Layoffs In New Orleans

"New Orleans must lay off as many as 3,000 city workers, Mayor Ray Nagin announced Tuesday."

"Only essential police and firefighters remain, Nagin said during a press conference. He said the cost of the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the city five weeks ago, made the job cuts necessary."

I wonder how many of those 3,000 workers are even in the city.

Conditions remain bleak.

"The power company reports that electricity has been restored to about 28 percent of New Orleans."

"Hospitals are still shut down."

"The city literally stinks. Piles of garbage cover every street corner."

"This is the fifth week they haven't even picked up the trash. They're worried about the air and the quality of it, and they haven't picked up the trash."

"Nagin is trying to bring people back to the city. But some say the mayor helped drive them away with exaggerated reports of violence and by saying early on that as many as 10,000 people could be dead."

"All that did was convince the young people to get the hell out of here and work somewhere else. And in fact they're doing so in droves."

--LynZee