RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Rachel Martin. After heavy flooding this past August, the mayor of New Orleans ordered that all the drains in the city get a good cleaning. And as you'd imagine, there was all kinds of gunk jamming up the drainage system. But there was something uniquely New Orleans in there too. City workers removed 93,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads - 93,000 pounds. These are, of course, the colorful plastic necklaces everyone throws around during the annual celebration, which is just a couple of weeks away. It's MORNING EDITION.