Emily Featherston g4k3p
Investigative Producer 22573
Massachusetts 252g40

Emily ed the InvestigateTV team as an investigative producer in 2021. Before that, Emily was an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist at WECT News in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she focused on local government, election istration, healthcare and business stories. She came to television from the print world, having worked as an award-winning community journalist in Birmingham, Alabama. Emily is a graduate of Samford University with both a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a Master of Business istration. 3p6q24
Education 1k1k2t
Affiliations 5g573a
Awards 6s5z33
Be Your Own Investigator: Finding the true cost of healthcare 4g2c5z
Updated: May 20, 2025 at 2:26 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston and Joce Sterman
In the event your procedure or prescription is not an emergency, a little bit of research could save you a lot of money in the long run.
Dead Zone: Flawed federal programs maroon rural Americans in telehealth blackouts 1p5i52
Updated: May 14, 2025 at 7:34 AM EDT
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By Sarah Jane Tribble, KFF Health News, Holly K. Hacker, KFF Health News, Caresse Jackman, Owen Hornstein, Emily Featherston and Brandon Wissbaum
Taxpayers, through federal infrastructure programs, have paid billions of dollars to internet companies to hook up rural Americans. Some communities have nothing to show for it.
Critical aviation safety improvements left in limbo for years over costs, competing priorities 2l4863
Updated: Apr. 30, 2025 at 5:22 AM EDT
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By Emily Featherston, Joce Sterman, Scotty Smith and Jamie Grey
NTSB recommendations gleaned from accident investigations are not always adopted — even after additional deadly crashes.
‘It Hurts Kids’: Many schools continue to teach controversial reading remediation program 125u3g
Updated: Apr. 25, 2025 at 5:51 AM EDT
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By Andy Pierrotti, Bailey Williams and Emily Featherston
Our investigators examine how the program works and dig into the states that have (and have not) banned the specific method.
Dead Zone: Rural hospitals and patients are disconnected from modern care 20683j
Updated: Apr. 10, 2025 at 7:52 AM EDT
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By Sarah Jane Tribble, KFF Health News, Holly K. Hacker, KFF Health News, Caresse Jackman, Owen Hornstein, Emily Featherston and Brandon Wissbaum
Technological gaps handicap rural hospitals as billions in federal funding to modernize infrastructure lags. Reliance on dated systems is eroding care.
Low-head dams claim as many as 50 lives a year: Feds are now catag them after years of inaction w3o3r
Updated: Apr. 7, 2025 at 12:00 PM EDT
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By Joce Sterman, Emily Featherston and Scotty Smith
Identifying, inventorying dams that become 'drowning machines' could take years as death toll climbs.
Wheels Up: Vehicle thieves target airport parking facilities 4e1j1e
Updated: Apr. 1, 2025 at 10:26 AM EDT
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By Brendan Keefe and Emily Featherston
Vehicle thefts from parking lots and garages at airports nationwide have taken off in recent years.
Millions in US live in places where doctors don’t practice and telehealth doesn’t reach 2o295p
Updated: Mar. 11, 2025 at 7:53 AM EDT
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By Sarah Jane Tribble, KFF Health News, Holly K. Hacker, KFF Health News, Caresse Jackman, Emily Featherston, Owen Hornstein and Brandon Wissbaum
Nearly 3 million Americans live sicker, shorter lives in the hundreds of rural counties where doctor shortages are the worst and poor internet connections mean little or no access to telehealth services.
Unsupervised ankle monitors leave public at risk from coast to coast 4j442d
Updated: Mar. 1, 2025 at 7:49 AM EST
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By Chris Nakamoto and Emily Featherston
Advocates, victims’ families say lack of laws allow these companies to avoid ability.
Deadly plane, helicopter collision renews concerns over airport ‘squeezed’ to its limits 85649
Updated: Feb. 7, 2025 at 12:24 PM EST
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By Joce Sterman, Emily Featherston, Jamie Grey, Brandon Wissbaum and Scotty Smith
Following the deadly midair collision on Wednesday, our investigators found that dozens of close calls have been reported at Reagan National since 2010.
Unsupervised: Juvenile escapes plague many communities with limited tracking nationwide 6u6y41
Updated: Feb. 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM EST
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By Chris Nakamoto and Emily Featherston
As the system weighs incarceration vs. rehabilitation, experts say patchwork of strategies leave gaps in the bars for juvenile justice.
