Franken was also a left-wing pundit and has written several books on politics. His second cousin was actor Steven Franken.
On December 7, 2017, Franken announced in an address before the Senate that he would be resigning from his office following sexual harassment claims.
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Minneapolis-Saint Paul is the most populous urban area in the state of Minnesota, United States, and is made up of 186 cities and townships. Built around the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers, the area is also nicknamed the Twin Cities for its two largest cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Arrowhead Region
The Arrowhead Region is in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It got its name from its pointed shape. The mainly rural region is 27,575.19 km² (10,635.26 sq mi) of land area and comprises Carlton, Cook, Lake and St. Louis Counties. At the 2000 census 248,425 people lived there.
Misquah Hills
The Misquah Hills are a range of large hills or small mountains in northeastern Minnesota, in the United States. They are located in or near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness within Superior National Forest. They contain Eagle Mountain, the highest point in Minnesota at 2301 feet (701 meters).
Sawtooth Mountains (Minnesota)
The Sawtooth Mountains are low ridges on the North Shore of Lake Superior in the U.S. state of Minnesota. They extend about 30 miles (50 km) from Carlton Peak near Tofte on the west, to Grand Marais on the east.
Leaf Hills Moraines
The Leaf Hills Moraines, sometimes called the Leaf Mountains, are a range of hills in west-central Minnesota. The lands typically rises to a height of to above the surrounding farmland throughout the duration of its range, occasionally reaching higher than .
Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a major political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was created on April 15, 1944 when the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party merged. Hubert Humphrey was a major part in this merger. The party is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Both members of the party and non-members in Minnesota often use "DFLer" instead of "Democrat".
List of United States Senators from Minnesota
Minnesota was admitted to the Union on May 11, 1858.
As of July 7, 2009, Minnesota has had 40 senators serve in the US Senate.
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Thirty-nine different people have been governor of the state. State governors are elected to office by popular vote. The current governor of Minnesota is Democratic Tim Walz.
The governor has a cabinet consisting of the leaders of various state departments. The governor appoints these department heads, who are usually called commissioners. Cabinet-level departments include:
The Minnesota Governor's Residence is located in Saint Paul, at 1006 Summit Avenue.
Okutama, Tokyo
Okutama has an area of 225.63 km². Mount Kumotori, Tokyo's highest peak at 2017 m, divides Okutama from the Okuchichibu region of the neighboring Saitama and Yamanashi Prefectures. Tokyo's northernmost and westernmost points lie in Okutama, as does Lake Okutama, an important source of water for Tokyo, located above the Ogōchi Dam in the town.
Flag of Minnesota
The Flag of Minnesota is the state seal on a blue background. The flag that people use now was made in 1957 and the state seal on the flag was changed in 1983. In the past, people used a different flag that looked like the one that Minnesota uses now, but it had different colors on the front and back of the flag. Some people don't like the flag because they think it is too complicated and they think it should be simpler.
Seal of Minnesota
The Great Seal of the State of Minnesota is the insignia that the Secretary of State affixes to government papers and documents to make them official.
Sweet corn
Sweet corn ("Zea mays" convar. "saccharata" var. "rugosa"; also called Indian corn, sugar corn, and pole corn) is a variety of maize with a high sugar content and prepared as a vegetable.
Alternative country
Alternative country (sometimes called alt-country, or Americana) is a type of country music. It has singers or bands that sound very different from mainstream or pop country music. "Alternative country" has been used to describe country music bands and artists that have influences such as roots rock, bluegrass, rockabilly, Americana, honky-tonk, alternative rock, folk rock, or punk.
In the 1990s the term "alternative country" (which is like the term alternative rock, which was becoming popular at the same time), began to be used to talk about different groups of musicians and singers who did not follow the same traditions of regular country music, and who had a different sound. Many of them did not follow the high production values (such as spending a lot of money in the recording studio) of the big country music industry at the time, which was mostly based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Lyrics in alternative country might be depressing or about social issues, and often from the heart. They do not follow the clichés sometimes used by mainstream country musicians as often. In other ways, the sounds of alternative country artists do not always have much in common. They can include traditional American folk tunes, bluegrass, and other types of sounds. It can be music that does not sound like mainstream rock or country. This has become even more confusing with "alternative country artists" saying that they do not want to be called alternative country, with more mainstream artists saying they are alternative country, and with people saying that older musicians or musicians from the past are alternative country. "No Depression", the most popular magazine about alternative country, said that it covered "alternative-country music (whatever that is)".
Even though not everybody agrees on what makes music "alternative country", most people agree that alternative country came from traditional American country music.
In the 1980s, in southern California, some musicians tried to make some music that had parts of country and parts of punk. This was called the "cowpunk scene". It had bands like Jason and the Scorchers. These styles came together in Uncle Tupelo's popular album "No Depression", which came out in 1990. Many people think it was the first alternative country album. A magazine called "No Depression" later came out that was written about alternative country. The magazine was named after Uncle Tupelo's album. The band made three more important albums and joined a big record label. The band broke up in 1994. Musicians in the band and people around the band later started three other important alternative country bands: Wilco, Son Volt and Bottle Rockets. Bottle Rockets signed, along with acts like Freakwater, The Old 97's and Robbie Fulks, to the Chicago-based indie record label, Bloodshot. They played a type of alternative country called "insurgent country". The bands Blue Mountain, Whiskeytown, Blood Oranges and Drive-By Truckers kept going in this direction before most began to move more in the direction of rock music in the 2000s.
Upper Midwest
The Upper Midwest is a region of the United States with no agreed-upon boundaries, but it almost always lies within the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwest region, which includes the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.
Animikie Group
The Animikie Group of sediments were deposited between 2.5 and 1.8 billion years ago, within the Animikie Basin. This group of formations are divided into the Gunflint Range, the Mesabi and Vermilion ranges, and the Cuyuna Range.
Hail! Minnesota