Lee Zurik
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As the city of New Orleans's most honored investigative reporter, Lee Zurik has been uncovering and reporting impactful stories on WVUE since 2009. Following up his tenacious inquiries with detailed analysis and powerful storytelling, Lee delivers unprecedented accountability of government officials, private citizens and corporations.
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Lawsuits are mounting against Bob Dean, the owner of seven nursing homes and the warehouse he used to shelter hundreds of residents during Hurricane Ida
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Along with poor conditions and not enough space for hundreds of residents, one of the lawsuits states the warehouse was not zoned for use as a shelter and family members were not notified of their destination.
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Evacuation plans from the seven nursing homes that had licenses revoked showed they claimed to be prepared for a large evacuation with plans for supplies and food, but the Louisiana Department of Health and families of those evacuated ahead of Hurricane Ida disagree.
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Officials have revoked the licenses of seven nursing homes involved in an evacuation that crammed elderly and vulnerable residents into a warehouse.
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Nursing home residents who were crammed inside of a warehouse shelter in Tangipahoa Parish where seven people died describe conditions inside as a ‘nightmare.’ The residents were among hundreds evacuated from seven nursing home facilities on the Southshore to the warehouse facility in Independence, La. ahead of Hurricane Ida.
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The head of a state nursing school says a board member pressured for a student’s admission on multiple occasions, despite the student falling below the cut-off for the program.
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The leader of the state’s board over private security has been placed on leave after numerous allegations of wrongdoing surfaced around his leadership of the agency.
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The State of Louisiana’s public records laws are in place to provide transparency to public agencies. But one New Orleans-based agency may be skirting those laws by not responding to requests.
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As lawmakers debate including female drivers in more crash test standards, the agency in charge is staying quiet.
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Updated daily, this COVID-19 hotspot map illustrates where the largest number of new cases (relative to population) have been reported in the last seven days.
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The New Orleans Office of Inspector General has recommended charges be filed against two additional city inspectors who likely did not physically inspect the Hard Rock Hotel construction site before its collapse.
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Bridging the Great Health Divide explores issues in rural America through the lens of residents, doctors and other health care providers.
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A report suggests criminal charges should be filed in relation to a city inspector’s work connected to the Hard Rock Hotel construction site that collapsed in 2019, killing three workers.
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A New Orleans company, applied for and received a Paycheck Protection Program loan of nearly $200,000, but a FOX 8 Investigation found that at the time of the application, the company likely had no employees on staff.
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Gray Television stations will air a documentary about disparities in rural health care and the people working to bridge the great health divide.
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Thousands of so-called ‘Shut-In Future Utility’ wells litter the Louisiana landscape with little enforcement to permanently plug them. One of those wells claimed the life of a Louisiana teenager, whose family says there was no warning of the site being dangerous.
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The purpose of the food stamp program is to help low-income families access healthy foods, but in rural America, that can be difficult.
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Bills in both the U.S. House and Senate look to update crash test dummies and testing procedures to make sure drivers are equally protected.
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Before last year food insecurity impacted about 10% of all U.S. residents. Experts estimate that number has at least doubled since the pandemic.
Antes del año pasado, la inseguridad alimentaria afectó a aproximadamente el 10,5% de los residentes de EE. UU. Una vez que la pandemia cerró en gran medida la economía, los expertos estiman que el porcentaje de personas que sufren de inseguridad alimentaria al menos se duplicó.
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In November 2018, the state declared an emergency because of possible fracking failures that contributed to the environmental disaster. In that declaration, the state expressed concern that natural gas had entered the aquifer. Years later, a company has not been held accountable.
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A major oil company’s offer to plug so-called orphaned wells, left for dead in Terrebonne Parish was passed up by the state Department of Natural Resources and now the state could end up paying millions to do the work themselves.
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The federal government gives out subsidies to help farms through tough times, but much of the information about these taxpayer-funded payments is kept secret.
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Before the state approves any measures to finance storm restoration from last year's hurricane season, Entergy customers and a watchdog group want the state’s largest power provider to answer more questions about cost-saving moves and record profits in 2020.
