Lee Zurik
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As the city of New Orleans's most honored investigative reporter, Lee 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. Lee has been honored with journalism’s top honors including two George Foster Peabody Awards, three Alfred I. duPont Silver Batons, nine National Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Medal. Lee is a New Orleans native and a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Updated: Sep. 29, 2022 at 4:37 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A two-month-long FOX 8 investigation finds New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is possibly breaking city policy and maybe even state law, spending much of her time at a city-owned apartment, possibly without paying rent.
Updated: Sep. 19, 2022 at 4:03 PM CDT
|By Jill Riepenhoff and Lee Zurik
For many college coaches, it pays to get fired. Over a 17-year period beginning in 2005, public universities have shelled out more than $1.1 billion in buying out the contracts of college coaches, according to an InvestigateTV analysis of NCAA financial data collected by Syracuse University. Most of that money was spent on football coaches who play at the highest level of Division I athletics. As football coaches' annual compensation now stretches into seven digits, massive severance payments also grow bigger and bigger.
Updated: Sep. 7, 2022 at 11:12 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A crime watchdog says invoices raise more questions about former Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee Timothy David Ray's pay before he was fired.
Updated: Sep. 1, 2022 at 10:27 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Sheriff Susan Hutson has fired her Chief Communications Officer Timothy David Ray, following FOX 8's investigations into his contract & invoices. The sheriff says the contract termination came after a draft opinion from the State Ethics Board that Ray's hiring violated state ethics laws.
Updated: Aug. 31, 2022 at 11:03 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Invoices show the Director of Communications for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office is on track to make $175,000 this year. But a political analyst and a crime watchdog question his experience, pay and invoices.
Updated: Aug. 30, 2022 at 10:20 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
New questions about the decision by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office to hire the embattled former director of the Juvenile Justice and Intervention Center.
Updated: Aug. 24, 2022 at 9:56 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A new push to get payments to victims who sued the city but haven't gotten the money they're owed for years. Two council members now plan to take action after FOX 8's Drained investigations.
Updated: Aug. 18, 2022 at 10:10 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
When Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson took office, the change of command led to a change in communication. Her office has refused repeated requests from FOX 8 for information that the public has a right to know. Two experts believe the office is trying to punish FOX 8 for prior investigations into the man who now works as her Chief Communications Officer.
Updated: Aug. 15, 2022 at 4:19 PM CDT
|By Jill Riepenhoff, Jamie Grey and Lee Zurik
After the deaths of 13 children over the last 12 years, this summer, Fisher-Price and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned parents not to let their children sleep in certain rockers the company has made since the 1990s. Now, InvestigateTV has discovered that during a 2021 Congressional hearing, the company dodged questions about whether it currently had products on the market linked to children’s deaths.
Updated: Aug. 2, 2022 at 5:59 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board started releasing some public records Tuesday (Aug. 2), one day after Fox 8 filed a lawsuit seeking the delayed documents.
Updated: Aug. 1, 2022 at 5:34 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
FOX 8 filed a lawsuit against the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board and its Executive Director Ghassan Korban, after the board refused to provide public records and at times stopped responding to requests for updates.
Updated: Jul. 27, 2022 at 11:01 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The City of New Orleans has been ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars to people and businesses, but FOX 8 found in hundreds of cases, the city has refused to pay.
Updated: Jul. 25, 2022 at 5:49 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Former Louisiana State trooper Daryl Thomas pleaded guilty to filing false public documents and theft accusations.
Updated: Jul. 20, 2022 at 10:03 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik
If you’re a victim of a non-violent crime in New Orleans, numbers show DNA evidence collected from your crime scene will likely sit in storage forever.
Updated: Jul. 6, 2022 at 10:02 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The group who took over plans for a field of dreams in the Ninth Ward has raised federal and state money and is closer to making that dream a reality.
Updated: Jul. 1, 2022 at 10:58 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik
The city of Kenner swore in former Police Chief Mike Glaser today after beating incumbent Ben Zahn. He officially took office this morning.
Updated: Jun. 30, 2022 at 4:52 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Kim Holden's coworkers and friends wish her well as she leaves FOX 8 to spend more time with her family.
Updated: Jun. 29, 2022 at 10:03 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A representative for outgoing Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn reached out to FOX 8 saying Zahn wanted to do an interview, however, Zahn canceled just 24 hours before that interview was supposed to take place.
Updated: Jun. 17, 2022 at 8:35 AM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Kim Holden announces her retirement after 34 years at FOX 8. She plans to spend more time with her parents, kids, and grandkids.
Updated: May. 25, 2022 at 10:01 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
FOX 8 finds thousands of pieces of vital DNA evidence is sitting in storage at the State Crime Lab, waiting to be tested, preventing families from getting closure.
Updated: May. 23, 2022 at 5:34 PM CDT
|By Jamie Grey, Lee Zurik and Payton Romans
Sometimes a surgeon is the salesman. Across the country, there are physician-owned distributorships where doctors own part of a medical device company and then buy (or have their hospital buy) that hardware to use in their own surgeries.
Updated: May. 19, 2022 at 10:01 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
One New Orleans City Council member says the Sewerage and Water Board has a “moral obligation” to start paying the millions of dollars it owes to citizens. Those bills have gone unpaid for years, or even decades in some cases.
