Al Franken's Blog, page 29
June 4, 2015
Star Tribune: Franken finds sandwich shop’s noncompete rule ridiculous
Evidently Jimmy John’s doesn’t want its employees using their “freaky fast” sandwich-making skills at other sandwich shops. The company, along with some other retailers, requires low-wage workers to sign agreements which specify that they will not work for competitors if they leave their jobs.
In an interview with the Star Tribune, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) called those agreements “ridiculous.”
Franken said it is disturbing that low-wage workers would be asked to sign a non-compete agreement. But to make matters worse, he said workers often aren’t’t told that their jobs include the restriction as a condition of their employment.
The post Star Tribune: Franken finds sandwich shop’s noncompete rule ridiculous appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
June 3, 2015
MPR: Pols ask ‘what’s up with the ‘mystery’ airplanes?’
The appearance of the FBI’s “mysterious” surveillance aircraft over Sen. Al Franken’s state is now sending the question of “what does the FBI know and how does it know it?” to Congress.
Franken, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, has sent a letter to Department of Justice officials inquiring about the flights.
The post MPR: Pols ask ‘what’s up with the ‘mystery’ airplanes?’ appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
May 31, 2015
Star Tribune: Republicans’ budget plan means nothing good for you
The current congressional budget debate has become much more than an argument about numbers. If we enact the policies contained in the Republican budget blueprint that passed both the U.S. House and Senate last month, it will take a long-term toll on our economy and on the future well-being of millions of Minnesotans and other Americans.
The Republican budget, which passed without a single Democratic vote, would shrink opportunities for middle-class families and those striving to get into the middle class. It would continue many of the same policies responsible for three decades of rising economic inequality.
The post Star Tribune: Republicans’ budget plan means nothing good for you appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
May 29, 2015
Roll Call – Ratings Change: Kirk’s Race Now Tilts to Democrats
At least a handful of GOP senators are vulnerable this election cycle, but none more than Mark S. Kirk of Illinois.
While Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire are headed for competitive re-election fights, Kirk looks to be facing the most difficult race of all.
Kirk has won difficult races in the past, but the Democratic presidential nominee next year is likely to win the Land of Lincoln by at least a dozen points (if not far more), and the senator will need to outperform the top of the ticket by a large margin.
May 28, 2015
Credit.com Op-Ed: Millions of Americans Are Struggling to Pay Student Loan Debt
Last year, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, I met Joelle Stangler, a sophomore who was the incoming student body president. Joelle had graduated from Rogers High School in Minnesota as the valedictorian, with a 4.12 GPA. Joelle doesn’t lack motivation.
Both of Joelle’s parents were teachers, and in fact she comes from a long line of educators going back six generations. But a couple of years ago, Joelle’s mother made the difficult decision to quit her job as a 5th grade teacher to go work in the private sector to help send her four kids to college. Even with her mom’s sacrifice, Joelle, who is finishing up her third year of college, already has $20,000 in student loans, and she estimates that her total debt will be around $35,000 by the time she graduates next year.
The post Credit.com Op-Ed: Millions of Americans Are Struggling to Pay Student Loan Debt appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
Time Op-Ed: Millions of Americans Are Struggling to Pay Student Loan Debt
Last year, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, I met Joelle Stangler, a sophomore who was the incoming student body president. Joelle had graduated from Rogers High School in Minnesota as the valedictorian, with a 4.12 GPA. Joelle doesn’t lack motivation.
Both of Joelle’s parents were teachers, and in fact she comes from a long line of educators going back six generations. But a couple of years ago, Joelle’s mother made the difficult decision to quit her job as a 5th grade teacher to go work in the private sector to help send her four kids to college. Even with her mom’s sacrifice, Joelle, who is finishing up her third year of college, already has $20,000 in student loans, and she estimates that her total debt will be around $35,000 by the time she graduates next year.
The post Time Op-Ed: Millions of Americans Are Struggling to Pay Student Loan Debt appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
Post-Bulletin: Walz touts benefits of investing in solar energy
Standing before a row of solar panels glistening in the sun, 1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz said Wednesday that it’s critical America keeps encouraging renewable energy along with traditional energy sources.
To help make his case, Walz visited a solar project in Oronoco built last year by three local power cooperatives. The panels generate enough electricity to power 62 homes.
“There’s no mandate that said they had to go to solar,” he said. “They went to solar because it made economic sense. And that’s what I’ve always advocated for. We just need to let them play on a level playing field.”
May 26, 2015
Washington Post: The Darth Vader of telecom is back
An original pioneer of cable, John Malone, is back. And at 74 years old and with a vast fortune, he’s poised to position himself at the center of the cable industry’s painful and dramatic transition to the Internet.
It’s been more than two decades since Malone, the largest shareholder of Charter Communications, was involved in the cable business in a major way. Back then, he was in charge of Tele-Communications Inc. and had led an epic buying spree of cable companies to compete with over-the-air broadcast television.
He turned out to be right about cable disrupting television, but his ambitions for growth hit a wall, partly because of Washington regulators’ concern about the industry’s growing power. Since then, the aggressive dealmaker, who Al Gore once called the Darth Vader of telecom, has turned his attention to deals in Europe and his vast landholdings, including a castle in Ireland.
The post Washington Post: The Darth Vader of telecom is back appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
May 19, 2015
The Hill: Senate Dem re-ups fight against mobile spyware
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is resurrecting his fight to get mobile spying apps banned.
Franken’s call to action this time are reports that sensitive data collected by mSpy, the maker of popular mobile monitoring software, were posted on a dark Web forum.
Franken wrote the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, urging them to investigate mSpy, whose products he called “deeply troubling” and “nothing short of terrifying” when “in the hands of a stalker or abusive intimate partner.”
Security journalist and researcher Brian Krebs first reported he had discovered information on at least 400,000 of mSpy’s 2 million users on an underground online market, indicating a possible hack.
The data included incredibly private data, such as text messages, emails, photos, payment information and location data.
The post The Hill: Senate Dem re-ups fight against mobile spyware appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
Huffington Post: Russ Feingold Was Progressive Before It Was Cool
On a number of key issues — the Iraq war, surveillance, criminal justice and same-sex marriage, among others — Republicans and Democrats alike are rushing to calibrate their policy positions with public opinion that has become more progressive, and answer for controversial past votes. As former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) showed last week, some politicians are having a harder go of it than others.
Much rarer though are nationally prominent politicians in either party who supported the current consensus on controversial issues before it was popular — and have the votes to prove it.
If there is one person who comes close, it may just be former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis). Feingold, who lost his bid for a fourth Senate term in 2010 to Republican Ron Johnson, recently announced that he will be running to reclaim his old seat in 2016.
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