- Ray Nagin
Mayor Nagin said yesterday that "there are way to many frickin' - excuse me - cooks in the kitchen... they should have done these sandbagging operations first thing in the morning and it didn't get done... quite frankly I'm very frustrated" and today he is already on track to get the organizational problems fixed. New Orleans made a very rare, wise decision to elect this man, and I hope they keep him in office for quite a while.
- Kathleen Blanco
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (born December 15, 1942) is a Democratic politician from and the current governor of Louisiana. She was elected on November 15, 2003, defeating her Republican opponent Bobby Jindal, in the general election, by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent. She became the first woman to hold the office of governor of Louisiana. She is currently the fourth oldest governor in the United States. Blanco became a national figure following Hurricane Katrina.
- Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953), a Republican, was the 43rd Governor of Florida, in the United States, as well as the first Republican to be re-elected to that office. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the younger brother of current President George W. Bush; the older brother of Neil Bush, Marvin Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch; and the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
- Haley Barbour
Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is the current Republican governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Since then he has been mentioned as a possible 2008 vice presidential candidate. Barbour has ruled out any desire to run for President, and has announced his intent to run for re-election as Governor in 2007.
- Jeremy Scahill
Jeremy Scahill is an American investigative journalist and author. He serves as a correspondent for the U.S. radio and TV program Democracy Now!. He is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, and a frequent contributor to "The Nation" magazine. Scahill and colleague Amy Goodman were co-recipients of the 1998 George Polk Award for their radio documentary, "Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship", …
- Greg Palast
Greg Palast is a "New York Times"-bestselling author and a journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation as well as the British newspaper "The Observer", eg. among others:. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but has also been known to work with labor unions and consumer advocacy groups. Notably, he has claimed to have uncovered evidence that Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, …
- Anna Pou
Dr Anna Pou is an associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans. In addition to her clinical expertise, Pou has authored many papers concerning cancer of the head and neck and has been an active teacher of medical students and residents. On Tuesday, 2006-07-18, Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti arrested Pou (along with two nurses, Cheri Landry and Lori Budo), …
- Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28 1987) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, fashion designer, and spokesperson. She has an older sister, Haylie Duff, who is also an actress/singer. After gaining fame for her starring role on the television show "Lizzie McGuire", Duff went on to have a film career, and her most commercially successful pictures include "Cheaper by the Dozen" (2003), "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" (2003), …
- Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper (born March 12, 1969) is a journalist working for ABC News in Washington, DC. Born in New York City, he was raised in Philadelphia. For high school, he attended Akiba Hebrew Academy. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1991 with a B.A. in history modified by visual studies. He briefly attended graduate school at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television.
- Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley (born December 14, 1960) is a prolific author and a professor of history at Tulane University, where he also serves as director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilization. He is slated to join Rice University and the James Baker Institute on July 1, 2007. The late historian, Stephen E. Ambrose, once called Brinkley "the best of the new generation of American historians." During the early 1990s, …
- R. David Paulison
Robert David Paulison (b. 1947) was a firefighter who is currently serving as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Paulison was appointed by President George W. Bush on September 12, 2005 to replace the embattled Michael D. Brown, who resigned amid controversy over his handling of disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
- Brendan Loy
Brendan Loy is an American law student at the University of Notre Dame who publishes a blog entitled "The Irish Trojan's Blog". Loy gained attention on the Internet for his vigorous blogging on Hurricane Katrina, urging evacuations at a time when local authorities had not yet acted and much of the national media was still largely focused on threats to Florida rather than Louisiana. Though he does not have any formal meteorological training, …
- Mos Def
Mos Def (born Dante Terrell Smith on December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City, USA), is an American rapper and actor. Mos Def started his rap career as a member of the Native Tongue Posse collective and by guesting on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. He released a well-received album with Talib Kweli as Black Star, and was a major force in the late 90s underground hip hop explosion spearheaded by Rawkus Records.
- Rick Sanchez
Rick Sanchez, is an anchor/correspondent on CNN who presently serves as the anchor of the weekend primetime editions of CNN Newsroom. In addition, Sanchez serves as a contributor to "Anderson Cooper 360°" and CNN en Español, where he frequently reports while simultaneously translating in English and Spanish. Based in the network's world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Sanchez joined the network in September 2004.
