehouse to see the state's suffragist icons and family members memorialized in paint. The mural-sized installation is the first by a woman artist in the Kansas Statehouse. The artist, Phyllis Garibay-Coon, painted the majority of the work in her dining room, she said ahead of the unveiling. Titled 'Rebel Women,' the work was the subject of speeches, a dedication and awe from those gathered Wednesday, which was also Kansas Day. Gov. Laura Kelly marked the day as an occasion to celebrate 'bold, visionary, badass' women. In a speech, she reiterated her commitment to public education and touted economic development wins such as the Panasonic battery plant in De Soto. The painting was the brainchild of the League of Women Voters, which pitched it to the Capitol Preservation Committee for approval. Legislators approved bills in 2022 authorizing the memorial. The bills forbade the use of public funds for the project. The painting depicts more than a dozen suffragist figures from Kansas' history. Among them: Anna O. Anthony of Leavenworth, sister-in-law to pivotal women's rights and suffragist figure Susan B. Anthony; Laura M. Johns of Salina, a journalist and organizer who was president of the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association for nearly a decade; Annie L. Diggs a public speaker and journalist who was the first woman to register to vote in Lawrence despite opposition from local men; and Lutie Lytle, the first Black person to be admitted to the Kansas Bar Association and one of the first Black women to earn a law degree and work as a law professor. The painting also features the great-grandmother of an attendee at Wednesday's unveiling, as well as the painter's mother, Helen Garibay Coon. Helen Garibay Coon was an avid reader and encouraged the same in her children. A silver ring is visible on her hand. Nicki Harders, the artist's eldest sister, gifted Phyllis Garibay-Coon the ring after the painting's unveiling. The sisters' father died the day before the unveiling, making it a proud but sad moment, Harders said. Their father was blind and hard of hearing before he died, said Jennifer Vulgamore, another one of the artist's sisters. 'Now he can see it with clear eyes and with mom,' Vulgamore said.
The Independent
29-01-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Kansas unveils a mural honoring 'rebel women' who campaigned for voting rights
Kansas has a new mural in its Statehouse honoring women who campaigned for voting rights for decades before the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted those rights across the nation. Gov. Laura Kelly and other state officials unveiled the 'Rebel Women' painting that spans an entire wall on the first floor on Wednesday, the anniversary of Kansas' admission as the 34th U.S. state in 1861. While Kansas Day is traditionally marked with renditions of the official state song, 'Home on the Range,' Wednesday's event also featured the women's voting rights anthem, "Suffrage Song,' to the tune of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' A 2022 law authorized the mural, and artist Phyllis Garibay-Coon, of Manhattan, in northeastern Kansas, won the contest with a depiction of 13 prominent Kansas suffragists. A few women in the crowd of several hundred people were dressed as 19th century campaigners who were active before statehood. Kansas prides itself as entering the union as an anti-slavery free state, but it also was more progressive than other states in gradually granting women full voting rights. Women could vote in school elections in 1861 and in city elections in 1887, and the nation's first woman mayor, Susanna M. Salter, was elected in Argonia, Kansas, that year. Voters amended the state constitution in 1912 to grant women full voting rights.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas unveils a mural honoring 'rebel women' who campaigned for voting rights
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has a new mural in its Statehouse honoring women who campaigned for voting rights for decades before the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted those rights across the nation. Gov. Laura Kelly and other state officials unveiled the 'Rebel Women' painting that spans an entire wall on the first floor on Wednesday, the anniversary of Kansas' admission as the 34th U.S. state in 1861. While Kansas Day is traditionally marked with renditions of the official state song, 'Home on the Range,' Wednesday's event also featured the women's voting rights anthem, "Suffrage Song,' to the tune of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. A 2022 law authorized the mural, and artist Phyllis Garibay-Coon, of Manhattan, in northeastern Kansas, won the contest with a depiction of 13 prominent Kansas suffragists. A few women in the crowd of several hundred people were dressed as 19th century campaigners who were active before statehood. Kansas prides itself as entering the union as an anti-slavery free state, but it also was more progressive than other states in gradually granting women full voting rights. Women could vote in school elections in 1861 and in city elections in 1887, and the nation's first woman mayor, Susanna M. Salter, was elected in Argonia, Kansas, that year. Voters amended the state constitution in 1912 to grant women full voting rights.
