New Orleans mayor drops casino plan

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said today he was abandoning his proposal to create a casino district as a way of revitalising the city’s shattered economy, bitterly complaining of resistance from Mississippi politicians.

“We have the most significant challenge of any city in American history and they are dismissing ideas ad nauseam,” Nagin said during the reopening of the landmark Cafe Du Monde coffee stand in the French Quarter.