and economic development are two things our state drastically needs. >> we don't have a budget. right now towns are preparing to go into the month of september, kids are back in school, and our municipal aide -- the governor's executive order not given the power to properly fund our schools. it doesn't give him the education funding. it doesn't help our state employees and we really need this budget now and as soon as possible. >> and i'm here to just make a statement about what we need from our leaders in washington, d.c.. what we're looking at in ohio, we need to take care of our infrastructure. that's a primary issue that's facing not only ohio, but all across the united states. and we need washington to focus in on infrastructure. our roads are crumbling, and we need trump and our legislators to start focusing on that issue. >> voices from the road on

c-sp c-span. ♪ the kansas state capital was built over 37 years, which is kind of unusual for capitals. they started in 1866 after the civil war was officer. we became a state january 29th, 1861, that makes us 154 years old in 2015. they weren't able to start on the building because of the civil war. when they did, they built it in sections, we are laid out like the u.s. cap tom, they started with the east wing, which has our senate chamber, then they did the west wing, the south wing which has the former

supreme courtroom. and the north wing which has the state library and former secretary of state's office and finally the dome. that did take 37 years at a cost of $3.2 million. it was quite a bit of money at that time, they spread it out over the 37 years, we are one of the few capitals that all the money was raised before they built. so there was no debt associated with actually building the capitol itself. when kansas was about to enter the union, there were equal numbers of free states and slave states. kansas was going to break the tie. i believe that's where the state motto kind of comes from, our state motto stands for to the stars through difficulty. just kind of talking about how kansas ans are tough, they can get through anything, and no matter what happens, they're going to make it through.

>> we are currently on the second floor of the kansas state capitol, this floor has the most famous mural on it, in our capital, the tragic prelude, that was painted by jon stewart curry, in the late 1930s, when jon stewart curry was painting the tragic prelude, he was commissioned to paint the story of kansas. he started off. coronado was in that painting showing the early days and the first person who described the area now known as kansas. the buffalo hunters who were clearing the way for the railroads, there is progress, he included some covered wagons that are painted heading west, the tragic prelude is in the east wing of the building, and then the covered wagons are painted heading west. representing that westward expansion movement. at one time kansas was the frontier, we were the last civilization before people headed out to california, but

again, the main figure is john brown, he towers about 12 feet tall in the painting, and he is surrounded by the two sides of the civil war. there are the north and the south and confederate flag and the united states flag. and then there are two dead soldiers that rest at his feet, and they represent everyone who died during the civil war, there's quite a lot of symbol m symbolism, there's also some -- there's a gentleman kind of hidden in the background with a top hat, there's some discussion that might have been abraham lincoln, and that was on the northern side, but he wouldn't have been president at that time, since this was all prior to the civil war. but it's kind of maybe some foreshadowing in there, and, of course, it's -- he included a tornado and a prairie fire in the painting as well. which says he represented the death and destruction associated with war, the coming storms of

war and then also the natural disasters we face in our state. he really -- jon stewart curry, there's a lot of symbolism in there, and when you look off to the side, he includes the western meadowlark which is our state bird. kind of a calm little bird and prairie scene over to the left as you're looking straight ahead at all this tragedy going on in front of you. some people say he was a martyr, some say he was a terrorist, here is our famous painting, people can come, and it's art, you can interpret it how you would like. >> the state library is in the north wing again. that was the last place that was completed in the capitol building. it was -- at the time it was 1900, and annie digs was the state librarian at that time, she was the first female state librarian, she had a lot of

contributions to the way the library turned out. she wanted it to be a big open space, when you first walk in, it's very welcoming. they chose sentenciling to welce people. the pineapple is a symbol of welcome. there are some faces with feather headdresses on, i guess that's welcoming too. and then there are some bird faces eating berries on the sides of the walls, she is credited with also, she was a populous which was -- kansas is the only state that had populism, we had a couple populace governors and big figures who were involved in the populous movement. but she reminded them, the workers, that when they were designing the library, even though the bookshelves were empty at that time, they would be holding a lot of books, they did reinforce the floor in that north wing knowing at some point there would be books on all of those shelves. and there is a glass floor.

at that time, a lot of libraries had glass floors to let the natural light filter into the building, and when people got electricity, they a lot of times got rid of those glass floors. luckily we kept ours, the glass itself goes around the bookcases, so you can see in between. we have two original book lifts. that the librarians can use today to move up and down from the first floor to the second floor. we have the dome tour that you can climb 296 steps and go to the top of our building. we are taller than the nation's capitol by about 18 feet. and we are one of the few capitols -- we may be the only one, there's a few capitols that can go to our seventh floor, but not many go to the very top. in fact, we're pretty sure we are the only one. we can go outside on the balcony

at the top. you can see about 40 miles, it's a beautiful view, no matter what the season, we tell people to go up several times a year, because winter, spring, summer, fall is very fun to look up there. winter is probably when you can see the furthest, it's very crisp and clear at that time, it's open to the public. it's beautiful, when you come into our rotunda, you look up and see the glass dome, surrounded by all the copper, and you look up and you think you're looking all the way to the top, but you're not. there's another 75 feet of space above that, and that's the dome tour. it's a great tour if you're -- and we do stop on each of the levels, it's not a forced march to the top, it is a fun event. and if you're scared, we don't make you go all the way to the top. so -- >> with our recent renovation, we were able to add on quite a bit of space in the ground level, and the historic society was given a -- basically a nice

visitor's center area with exhibit space. on permanent exhibit we have john brown sword, which a lot of people love to look at that, it was his, we don't know that he used it necessarily for anything. except he did carry it with him, and it is on display here. we also have the original constitution. so the first page of the kansas constitution that made us a state is housed here in the building, and it's quite a wonderful original article. and it's right here and kids can see it, and adults can see it, and it's on display. although some kids can't read it now because it's in cursive. it's housed in the center of the building. on the ground level. if we were looking up, we would see into the dome where that's at. when you're at the top of the capitol. as i mentioned, you can go out

on the balcony and look and see for 40 miles. if you lean back on one of the four corners of that. you can see ed astra. he is a kansas indian warrior, he's 22 feet 2 inches tall. he's a bronze statue and i guess even though i mentioned earlier, it took us 37 years to complete our capitol, some people might say it wasn't completed until 2002, that is the year we put ed astor on top of the building. there was always notes that there should be a statue on top of the building, for a while the goddess series was considered, she's the goddess of agriculture. she was considered a little too promiscuous for the state of kansas, she was not chosen. it is an iconic tribute to the