- Chris Rose
Chris Rose graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1982. After a stint as a staff writer at The Washington Post, he joined The Times-Picayune as a crime reporter in 1984. Over the years, he has covered national politics, economics, Southern regionalism, pop culture and New Orleans nightlife, traditions, lifestyles and entertainment.
- Michael D. Brown
Michael DeWayne Brown (born November 8, 1954) was Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a position generally referred to as the director or administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He was appointed in January 2003 by President George W. Bush and resigned September 2005 following his poor handling of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
- Aaron Broussard
Aaron F. Broussard (born 6 January, 1949) is the president, a combined municipal-parish position, of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. A Democrat, Broussard is known nationally for appearances he made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
- Eddie Compass
P. Edwin Compass, III is a former Chief of Police of the New Orleans Police Department. He resigned as Chief of Police on September 27, 2005. Compass, who earlier said he was organizing a tribunal to handle the cases of 249 officers who left their posts without permission during Hurricane Katrina, did not give any reason for his resignation. Compass's resignation followed a few days after an emergency injunction was handed down, …
- Bob Riley
Robert Renfroe "Bob" Riley (born October 3, 1944) is an American politician in the Republican Party. He is the current Governor of Alabama, first elected in 2002, and re-elected during the 2006 mid-term election. Riley was born in Ashland, Alabama, a small town in Clay County where his family ranched and farmed for six generations. Riley attended the University of Alabama, graduating with a degree in business administration.
- Tom Benson
Tom Benson (born 1927 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is the owner of the New Orleans Saints NFL team. He is also the owner of several automobile dealerships in the Greater New Orleans and San Antonio areas. Benson became wealthy by investing profits from his automobile dealerships in local banks. He eventually purchased several small Southern banks and formed Benson Financial, which he sold to Wells Fargo in 1996.
- Ivor van Heerden
Ivor van Heerden is the deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center. He is also the director of the Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes. Van Heerden was born in South Africa. He created a hurricane modeling program at LSU. For the last decade he has been one of the most persistent voices warning of the inevitable effects of a major hurricane on the Louisiana coast.
- Richard Scruggs
Richard "Dickie" Scruggs was hired by Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore to assist with a lawsuit against thirteen tobacco companies in the 1990s. Prior to that he was known for his class action lawsuits against the asbestos industry. Settlement of the state's case against the tobacco companies was for 368 billion dollars (USD). His performance in this case was portrayed in the movie "The Insider" by Colm Feore.
- Walter Maestri
Walter S. Maestri III has been the director of emergency management for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana-which contains several suburbs of New Orleans-since 1996. After taking the position, Maestri became one of many academics and officials that promoted the idea that much of the region could become an uninhabitable floodscape following a major hurricane. In a 2002 interview for "NOW with Bill Moyers" and "American RadioWorks", …
- Malik Rahim
Malik Rahim (born Donald Guyton in 1948) is a former Black Panther, convicted felon, current Green Party member, and a long-time housing and prison activist in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He gained publicity as a community organizer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Rahim has been married twice, and has fathered seven children, with 21 grandchildren. Malik's dog is also named Malik. He also has a son named Malik.
- Terence Blanchard
Terrence Blanchard (b. March 13, 1962, New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American Mainstream jazz musician and composer, though he performs in various jazz mediums. He has been one of the top trumpet players in jazz since the 1980s, and has worked with some of the legends of the genre. He rose to prominence through his association with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1982-1986.
- Walter Boasso
Walter Joseph Boasso (born ca. 1960) is a Democratic state senator from Chalmette, in south Louisiana and a candidate for governor in the October 20, 2007, jungle primary. He represents District 1, which includes St. Bernard Parish and surrounding areas that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
- Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy Johnson is an American comic strip cartoonist who writes "Arlo and Janis". He is an alumnus of Auburn University. As of 2006, despite the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, he still owns a home in Pass Christian, Mississippi. On April 3, 2006, he suffered a mild heart attack.
