United Teachers of New Orleans the city of New Orleans. UTNO members, about to begin the school year, received their first and last two-week paycheck on September 1, 2005. With no tax revenue flowing into OPSB coffers, the school district cancelled further paychecks and all insurance for New Orleans education workers. Hurricane Katrina also left 100 of New Orleans' 128 school buildings heavily damaged. Reacting to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, on November 22, 2005, the Louisiana legislature passed Act 35 and took over the New Orleans public school system. Eleven of the 20 state representatives from Orleans Parish voted against the takeover plan.
Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Saints officials were only doing what any city seeking a franchise would do—recruit the franchise. On October 21, 2005, Benson issued a statement saying that he had not made any decision about the future of the Saints. However, the "San Antonio Express-News" reported that sources close to the Saints' organization said that Benson planned to void his lease agreement with New Orleans by declaring the Louisiana Superdome unusable. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue met with Benson and Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco at the Saints' first home game in Baton Rouge on October 30 against the Miami Dolphins. After the meeting, he stopped