This is Lever Weekly, a recap of our work from the past week. If you only read one email from us all week, this should be it.
It’s been an eventful news week that’s raised a huge question: Who might replace Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee if he drops out? One potential candidate is the guy who has consistently won elections in the most pivotal swing state in the country: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. To learn more about him, read The Lever’s exclusive deep-dive profile of Shapiro as he was campaigning in Trump country.
Biden’s status in the 2024 election wasn't the only huge story that we covered this week.
The Supreme Court openly embraced bribery and then severely limited the government’s ability to enforce regulations on environmental protection, public health, and labor law, all in a two-day span.
Private prisons are buying politicians to dismantle bail reform, tech companies are stealing your paycheck, and corporations like Boeing have weaseled their way into the Justice Department.
Meanwhile, the Democratic party is having a meltdown after they spent a year silencing internal dissent to platform Joe Biden, only to find that he is now publicly unfit for the job — and the party committee that could replace him is stacked with corporate lobbyists.
What The Lever Published This Week:
The Lever In The News:
- The Hustle — Our reporting on AI’s unquenchable thirst and its lack of regulation made headlines in one of the top business newsletters.
- Rising — Freddy Brewster joined the popular political talk show from The Hill to discuss how a former Boeing consultant is now tasked with prosecuting the company.
- The Daily Beast — Katya Schwenk joined the podcast to discuss a recent and particularly egregious Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized bribery.
- The Sunday Long Read — The collection of outstanding longform journalism included our story on the massive, unregulated environmental toll of artificial intelligence.
- ROC USA — Amos Barshad joined the advocacy organization’s podcast to discuss his story on the campaign to take back mobile home communities from private equity predators.