This week’s episode of Lever Time explores the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and its impact on the U.S. financial system. Lever reporter Julia Rock joins David Sirota to discuss banking CEOs’ lobbying efforts to roll back key regulations in the lead-up to the implosion, and Cornell University Law Professor Robert C. Hockett provides expert insight on whether uninsured deposits should be protected from such disasters. (08:25) Also discussed: The recent conviction of former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder, a Republican, on racketeering conspiracy charges in connection with a bribery scheme involving FirstEnergy Corp.If you’d like access to Lever Time Premium, which features international whistleblower expert Stephen Kohn on how to blow the whistle on corporate and government malfeasance while protecting yourself, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber.If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjarA transcript of this episode is available here.

David Sirota is joined by progressive icon Nina Turner to talk about Ohio politics and why Democrats like Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg completely fumbled the political response to the train derailment in East Palestine. A former Ohio State Senator, Nina has a keen sense of why Trump’s messaging appeals so much more to working-class residents and why Democrats must avoid the “neo-liberal cult of self-righteousness” if they want to win back voters. Also discussed: recent organizing efforts by Starbucks and Amazon workers and the 2024 presidential election.(16:42)If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber.If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjarA rough transcript of this episode is available here.

David Sirota talks with U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.) about the fear, anger, and mistrust felt by many of his constituents in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern train derailment disaster. The freshman congressman talks about the latest efforts to hold these giant railroad companies accountable, the runaway deregulation that has put communities at risk, and his hopes for bipartisan movement toward fixing the real problems. In fact, just after taping this interview, Deluzio and Congressman Ro Khanna introduced a bill to tighten safety regulations for “high-hazard” flammable materials on trains (09:11).If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjarA rough transcript of this episode is available here.

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Andrew Perez who details their new story published by The Lever:“For years, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) led the fight to protect one of the most controversial provisions in the entire tax code — a loophole criticized by presidents of both parties that allows a handful of private equity executives to pay a lower tax rate than other high earners.Now, Toomey is being rewarded with a seat on the board of a private equity giant that has lobbied to preserve that tax loophole.”To read the full story, click here.If you enjoyed this story and want to support independent journalism, you can go to LeverNews.com to subscribe to our free newsletter or become a paid supporter. 

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: Producer Frank sits down with journalists Julia Rock, Rebecca Burns, and Matthew Cunningham-Cook for an in-depth conversation about The Lever’s groundbreaking reporting on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The group explores how an environmental disaster like this can occur, including examining the influence of the railroad and chemical lobbies, as well as detailing the regulatory capture of three separate presidential administrations. The group also details how The Lever’s reporting gained national coverage, triggered a public pressure campaign, and helped lead to a response from Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (1:50).If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber.If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjarA rough transcript of this episode is available here.

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by investigative journalist Jefferson Morley, one of the foremost experts on the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. David and Jeff discuss the trove of classified documents pertaining to the assassination that were recently released by the Biden administration, what we learned from the materials, and the potential reasons why the CIA is still withholding an estimated 4,000 additional documents (8:49).If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber.If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjarA rough transcript of this episode is available here.

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Julia Rock and Rebecca Burns who detail their new story published by The Lever:“Before this weekend’s fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment prompted emergency evacuations in Ohio, the company helped kill a federal safety rule aimed at upgrading the rail industry’s Civil War-era braking systems, according to documents reviewed by The Lever.Though the company’s 150-car train in Ohio reportedly burst into 100-foot flames upon derailing — and was transporting materials that triggered a fireball when they were released and incinerated — it was not being regulated as a “high-hazard flammable train,” federal officials told The Lever.”To read the full story, click here.If you enjoyed this story and want to support independent journalism, you can go to LeverNews.com to subscribe to our free newsletter or become a paid supporter. 

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota sits down with freshman Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), who recently made history as the first woman elected to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives, and the first Democrat to represent the state in the lower chamber in almost 50 years. David speaks with Mary about how she pulled off her historic win, why she opposed forcing the railroad unions to accept the contract brokered by the Biden administration, and Alaska’s economic dependency on the oil and gas industry in the face of climate change (12:40).If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber.If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjarA rough transcript of this episode is available here.

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Julia Rock who details their new story published by The Lever:“The restaurant industry has long coordinated efforts to suppress labor costs through the NRA, a multimillion-dollar lobbying machine funded both by its restaurant members and by the fees workers pay for required food-safety classes. The group has spent its war chest on lobbying campaigns to preserve a subminimum wage for tipped workers — who are disproportionately young, women, and people of color, and far more likely to live in poverty than regular minimum wage workers — and to help block state and federal sick leave proposals and minimum wage increases.”To read the full story, click here.If you enjoyed this story and want to support independent journalism, you can go to LeverNews.com to subscribe to our free newsletter or become a paid supporter. 

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: A few weeks ago, House Republicans passed a bill to cancel new Internal Revenue Service funding. David Sirota sits down with journalist and tax policy expert Jesse Eisinger, who provides much-needed context on the GOP’s push to defund one of our most integral government agencies. (Yes, the IRS really is necessary.) Jesse explains how the modest investments passed by Democrats would help the beleaguered IRS hold accountable our worst tax cheats and create billions of dollars in new revenue, and how Republican efforts to defund the agency would lead to even more of its chronically lax oversight (12:08).If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extended interviews and bonus content, head over to LeverNews.com to become a supporting subscriber.If you’d like to leave a tip for The Lever, click the following link. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. levernews.com/tipjarA rough transcript of this episode is available here.