Ducks, opossums and squirrels, oh my: Punxsutawney Phil isn’t alone making a ‘wild guess’ on Spring 1812
Updated: Jan. 28, 2025 at 2:27 PM EST
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By Emily Featherston, Joce Sterman and Jill Riepenhoff
Ahead of Groundhog Day, we put the world's most famous groundhog and America’s other furry, feathered and fabled weather prognosticators to the test.
On Hold: Dire delays at hospital ERs create long waits for ambulance crews, put patients at risk 283910
Updated: Jan. 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM EST
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By Emily Featherston and Chris Nakamoto
Experts say extended patient turnover times at emergency rooms risk ‘crushing’ the EMS system, but few regulations exist to limit long waits.
Sidewalk barriers set up after New Orleans terror attack were already in city, not used New Year’s 4u95v
Updated: Jan. 3, 2025 at 8:25 PM EST
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By Brendan Keefe, Jamie Grey and Emily Featherston
The sidewalks of the French Quarter are now protected by portable, 700-pound barriers that the City already had in its possession.
Why Bourbon Street barricades were not in place to protect against vehicle attack j4u5f
Updated: Jan. 2, 2025 at 6:47 PM EST
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By Brendan Keefe, Jamie Grey and Emily Featherston
Workers in New Orleans have added temporary barricades near Bourbon Street to stop possible, future attacks, but why were the existing barricades not used on New Year's Day?
Drowning Machines: Risks around low-head dams often learned one tragedy at a time 1523k
Updated: Aug. 26, 2024 at 4:38 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston and Joce Sterman
Researchers believe low-head dams have caused more than 1,000 drownings over the last several decades, with an average of around 50 people killed each year.
Amped Up: Electric cars able to outrun traditional cruisers prompt law enforcement to invest in their own z2c3m
Updated: Aug. 5, 2024 at 2:45 PM EDT
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By Brendan Keefe and Emily Featherston
Police departments coast to coast are going electric — pursuing savings and efficiency along with bad guys.
Powerless: Patchwork of responsibility for keeping power lines clear of trees, brush ignites frustration 2l5d43
Updated: Jul. 8, 2024 at 2:52 PM EDT
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By Caresse Jackman and Emily Featherston
Poor maintenance tree trimming can have deadly consequences, but critics say it's not always clear who's responsible, and the public is often left in the dark.
Independence of NTSB aviation investigations questioned over reliance on outside help 3r3c2y
Updated: May 13, 2024 at 3:38 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston and Joce Sterman
The NTSB’s mission is to independently investigate all aircraft-involved events, but its frequent use of others for work on-scene troubles critics.
Park at your own risk: Collapses continue as aging garages, decks often go unchecked 35y6o
Updated: Mar. 25, 2024 at 12:08 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston and Chris Nakamoto
Garages and decks across the country are crumbling, and some experts fear failures will continue unless oversight increases.
Undervalued: Black homeowners fight for unbiased appraisals 2a185l
Updated: Feb. 19, 2024 at 4:39 PM EST
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By Emily Featherston and Caresse Jackman
Federal data and stories from coast-to-coast outline how entrenched bias affects the way properties are valued.
Secret Acres: Boom or Bubble? High farmland prices encourage investors, concern farmers lm21
Updated: Dec. 18, 2023 at 2:00 PM EST
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By Emily Featherston and Madison McVan
Outside investment in farmland continues to increase, but some economists and many farmers worry deep pockets are pushing prices above what the land is worth.
Permission to Pay: Technologies touted as fix for health insurance frustrations draw criticism, legal action 1l3iq
Updated: Nov. 27, 2023 at 3:48 PM EST
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By Emily Featherston, Jamie Grey and Lee Zurik
Patients and doctors say the health insurance claims process is increasingly lacking humanity as one major insurance company is taken to court over its use of a computer program.
Officials Agree: Use Settlement Funds to Curb Youth Addiction. But the ‘How’ Gets Hairy. 63411y
Updated: Sep. 25, 2023 at 5:00 AM EDT
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By Aneri Pattani and Emily Featherston
Parents, educators, and elected officials agree that investing in school-based prevention efforts could help curb the rising rate of youth drug overdoses. The well-known D.A.R.E. program is one likely choice, but its effectiveness is in question.
Permission to Prescribe: Physicians allege insurance intermediaries, red tape are driving decisions about care, with patients paying the price 1jo3n
Updated: Jun. 12, 2023 at 3:14 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston and Lee Zurik
The drug benefit industry says it works to lower costs and improve outcomes, but critics say these 'middlemen' have too much control.