- Robert Davis
Robert Davis (b. 1941) is a retired elementary school teacher and resident of New Orleans who was beaten by four police officers during his October 9, 2005 arrest, which was filmed by the members of the Associated Press. Although Davis is an African American and the two officers who assaulted (while two others held him down) him are white, Davis maintains that the incident was not racially motivated. Davis, who has been charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest, …
- Pete Fountain
Pete Fountain was born in New Orleans and started playing clarinet heavily influenced by Irving Fazola. Early on he played with the bands of Monk Hazel and Al Hirt. With his long time friend, trumpeter George Girard, Fountain founded The Basin Street Six in 1950. After this band broke up 4 years later Fountain was hired to join the Lawrence Welk band, and became well known for the many solos he took on Welk's national television show, "The Lawrence Welk Show".
- Charmaine Neville
Charmaine Neville (born 31 March,) is a member of a famous New Orleans music family which includes the Neville Brothers. The daughter of Charles Neville, she is currently the leader and lead singer of the Charmaine Neville Band, a jazz/funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ms. Neville was in international news due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the failure of the Federal levees swamped the city of New Orleans with up to 18 feet of water in some locations.
- David Goldstein
David Goldstein is a radio talk show host and blogger in Seattle, Washington. He hosts "The David Goldstein Show" on Saturdays and Sundays on 710 KIRO. Goldstein first gained notoriety in 2003 for Initiative 831, which would have officially proclaimed Washington State political activist Tim Eyman a "Horse's Ass". Goldstein declared that he was attempting to parody the initiative process to highlight its shortcomings and problems.
- Chad Myers
Chad Myers is the top TV weatherman for the cable news network CNN. Chad is best known for losing his temper on-air after being rudely interrupted by a CNN anchorwoman during Hurricane Katrina coverage in 2005.
- Mark Lynas
Mark Lynas (b. 1973) is a British author, journalist and environmental activist focussed on climate change. He is a contributor to New Statesman, Ecologist, Granta and Geographical magazines, and "The Guardian" and "The Observer" newspapers in the UK. He holds a degree in history and politics from the University of Edinburgh.
- Garland Robinette
Garland Robinette (born in Boutte, Louisiana ca. 1943) is a journalist in the New Orleans area. He currently is host of "The Garland Robinette Show" on New Orleans radio station WWL (AM). Robinette was a news anchor and investigative reporter on New Orleans TV station WWL-TV Channel 4 for twenty years (ca. 1970 until 1990.) After leaving the TV station, Robinette served as head of public relations for Freeport McMoran in New Orleans before starting his own firm.
- Rosa Delauro
Rosa DeLauro is a member of the United States House of Representatives. Holding the position since 1991, DeLauro represents Connecticut's 3rd congressional district. She is currently serving her ninth term. Before becoming a member of the House, DeLauro served as Executive Director of EMILY'S List, as well as serving as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd .
- Ron Forman
Ron Forman (born Leon Ronald Forman, c. 1948) is the head of the Audubon Nature Institute and was one of the leading candidates in the New Orleans mayoral election, 2006. Forman worked in the administration of mayor Moon Landrieu in the early 1970s. Forman was named deputy director of the city's Audubon Zoo, a decrepit institution the city was making a major commitment to upgrade. Forman worked as a champion of the Zoo's improvements.
- Thad W. Allen
Admiral Thad William Allen (born January 16, 1949) is the twenty-third Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Allen is most well known for his widely-praised performance directing the federal response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast region from September 2005 to January 2006. Allen served as the Coast Guard's chief of staff from May 2002 until May 2006. As chief of staff, Allen was third in the Coast Guard's command structure, …
- Nicholas Lemann
Nicholas Lemann , now a staff writer for The New Yorker, was born in New Orleans 46 years ago to a lawyer father and a psychologist mother. After graduating from Harvard in 1976, he worked as a reporter and editor for The Washington Monthly and Texas Monthly and as a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly .
- Cynthia Hedge-Morrell
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell (born in 1947) is a teacher, a former school administrator and a Democratic politician from New Orleans. She holds a Bachelor of Administration in Elementary Education from the University of New Orleans and a Master Degree of Science from Loyola University of New Orleans. She has served as Councilmember representing New Orleans District D, since 2005.
- Nic Robertson
Nic Robertson (born Dominic Robertson on 8 June 1962) is a Senior International Correspondent at CNN. He began his career at the network in 1989, starting as a satellite engineer. He first came to public attention when he stayed in Baghdad with Peter Arnett at the start of the Allied invasion of Iraq in 1991. Later that year, he was moved to Chicago, where he became a producer in CNN's Chicago Bureau.