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Rebecca Burns is a reporter at the Lever.
The deal struck by Joe Biden and congressional Republicans to avert a default on the national debt includes provisions that expedite construction of a greenhouse-gas-spewing pipeline and even attempt to block courts from hearing challenges to its legality.
California’s legislature is voting on a climate bill that would require companies — including fast-food giants like In-N-Out — to disclose the largely hidden indirect emissions involved in production and consumption. Big business is fighting it tooth and nail.
Texas’s oil and gas industry is pushing legislation to create a new court system for hearing certain business cases. The law would give fossil fuel friend Gov. Greg Abbott the power to personally appoint judges to hear cases involving oil and gas companies.
While billionaire real estate mogul Harlan Crow was lavishing Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts, Thomas voted to strike down federal tenant protections that might hurt the profits of Crow’s company.
After its hosts repeatedly lied about voting machine company Dominion rigging the 2020 elections, Fox News agreed to pay $787 million to Dominion to settle a defamation lawsuit. Fox can deduct over $200 million in taxes because of the settlement payment.
Today is Tax Day, the deadline for Americans to pay their taxes. One group that won’t be paying much today: the rich, who have stashed $2 trillion in offshore tax havens.
Federal regulators bailed out Silicon Valley Bank after its historic collapse. But they offered no such rescue to the low-income communities to which the bank had pledged an $11 billion community benefits agreement.
After bailing out Silicon Valley Bank, the federal government is considering the rescue of First Republic Bank. But just two months ago, First Republic pressured regulators not to adopt rules to minimize the risk of government bailouts for insolvent banks.
The news of Silicon Valley Bank’s recent collapse is dominating headlines. Just eight years ago, SVB’s president pushed legislators to exempt more midsize banks — including SVB — from regulations passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
In February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would limit most credit card late fees to $8. The rule is being fought by a group of House Republicans who took more than $600,000 from credit card companies in the last election cycle.
Railroad companies have been pushing to allow trains to carry explosive liquefied natural gas in “bomb trains,” which could cause catastrophic damage in a derailment. Pete Buttigieg’s Transportation Department is not fighting back hard enough.
In response to the train derailment disaster in Ohio, six environmental groups have written a letter to Pete Buttigieg threatening to take legal action if the Department of Transportation fails to act on a key railroad safety rule.
The Department of Justice is backing railroad giant Norfolk Southern’s attempt to limit where workers and consumers can bring cases against corporations, making it easier for the firm to block future lawsuits.
In the wake of a disastrous rail accident in Ohio, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says he doesn’t have the power to compel the rail industry to upgrade its safety equipment and procedures. But he does.
In a senior housing complex in Pennsylvania, a Wall Street–backed landlord is hiking rents on an absurd scale. It’s part of a larger trend of real estate investors targeting senior care facilities at the expense of their residents and workers.
The recent train derailment in Ohio shows the need for more stringent safety rules for train brakes, especially for trains carrying hazardous materials. Transportation regulators are instead bending to the interests of rail industry lobbyists.
For years, rail companies have resisted federal safety regulations to cut costs. The major train derailment in Ohio last weekend, which resulted in the emergency evacuation of residents nearby, is the fruit of such profit maximization.
The CEO of United Airlines has stated publicly that airlines are selling more flight tickets than they can actually staff, causing chaos for customers. Yet Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg all but refuses to do anything about it.
A new federal proposal would punish banks that have committed crimes by preventing them from managing retirement funds. Wall Street disagrees — and is deploying an army of lobbyists to block the proposal.
Asset manager BlackRock has worked hard to build a reputation for prioritizing climate-friendly investments. But the firm is actively trying to take the teeth out of regulations that require companies to disclose their carbon emissions.