Permission to Practice: Doctors, patients say insurance prior-authorizations put profits over people 6i645h
Updated: Mar. 20, 2023 at 3:53 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston, Jamie Grey, Lee Zurik, Bailey Williams and Payton Romans
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.
Secret Subsidies: Program meant to help farmers in trade war overspent, lacked transparency and compliance checks 2b3n6o
Updated: Oct. 24, 2022 at 9:53 AM EDT
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By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest, Emily Featherston and Jamie Grey
Experts say $23 billion USDA program set a precedent for spending without Congressional oversight and had a concerning mix of political influence and limited compliance monitoring.
Growing Concern: Thousands of farms across U.S. damaged by ‘dicamba drift’ that devastates crops 5u242u
Updated: Aug. 1, 2022 at 3:46 PM EDT
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By Joce Sterman and Emily Featherston
A popular herbicide ingredient some farmers say is vital to business has devastated other farms because of the chemical's ability to drift under certain conditions. Enforcing the rules is in the hands of states, but there is a growing concern over whether federal action needs to be taken.
Profit Pump: 100 years after first patient uses insulin, out-of-pocket costs continue to climb 214c5n
Updated: Apr. 25, 2022 at 6:18 PM EDT
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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.
Democratic lawmakers push U.S. Transportation Secretary for faster changes to crash test dummy standards 75928
Updated: Mar. 14, 2022 at 1:24 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston, Jon Decker and Jamie Grey
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requires research into the gender gap in vehicle crash testing, but lawmakers want Secretary Pete Buttigieg to take action now to close the Collision Division.
Buy the Book: Public dollars pay for Netflix, trips to the zoo and karate lessons for kids learning from home 3j6w1h
Updated: Jan. 31, 2022 at 6:08 PM EST
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By Emily Featherston, Lee Zurik and Jamie Grey
Programs bridging public schools and homeschooling are growing fast, but critics worry about what that means for the future of education.
Secret Acres: Foreign-owned agricultural land inaccurately tracked by government 716k2x
Updated: Jan. 24, 2022 at 5:02 PM EST
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By Jamie Grey, Emily Featherston, Lee Zurik, Jon Decker and Cory Johnson
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.
Bridging the Great Health Divide: Discount Drug War 6d6rn
Updated: Nov. 15, 2021 at 7:10 PM EST
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By Sarah Jane Tribble and Emily Featherston
The number of pharmacies dispensing 340B discounted drugs soared to more than 31,000 this year. Drugmakers struck back by halting some discounts.
Collision Division: Infrastructure bill includes evaluation of crash testing 2f1260
Updated: Nov. 8, 2021 at 12:37 PM EST
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By Emily Featherston and Jon Decker
Included in the $1.2 trillion bill is a requirement for the government to take a look at crash test policies and procedures.
Collision Division: Federal traffic safety agency has yet to address gender disparity in crash testing despite outcry on Capitol Hill hr53
Updated: Aug. 10, 2021 at 3:05 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston, Lee Zurik, Jon Decker and Jamie Grey
As lawmakers debate including female drivers in more crash test standards, the agency in charge is staying quiet.
Collision Division: Lawmakers cross party lines to address disparity in vehicle safety 5p7072
Updated: Jun. 30, 2021 at 1:28 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston, Jon Decker, Lee Zurik and Jamie Grey
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.
Secret Subsidies: Payments to farms allowed to stretch far beyond rural America, sowing concern about who gets what 4q45c
Updated: May 17, 2021 at 4:01 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston, Lee Zurik, Jackson Hicks and Jamie Grey
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.
Collision Division: Crash test standards favor men, despite women being at higher risk for injury and death when behind the wheel 1c4353
Updated: May 10, 2021 at 2:47 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston, Lee Zurik, Jon Decker and Jamie Grey
Experts say one of the most d safety standards largely doesn't for more than half of all licensed drivers.
Uncollected: IRS fails to collect billions of dollars in tax debt each year, including from some of the wealthiest Americans 4j473g
Updated: Apr. 12, 2021 at 4:29 PM EDT
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By Emily Featherston and Sandra Jones
After 10 years, the IRS can no longer collect most tax debt, and the amount rolling off the books each year is growing. That includes debt from high-income taxpayers, who historically are responsible for much of the tax gap.