New Orleans
The door-to-door search for victims of Hurricane Katrina ended in New Orleans this week, with Louisiana’s official death toll at 972. Another 221 died in Mississippi. Dozens of crews searched nearly 23,000 buildings across the flooded city. Some locked houses weren’t checked, officials said, but searchers will only go back out if someone reports seeing a body. Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the storm’s financial impact was forcing him to lay off as many as 3,000 New Orleans employees, half the city’s workforce. Nagin said he had no choice—with most of the city still closed, the flow of tax money has stopped. The layoffs are expected to save $5 million to $8 million out of a monthly payroll of $20 million.
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