Kansas

Nicknamed the "Sunflower State," Kansas is located in the Midwestern United States. It is bordered to the north by Nebraska, to the east by Missouri, to the south by Oklahoma and to the west by Colorado. The state was admitted to the Union on January 29, 1861, and it's capital is Topeka. It's population as of July 2009 was 2,818,747, ranking it as the 32nd most populous state in the union. Kansas is the 15th largest state, covering 82,282 square miles.http://www.netstate.com/states/alma/ks_alma.htm

On February 16, 2009, state officials announced that the state's income tax refunds would be suspended and that employee paychecks could be delayed as well. Governor Kathleen Sebelius]] has contacted the state legislature and is seeking to move $225 million from other accounts in order to pay for the refunds and the state payroll.KTKA (Topeka): Kansas suspends income tax refunds (February 16, 2009)

Kansas does not have any MLB, NBA, or NFL teams. The sports teams for the two largest colleges, Kansas University and Kansas State, are the closest things to a professional sports franchise.

Named after the Kansas River and the Kansa tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the area, Kansas was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854. At the time, pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri and Free-Staters from New England rushed the state in the hopes of establishing the laws regarding slavery in their favor. The abolitionists prevailed, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, immigrants flooded the prairie state to make use of its farmland. Kansas, today, remains one of the most productive agricultural states in the U.S. with wheat and sunflower as its primary exports.

• Brown v. Board Of Education National Historic Site
• California National Historic Trail
• Fort Larned National Historic Site
• Fort Scott National Historic Site
• Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
• Nicodemus National Historic Site
• Oregon National Historic Trail

There have been numerous of Kansans throughout history who would go on to celebrity status in the US. Some of those names include...

• Walter P Chrysler ~ Auto Manufacturer
• Bob Dole ~ Politician
• Amelia Earhart ~ Pilot
• Dennis Hopper ~ Actor
• William Inge ~ Playwright
• Walter Johnson ~ Baseball Player
• Buster Keaton ~ Actor
• Barry Sanders ~ Football Player