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NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin said Tuesday the city is laying off as many as 3,000 employees - about half the city's workforce - because of the damage done to New Orleans' finances by Hurricane Katrina.
Nagin said it was with "great sadness" that he had been unable to find the money to keep the workers on the payroll.
He said only nonessential workers would be laid off and that no firefighters or police would be among those let go.
"I wish I didn't have to do this. I wish we had the money, the resources to keep these people," Nagin said. "The problem we have is we have no revenue streams."
Nagin described the layoffs as "pretty permanent" and said that the city will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to contact municipal employees who fled the city in the aftermath of Katrina.
The mayor said the move will save about $5-million to $8-million of the city's monthly payroll of $20-million. The layoffs will take place over the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton met with dozens of New Orleans-area evacuees staying at a shelter in Baton Rouge's convention center.
Clinton, working with former President Bush to raise money for victims, chatted with the evacuees, some of whom have been sleeping on cots in the Rivercenter for more than a month.
Also Tuesday, officials ended their door-to-door sweep for corpses in Louisiana with the death toll at 972 - far fewer than the 10,000 the mayor had feared at one point. Mississippi's Katrina death toll was 221.
Few Katrina contracts have gone to minoritiesWASHINGTON - Some minority-owned businesses say they have missed opportunities due to the government's decision to waive certain rules for Hurricane Katrina recovery contracts.
About 1.5 percent of the $1.6-billion awarded by FEMA has gone to minority businesses; 5 percent is normally required.
To speed aid, many requirements normally attached to government contracting were waived by the government.
The result has been most no-bid contracts going to businesses that have an existing relationship with the government.
Many of the no-bid awards went to known companies for a simple reason; they could quickly provide help in an emergency situation, said Larry Orluskie, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, whose FEMA division handles the contracts.