Lee Zurik
KCRG
New Orleans, LA, United States
Contact Lee
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Past articles by Lee:
InvestigateTV - Season 2; Episode 13
The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to an attorney, but there’s a public defender shortage. The problem means delayed justice for victims and prolonged jail time for the accused not convicted of crimes. In some areas, vacancies are at an all-time high. It’s leaving both defendants and victims waiting for months, sometimes even years, for justice. → Read More
InvestigateTV - Season 2; Episode 12
In a pair of investigations Andy Pierrotti looks at flawed forensics and wrongful convictions. → Read More
Defective: Federal database of consumer product complaints leaves out deaths, injuries the government and manufacturers know about
More than two decades ago, the death of a toddler in a recalled portable crib prompted Congress to pass a new consumer protection law. Yet today, children still are dying in unsafe products, recalls remain largely ineffective at ridding homes of dangerous products, and the CPSC website that was supposed to help creates a false sense of security, an InvestigateTV analysis of federal records shows. → Read More
InvestigateTV - Season 2; Episode 11
In this special edition of InvestigateTV – Defective – the team looks at shocking product recalls. Lee Zurik reveals companies, not the government, decide how and when these warnings are issued. In some cases, it takes companies years before they agree to pull products off the shelves. → Read More
InvestigateTV - Season 2; Episode 10
For decades, service members and their families were essentially barred from suing the military for medical malpractice. → Read More
InvestigateTV - Season 2; Episode 9
Joce Sterman exposes how the system meant to keep doctors in check is letting physicians keep their licenses even when they come to work impaired. Plus, non-profit hospitals claim they charge privately insured patients more to make up for losses on Medicare reimbursements, but a new report says some hospitals are making money off Medicare → Read More
Defective: The federal government knows that consumers are using hundreds of dangerous everyday products
When a company learns a product it sells could be defective and dangerous, it has 24 hours to let the federal government’s Consumer Product Safety Commission know about it. But it could take months or years for the public to find out about the company’s possible concerns, if they even come to light at all. InvestigateTV has been battling CPSC and companies to disclose information about the… → Read More
Big Bucks, Big Buyouts: Public universities shell out millions of dollars firing coaches who didn’t win enough
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.… → Read More
Operation Profit: Some surgeons pull in millions by owning medical device companies
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. → Read More
Betting on Change: Horseracing long plagued with scandals and equine fatalities
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. → Read More
Profit Pump: 100 years after first patient uses insulin, out-of-pocket costs continue to climb
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. → Read More
Defective: Government agency shackled by law often takes years to issue recalls on potentially dangerous products
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. → Read More
Defective: Federal agency meant to protect consumers given little power to ban defective products
The federal agency created to watchdog consumer products - from crock pots to xylophones - is muzzled by its governing law, which gives all the power to manufacturers, including those with dangerous toys, appliances and other items on the market. The Fisher-Price Rock N Play – an inclined sleep product that defied the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for safe infant sleeping – exposed… → Read More
Buy the Book: Public dollars pay for Netflix, trips to the zoo and karate lessons for kids learning from home
Programs bridging public schools and homeschooling are growing fast, but critics worry about what that means for the future of education. → Read More
Secret Acres: Foreign-owned agricultural land inaccurately tracked by government
Foreign entities have bought 13 million more U.S. farm acres in 10 years, but agriculture policy scholars say the total could be far more. → Read More
State of Decay: Rural areas in America are at a tooth loss
The lack of access to dental care plagues many parts of rural America. → Read More
COVID-19 map tracks current hot spots
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. → Read More
Full Documentary: Bridging the Great Health Divide showcases efforts to fight disparities in rural America
Bridging the Great Health Divide explores issues in rural America through the lens of residents, doctors and other health care providers. → Read More
Bridging the Great Health Divide documentary highlights shortcomings and solutions in rural American health care
Gray Television stations will air a documentary about disparities in rural health care and the people working to bridge the great health divide. → Read More
Gas stations, liquor stores allowed to snap up benefit money without providing extensive healthy food options
The purpose of the food stamp program is to help low-income families access healthy foods, but in rural America, that can be difficult. → Read More