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Experts say one of the most advertised safety standards largely doesn't account for more than half of all licensed drivers.
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An investigative unit made up of three state agencies exists to curb the amount of insurance fraud in the state. But a FOX 8 Investigation found all of the spending by one of those agencies doesn’t seem to be going to insurance fraud cases, in possible violation of the law that founded the unit.
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Nearly two years after FOX 8 and The Athletic investigated the financial mismanagement of a group that promised a so-called Field of Dreams in the Ninth Ward, a new group has formed to make that dream a reality.
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A third investigator says he believes the 2005 death of Joey Georgusis was a murder and not an overdose, as originally classified by the coroner’s office.
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In nearly every Appalachian and Delta community, residents die on average before their 78th birthday, which is the average life expectancy in the United States. Health care providers are working on innovative ways to combat the unique disparities in the regions.
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Former St. Bernard Sheriff Jack Stephens faces nearly two hours of questions from an attorney for the family of Joey Georgusis, who died in 2005. Stephens called the questions 'offensive.'
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In Part 2 of Strangled, a photo in an autopsy file vanishes, and another investigator -- believes Joey Georgusis did not die of an overdose.
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FOX 8 Investigates why deputies from another parish responded to the 2005 death of Joey Georgusis hours before a 911 call was made.
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The use of a city-owned vehicle is supposed to be for city services. But FOX 8 has found that a New Orleans city council member has been using her city-issued vehicle and provided security detail to run personal errands.
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Members of the New Orleans City Council receive a unique perk, use of a city-owned vehicle and a security specialist contracted from the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. A FOX 8 Investigation found two of those security specialists are not allowed to perform security functions.
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Questions have surfaced on a test for sexually-transmitted infections developed in a New Orleans lab and approved based on forged documents.
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The relocation of a helicopter landing site at a New Orleans hospital has neighbors upset after having little to no input in the move. The project was also completed without the proper permits being issued by the City of New Orleans.
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Wesley Bishop, a former state senator who was the subject of several investigations by FOX 8′s Lee Zurik, has been permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Louisiana after his guilty plea in federal court to making false statements to a federal agency.
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The New Orleans City Council will meet on Thursday and decide whether or not to allow Folgers Coffee Company to receive tax exemptions on work that was completed years ago at their New Orleans East facilities.
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On the heels of a Thursday meeting where the New Orleans City Council will vote on whether to grant Folgers Coffee Company millions of dollars in retroactive tax exemptions, the city is now looking into another issue where the company could owe money.
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On the job for just over a year, Regional Transit Authority CEO Alex Wiggins already has allegations of retaliation, like those at his previous public transit jobs, uncovered by FOX 8 Investigates.
A New Orleans City Councilmember says a major company is using a loophole to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes owed to the city and now she wants a state board to put a stop to it.
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The Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Lee Zurik, whichever vaccine emerges in phase three trials will be approved only if it meets FDA standards.
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A group of workers for a national airport services contractor say their employer forced them to work their full schedule but claim unemployment for a portion of their paycheck.
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Former St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Walter Reed has been moved from a minimum-security prison in West Virginia and will now be serving the rest of his sentence at home in Covington.
Improvement projects were made at the New Orleans Folgers plant in 2017, but since that time the company has delayed a decision on a tax exemption. A watchdog group says the company should owe the city millions in taxes on the project over the years-long delay.
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Former State Senator Wesley Bishop has been suspended from practicing law after he was sentenced in July for falsifying federal loan documents related to his rental property.
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Former State Senator Wesley Bishop was sentenced to four years of probation for providing false information to a federal housing agency relating to his rental property in New Orleans East. Bishop received a $188,000 loan to provide the property for rent to low-income tenants.
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A committee has recommended suspension of the law license for a former court clerk in the First City Court who had thousands in questionable spending in his last days in office.
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One couple tested in late June at a Northshore test site are still waiting on their results 16 days after being tested.
A former state senator awaiting sentencing on a charge of making false statements to a federal agency is asking a federal judge for a lighter sentence due to COVID-19 concerns.