http://franken.senate.gov News & other important information from Senator Al Franken. en-us Copyright 2012 Al Franken Wed, 16 May 2012 17:01:21 EST Sen. Franken met in his office with Oluwatoosin Oyeyemi 'Yemi' Ajagbe, a Woodbury High School student who won the 2012 Minnesota Poetry Out Loud contest, which encourages students to study great poetry through memorization and recitation. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2085 Wed, 16 May 2012 15:19:00 EST 2085 Sen. Franken lauded the Postmaster General for abandoning his plan to close rural post offices in Minnesota. http://franken.senate.gov?p=blog&id=2084 Wed, 16 May 2012 15:01:00 EST 2084 Sen. Franken met with a group of Minnesota veterans on the National Mall to thank the group for their service to our country. http://franken.senate.gov?p=blog&id=2083 Wed, 16 May 2012 14:57:00 EST 2083 Yesterday evening, Sen. Franken met with a group of Minnesota veterans on the National Mall to thank the group for their service to our country. The veterans – most of whom served in World War II – were greeted by Sen. Franken at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2082 Wed, 16 May 2012 14:41:00 EST 2082 This week, Sen. Franken was proud to meet with officers from the Minneapolis politce department who had driven to Washington DC to commemorate the death of Officer Richard Crittenden who was killed in the line of duty. http://franken.senate.gov?p=blog&id=2081 Wed, 16 May 2012 14:26:00 EST 2081 Sen. Franken and several of his Senate colleagues urged Senate leadership to bring up a vote on the 2012 Farm Bill as soon as possible to create certainty for farmers and rural communities across Minnesota. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2080 Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:00 EST 2080 Sen. Franken said today that cash-strapped communities across Minnesota won't have to spend tens of millions of dollars to replace traffic signs - many of which still have years of life left in them - after a federal regulation requiring them to do so was shelved at his urging.     http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2079 Mon, 14 May 2012 14:44:00 EST 2079 Sen. Franken is proud to have been able to help the Iverson family return to Minnesota after Chau Iverson was robbed in Vietnam.   http://franken.senate.gov?p=local_news&id=2078 Mon, 14 May 2012 11:26:00 EST 2078 http://franken.senate.gov?p=newsletter&id=2076 Fri, 11 May 2012 16:00:00 EST 2076 With 1.5 million preventable medication errors costing patients and hospitals $3.5 billion annually, U.S. Sen. Al Franken pressed the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid to require hospitals participating in the electronic health record incentive program to ensure that patients receive the correct medications when they are discharged. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2077 Fri, 11 May 2012 15:15:00 EST 2077 Yesterday, Sen. Franken met with a group of students from Parkers Prairie High School at his Washington, D.C. office, where he discussed his work and answered the group's questions about Congress and the federal government. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2075 Thu, 10 May 2012 09:51:00 EST 2075 Today, Sen. Franken released the following statement on President Obama's support for gay marriage: http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2074 Wed, 09 May 2012 17:49:00 EST 2074 Sen. Franken’s ongoing efforts to reduce the unemployment rate among veterans in Minnesota—which has been as high as three times the state average—he participated in a roundtable discussion focused on innovative approaches to get veterans back to work. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2073 Wed, 09 May 2012 17:28:00 EST 2073 Sen. Franken (D-Minn.) lauded Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe for abandoning his plan to close rural post offices in Minnesota and across the country. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2072 Wed, 09 May 2012 17:25:00 EST 2072 Sen. Franken and his staff have been traveling around Minnesota talking to students, community leaders, and parents about the cost of college. http://franken.senate.gov?p=blog&id=2071 Wed, 09 May 2012 15:23:00 EST 2071 On behalf of consumers in Minnesota, today U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) urged key agencies in the Obama administration to protect consumer choice by investigating complaints made against Comcast that allege the company has violated the terms of its merger with NBCUniversal by engaging in anticompetitive conduct. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2068 Mon, 07 May 2012 13:41:00 EST 2068 As more and more students take on debt to get through school, Congress must decide by July 1 whether it will allow the interest rate on subsidized Stafford Loans to double. http://franken.senate.gov?p=news&id=2069 Fri, 04 May 2012 14:45:00 EST 2069 Sen. Franken lauded the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to pull its proposed update to employment rules that would have applied to youth who work on family farms http://franken.senate.gov?p=blog&id=2067 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:43:00 EST 2067 As the May 1st deadline approaches for many Minnesota high school students to decide where to go to college, Sen. Franken today outlined new legislation that he will introduce in May to help families get a clearer picture of the true cost of that education before choosing a school. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2070 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:15:00 EST 2070 Today, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) lauded the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to pull its proposed update to employment rules that would have applied to youth who work on family farms. http://franken.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2065 Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:53:00 EST 2065