Lee Zurik Investigations

The New Orleans City Council will outline how the Upper Pontalba Apartment can be used after the New Orleans office of Inspector General concluded its current use could violate city ordinance and state law.

Why the city attorney had recorded statements from an open PIB investigation remains unclear

Jeffrey Vappie changed clothes in the Pontalba apartment that other protectors of Mayor Cantrell rarely if ever entered

Records contradict new claims by Mayor Cantrell regarding NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie's time at HANO board meetings

Scope of requested duties often went beyond security, officers told PIB

Long hours, big paychecks and little oversight: New recordings shed light on the operations of Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s security detail

Insurance companies say these reviews lower costs and protect patients, but what requires advance permission varies plan to plan, and critics argue the policies get between a patient and their doctor.

Officers said they always billed taxpayers for 16 hours while traveling with the mayor, regardless of how long they actually worked.

In a statement sent on Fri., March 17, attorneys Branden Villavaso and Nicholas Lindner say the investigation is compromised.

Prior to Officer Vappie joining the mayor's security team, no officer ever traveled with her. Another member of the team says he doesn't know of any other officer on a public board.

The Pontalba could be generating nearly $36,000 a year in revenue, Michel says.

Members of the law enforcement community blasted the release of materials in the Vappie investigation.

Officer Vappie was interviewed for nearly four hours and repeatedly referred to Mayor LaToya Cantrell as his supervisor, but it’s clear investigators wanted to know if a more personal relationship existed between the mayor and a member of her executive protection team.

City Attorney, NOPD say material inadvertently given to a HANO board member

Mayor LaToya Cantrell faces more financial trouble as a national company claims she and her husband refused to pay a $20,000 bill for roof repairs.

FOX 8 obtains a new document that experts say appears to provide proof that Mayor LaToya Cantrell misused tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.

Consent Decree Monitor Jonathan Aronie said he intervened in the reassignment request in December

A city ordinance from April of 1972 prevents all but one company from getting a permit to sell food on the sidewalks and street corners of the French Quarter.

Louisiana's Secretary of State says 25,000 active voter adjustment for recall purpose wasn't arbitrary

The Lafourche Parish coroner has charged taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars each year in addition to his salary. But some sources claim he created a staffing crisis, and is performing extra work himself to pad his paycheck.

One company picks up trash for about half of New Orleans but gets paid millions less each year than the two other companies that split pickup in the other half of the city. Now, some city leaders say it is time to level the playing field.

Bowling Green State University in Ohio agreed to a $2.9 million settlement with the family of Stone Foltz, who died in 2021 following an alcohol-fueled fraternity hazing event. The university vowed to unite with the Foltzes in their mission to eradicate hazing. The Foltzes sued Bowling Green, in part, for its failure to punish the bad actors on its campus in the years prior to Stone’s death. Their lawsuit listed dozens of examples in which allegations of hazing weren’t fully investigated by the university or cases in which fraternities and sororities were merely placed on probation for serious violations. It's a similar story at other campuses across the country.

Cantrell's Campaign Finance Report, filed just before the deadline, shows she spent $198,000 out of her campaign account in 2022.

Kenner and IV Waste are now locked in a legal battle.

Only one pushcart food vendor currently is permitted on the streets of the French Quarter

Former NOPD officers and Police Association of New Orleans attorney Eric Hessler accuse the NOPD’s public integrity bureau of lopsided investigations and inconsistent enforcement of policies.

Stella Cziment wrote a letter warning of potential conflicts regarding the NOPD’s internal investigation into Officer Jeffrey Vappie's timesheets.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell provided hardly any details about what members of her executive protection team are doing while logging long work days, sometimes nowhere near her.

New Orleans taxpayers own one of the units in the Upper Pontalba Apartments, but newly obtained emails appear to show Mayor LaToya Cantrell using the unit as a guest house for family members.

Records show Mayor Cantrell's protection officers on the clock in New Orleans even when she was out of state or in France