Kathleen Babineaux Blanco served from January 2004 to January 2008 as the 54th governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana. A Democrat, she is the first woman to have been elected as governor of Louisiana. When first elected, Blanco outlined her top priorities as providing affordable healthcare, improving the education system in the state, and helping to create a strong and vibrant economy through aggressive economic development initiatives. Her work as governor changed dramatically when, in 2005, coastal Louisiana was severely damaged by two hurricanes that stuck less than a month apart. In August, Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans region, an urban area of 1.4 million people. Then, in September, Hurricane Rita struck the southwestern coast, displacing another 300,000 people. More than 200,000 housing units were destroyed, 81,000 businesses closed, entire electrical and telecommunication systems were torn apart, and one million people were made homeless as a result of severe flooding caused by levee failures and storm surges. 

December 15th, 1942 in New Iberia  /  Died:   Aug 18th, 2019 - cancer