Al Franken's Blog, page 53

KEYC: Franken Continues Mission to “Skill Up” Workers

Senator Al Franken was in Mankato today touting his work in creating more partnerships between businesses and two–year community and technical colleges.

Franken has pushed for workforce training in the Senate with his “Community College to Career Fund Act.”

The bill is aimed to help close the work skills gap by giving more funding to community and technical schools to properly train our country’s workers.

Watch the video below:

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Star Tribune: Franken presses for action on propane prices

Sen. Al Franken pressed federal and industry officials Thursday to be smarter and more responsive to potential shortages of propane so the 250,000 Minnesotans who rely on the fuel to heat their homes and warm their livestock don’t face skyrocketing prices like this year.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill, Franken called the dwindling propane supply throughout the Upper Midwest this winter “a crisis” and said the federal government should consider stockpiling reserves that could be tapped during future shortages.

“I heard from homeowners who couldn’t afford to heat their homes,” said Franken, a Democrat, who chaired the hearing for the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “I heard from turkey growers who couldn’t afford to heat their farms.”

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Washington Post: Senator Franken, Comcast’s fiercest critic, tries to lure allies from Silicon Valley

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has become Capitol Hill’s loudest opponent of Comcast’s bid for Time Warner Cable. Now, he’s trying to root out like-minded critics from Silicon Valley.

In a letter to the trade group Computer & Communications Industry Association, Franken asked for the group’s opinion on the $45 billion merger. If approved by federal regulators, Comcast would wind up with 40 percent of the broadband Internet market. Franken said that’s too much power in the hands of a single company, which could act as a powerful gatekeeper for Internet content and services into U.S. homes.

“Your organization includes companies from many sectors of our communications and Internet economy, including industry leaders in search, social networking, e-commerce  and music and video content delivery. All of these organizations depend on broadband networks to operate,” Franken wrote in his letter to CCIA President Ed Black. CCIA’s members include Google, Facebook, eBay, Aereo and Yahoo.

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CNET: Franken says FCC Net neutrality proposal would “destroy” open Internet

Sen. Al Franken criticized as “misguided” a plan being considered by the FCC’s head to let companies pay for preferential access to ISPs, warning that it would “destroy” the concept of an open Internet.

In a letter sent to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Tuesday, Franken said that the idea would constitute “an affront to Net neutrality and have no place in an online marketplace that values competition and openness.”

A federal appeals court decision in January essentially assigned the Federal Communications Commission to write new Open Internet rules. Wheeler has since drafted rules that would let Internet service providers charge companies varying rates for faster connection speeds.

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Pure joy

And now for something completely different: pure joy. Watch this video of Al’s grandson Joe, and you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.

The post Pure joy appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.

MinnPost: Proposed net neutrality rules ‘deeply disappointing and very troubling’

Sen. Al  Franken said Thursday that proposed federal rules loosening the Internet’s “net neutrality” regulations are “deeply disappointing and very troubling” and “would fundamentally change the open nature of the Internet.”

Federal Communications Commissioner Tom Wheeler is reportedly proposing a new rule that would allow companies to pay Internet service providers for access to quicker means of delivering their content to consumers online. The rule change, if it’s approved, would damage the concept of “net neutrality” — the idea that all content delivered online should be treated equally by Internet providers. Net neutrality holds that a company like Comcast, for example, shouldn’t be able to charge Netflix to stream video to consumers faster.

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New York Times: F.C.C., in a Shift, Backs Fast Lanes for Web Traffic

WASHINGTON — The principle that all Internet content should be treated equally as it flows through cables and pipes to consumers looks all but dead.

The Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday that it would propose new rules that allow companies like Disney, Google or Netflix to pay Internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon for special, faster lanes to send video and other content to their customers.

The proposed changes would affect what is known as net neutrality — the idea that no providers of legal Internet content should face discrimination in providing offerings to consumers, and that users should have equal access to see any legal content they choose.

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No child should go hungry at school

Al Franken

A lot of Minnesotans were surprised by a recent study showing that in 46 Minnesota school districts, students are turned away from the lunch line if they can’t pay.

We need to fix this — students do better when they aren’t hungry, and for more than 62,000 Minnesota kids, a nutritious lunch isn’t always in reach

So I’m joining with Governor Dayton to make sure that no Minnesota kid goes hungry in school at lunchtime.

I’ve introduced a plan to expand the school lunch program. A similar measure was just passed by the Minnesota State House. We’ve got good momentum on this issue, and we need your help to keep it growing.

Add your name to our petition calling for expanded school lunches.

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Adweek: Netflix Comes Out Against Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger

Netflix told shareholders Monday that the company opposes the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable because it would give the combined company too much power over broadband Internet access.

The company’s position, laid out in its first quarter letter to shareholders, is not all that surprising, given a recent blog post by CEO Reed Hastings where he slammed the deal Netflix cut with Comcast for direct access to its network.

Netflix ended the first quarter with more than 48 million global subscribers. Earnings per share for the quarter grew from 5 cents a year ago to 86 cents. The company also posted substantial year-over-year revenue and profit growth. Net income rose from $3 million to $53 million, while revenue for the quarter grew from $781 million to $1.066 billion.

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The Hill: Netflix-Comcast feud escalates

A long-running feud between Netflix and Comcast is on the verge of becoming all-out war.

Netflix threw down the gauntlet on Monday by coming out against Comcast’s proposed $45 billion agreement to merge with Time Warner Cable.

The deal, for which Comcast has hired an army of lobbyists to sell and defend, had attracted little opposition from other major companies or from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

But in a letter to shareholders, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells warned the deal would give the resulting company too much market power and leverage over Internet companies.

“Comcast is already dominant enough to be able to capture unprecedented fees from transit providers and services such as Netflix,” Hastings and Wells wrote in the shareholder letter, pointing to a deal Netflix struck with Comcast last month to boost the streaming experience for Netflix users.

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