Updated: May. 18, 2022 at 10:31 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams is just months away from a federal tax fraud trial, but now faces new tax issues. THe new allegation falls outside the parameters of the original indictment, and involves a period of time when Williams was running for D.A.
Updated: May. 18, 2022 at 10:10 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The Sewerage and Water Board hasn't paid millions of dollars it owes to residents
Updated: May. 16, 2022 at 10:38 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Questions have been raised over NOPD captain Sabrina Richardson's position on a state board that oversees punishments for state police troopers, as she is currently under investigation by the Orleans District Attorney's office.
Updated: May. 11, 2022 at 10:03 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
FOX 8 combs through license plate-reader cameras showing NOPD officers' vehicles miles away at times from the details they were getting paid for.
Updated: May. 10, 2022 at 10:34 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A series of emails uncovered by FOX 8 reveal what two local professors believe is a rigged public bid in Kenner.
Updated: May. 9, 2022 at 1:13 PM CDT
|By Jill Riepenhoff, Conner Hendricks and Lee Zurik
A new federal law takes effect in July that aims to clean up thoroughbred horseracing, which for years has been plagued by scandals, drugs and equine fatalities. Racing insiders have pushed for decades for such a measure and they welcome the new oversight.
Updated: May. 5, 2022 at 11:00 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson confirms to FOX 8 that 11 NOPD officers are under federal investigation by the FBI. It comes as FOX 8 learns there could be more discrepancies involving at least one officer and paid detail work.
Updated: May. 5, 2022 at 7:09 AM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Timesheet data raises questions about the conduct of some of the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau officers.
Updated: Apr. 25, 2022 at 5:18 PM CDT
|By Emily Featherston and Lee Zurik
Diabetes patients say they're being priced out of being able to afford live-saving insulin. Who's to blame is a matter of who you ask.
Updated: Mar. 31, 2022 at 10:05 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Kenner's lack of oversight and record-keeping could jeopardize reimbursement for millions of dollars in post-Ida debris cleanup.
Updated: Mar. 31, 2022 at 10:03 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
A subpoena has been issued requesting racing records for two brothers, Todd and Nicholas Morrell.
Updated: Mar. 28, 2022 at 5:03 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
So far, there has been no determination of any potential violations, however, the investigation is ongoing.
Updated: Mar. 17, 2022 at 10:42 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
The cost of tree removal in Kenner following Hurricane Ida raises questions about who was overseeing the invoices.
Updated: Mar. 15, 2022 at 10:28 PM CDT
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Sources tell FOX 8 the FBI is looking into a Kenner powerbroker highlighted in a series of investigations.
Updated: Mar. 10, 2022 at 10:05 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Invoices for post-Ida trash pickup show Kenner likely overpaid for services, and that there was little questioning before approving those payments.
Updated: Mar. 9, 2022 at 11:28 AM CST
|By Lee Zurik
Una auditoría interna realizada por la ciudad de Kenner respalda los hallazgos de una investigación de FOX 8 sobre el exdirector administrativo adjunto de la ciudad, Chad Pitfield.
Updated: Mar. 8, 2022 at 10:19 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
An audit performed by the city of Kenner backs up findings from FOX 8. The audit accuses former Deputy CAO Chad Pitfield of double-dipping, then falsifying documents in an attempted cover-up.
Updated: Mar. 2, 2022 at 10:05 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
An NOPD Sergeant claimed to work 360 days in 2020, only taking 5 days off.
Updated: Feb. 24, 2022 at 10:30 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik
A highly-paid Kenner employee, who was recently fired, said a clerical error made it look like he was double-dipping while working for the city and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. But FOX 8 uncovered documents that appear to show changes to his timesheets were an attempt to cover up double-dipping.
Updated: Feb. 23, 2022 at 9:03 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality issues citations to Kenner over operation of drop-off site at dump.
Updated: Feb. 22, 2022 at 10:41 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik
Documents raise questions about thousands of dollars in payments that were approved, despite appearing to be in violation of the city's contract with IV Waste.
Updated: Feb. 21, 2022 at 10:51 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik
New emails, videos, and payments of over $100,000 raise questions about what happened behind the scenes in Kenner, before a new trash contract was awarded.
Updated: Feb. 17, 2022 at 11:08 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik
A FOX 8 investigation raises questions about connections between a now-fired Kenner employee and a contract worth Millions. Kenner paid its trash collector $5.5 million last year, but we found close to $1 million in payments were made without proper backup documentation.
Updated: Feb. 16, 2022 at 6:34 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik
Four Kenner City Councilmembers say they plan to call for the immediate resignation of Mayor Ben Zahn at the next city council meeting.
Updated: Feb. 16, 2022 at 6:00 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik
FOX 8 News has learned Deputy CAO for the City of Kenner has been terminated.
Updated: Feb. 15, 2022 at 3:56 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Sources tell FOX 8 News the City of Kenner and Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office have received federal grand jury subpoenas regarding Chad Pitfield.
Updated: Feb. 14, 2022 at 10:10 PM CST
|By Lee Zurik and Dannah Sauer
Five NOPD officers got target letters from the FBI as part of an investigation into detail work, sources say.
Updated: Feb. 14, 2022 at 5:18 PM CST
|By Jill Riepenhoff, Lee Zurik and Jamie Grey
It takes years for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to remove dangerous products from the market because of its cumbersome rule-making process and ineffective recalls that don’t incentivize consumers to return or destroy dangerous items.
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