LEVER WEEKLY: Airlines Want To Keep The Money They Owe You

What The Lever Published This Week:

The Great Unknown About Conflicts Of Interest In Arizona’s Abortion Ban

As state supreme courts consolidate power and corporate money, shoddy oversight allows justices to hide their financial conflicts of interest from the public.

The Lever •Katya Schwenk

The Homeowners’ Rebellion

Wall Street landlords face a heartland backlash that could set off a revolution.

The Lever •Amos Barshad

Congress May Cancel Your Automatic Flight Refunds

Airline-bankrolled lawmakers just advanced a bill that could undermine Biden’s promise of automatic refunds on canceled or delayed flights.

The Lever •Katya Schwenk

Lawmakers Just Stole Air Travelers’ Right To Midflight Water

Politicians are helping airline lobbyists block passengers’ right to drinking water and human-sized airplane seats.

The Lever •Katya Schwenk

SIROTA’S SIGNALS: We’ll Have To Wait Until 2065 — Unless This Changes

Plus, Boeing drops incriminating evidence on an attorney, gambling takes over old-fashioned arcade games, and that time Nixon almost fought climate change.

The Lever •David Sirota

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: Happy Math For Public Schools

Plus, free tax filing pays off, electric vehicles work double time, and pharmaceutical giants face scrutiny for outrageous pricing.

The Lever •Katherine Li

This Week’s Podcasts

Big Brother Is Watching The Protesters, Sponsored By Corporate America

The intelligence community is using consumer tracking tools to spy on student protesters and everyone else they deem a threat.

The Lever •Arjun Singh

Congress Wants To Make Sure Flying Still Sucks

In this episode of Lever Time, Lever reporter Katya Schwenk unpacks how a small line in a massive bill could quietly kill a consumer protection rule that was years in the making.

The Lever •Arjun Singh

How Reagan Created Today’s Monopoly Crisis

On this week’s bonus episode of Lever Time, we explore how lax enforcement of antitrust laws allowed big companies to rob the middle class.

The Lever •Arjun Singh

The Lever In The News:

• CNBC — A CNBC reporter asked Ted Cruz about The Lever’s report exposing how he’s helping his airline donors avoid giving passengers automatic refunds when their flights are canceled or delayed. Cruz called our reporting "one of the silliest stories" he’d ever seen.

• The New Republic — Based on The Lever’s reporting, TNR digs into how Ted Cruz wants to make sure airlines don’t have to refund passenger money.

• Attitude with Arnie Arnesen (Pacifica Radio) —  Lois Parshley discussed climate change and how it’s affecting home insurance patterns. Costs to homeowners have risen steeply, and many insurance companies have left markets like Florida, where climate change has caused huge losses.

• The Young Turks — TYT featured The Lever’s reporting on how high-ranking military officers are being placed at major weapons manufacturers such as Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin as part of a taxpayer-funded fellowship program.

• DealBook — The New York Times cited The Lever’s report, “Congress May Cancel Your Automatic Flight Refunds,” in their DealBook newsletter.

Thank You To Our Newest Lever Leaders:

Lever Leaders provide us with our highest level of support and score additional perks in return. We highlight folks who’ve taken that step, and the reasons they say they’ve done so.

• Jamie Larson: “I wanted to chip in and support your mission and excellent reporting.”

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