Al Franken's Blog, page 104

Star Tribune: GAO finds dozens of illegal home foreclosures

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified dozens of cases where mortgage companies appear to have illegally foreclosed on the homes of active duty military service members.

The finding was among many problems revealed in a new study of illegal, unethical or inept foreclosure practices by financial companies that were working with home mortgages of borrowers who were behind on their payments.

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© Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota, 2011. |
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MPR: Franken releases witness list for smartphone privacy hearings

Apple's Steve Jobs and Google's Eric Schmidt won't be sitting at the witness table next week, but both companies are sending high-level representatives to DFL Sen. Al Franken's highly-publicized hearings on privacy issues surround smartphones.

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Mabel Harmony News-Record: Senator Franken Tours ethanol biorefining plant

U.S. Senator Al Franken (DFL-Minnesota) learned about concerns in the ethanol industry and discussed its future when he met with the POET Biorefining Board of Directors and General Manger Richard Eichstadt in Preston April 27.

Franken stated he's a co-supporter of a bill by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that would enact regulations calling for larger amounts of ethanol in fuel and enact is on a planned scheduled into the near future. For example, blender pumps would need to be in place by 2020 through the plan.

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Washington Post: Al Franken's Pay for War Resolution

Earlier this week, Sen. Al Franken introduced the Pay for War Resolution. "Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us well over a trillion dollars," he said in a floor speech (PDF). "And it's been financed through debt, through borrowing from other countries and emergency supplemental spending bills. What's more, the Iraq war was accompanied by a massive tax cut. That failed fiscal experiment created the impression that going to war requires no financial sacrifice. We know that that's just not true. The question is, who will bear that financial sacrifice — the generation that has decided to go to war, or its children and grandchildren."

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Star Tribune: Answers needed on technology breaches

Every week it seems that Americans are hit with new technology breaches that could compromise their privacy.

Apple iPhones and Google Androids track their whereabouts. Hackers plunder Sony's PlayStation for their personal data, including credit card numbers. And on and on.

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© Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota, 2011. |
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KAAL: Sen. Al Franken Talks About Program

U.S. Senator Al Franken made the rounds at Century High School in Rochester Thursday.

He was there to promote his initiative to get more science, technology, engineering and math courses in schools across the country.

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Winona Daily News: Franken visits area to find energy crisis solutions

As part of a whirlwind tour of southeast Minnesota on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., made two stops in Winona County to see the ways a business and a college were making themselves more sustainable.

Franken, who joined the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this year, stopped first at Pork & Plants in Altura, Minn., where he toured a greenhouse heated by agricultural waste.

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Austin Herald: Franken tours Poet ethanol plant

Get ethanol at the pumps.

That's what the farmer owners of the Poet Glenville ethanol plant told Sen. Al Franken they would like to see. The comments came during a meeting Wednesday at the plant.

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Stillwater Gazette: Franken visits the valley

U.S. Senator Al Franken, left, a member of the Senate Energy Committee, met with Andersen Windows officials in Bayport Monday to discuss the company's award-winning efforts to increase energy efficiency in both their products and production processes. With Franken are Andersen Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Vice President Mary Carter and Kirk Hogberg, the company's environmental manager. Franken also toured the company's production plant and the steam-energy facility which burns wood waste to power Andersen's operations. Other stops in the area Monday by Franken included Mahtomedi High School, where the senator learned about the school's wind energy project and Imation in Oakdale, where Franken spoke to company employees.

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Austin Herald: Franken: Institute leading the way

After touring the Hormel Institute for the first time, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said Minnesota is on its way to being a leader in biotechnology.

"The medical industry in Minnesota has produced so many jobs," Franken said. "Minnesota should be a leader of biotechnology."

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