The RaceWire Beat – 12.11.06 Katrina Begets a Baby Boom by Immigrants In the latest twist to the demographic transformation of New Orleans since it was swamped by Hurricane Katrina last year, hundreds of babies are being born to Latino immigrant workers, both legal and illegal, who flocked to the city to toil on its reconstruction. Prisons Push California to Seek New Approach By nearly every measure, the California prison system is the most troubled in the nation. Overcrowding, inmate violence, recidivism, parole absconders and the prison medical system are among its many festering problems. Locking Up the Huddled Masses Homeland security authorities are increasingly locking up thousands of immigrants. It’s good for the private detention center business, but hell on detainees and their families. Fight To Return Rages On In New Orleans Traveling from different parts of the country members of the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF), residents of New Orleans and community activists, gathered here at the State Capitol to demand that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco overhaul the Road Home program and create a more democratically elected body than the Louisiana Recovery Authority to oversee the recovery process. New Line on Credit Popularized in the developing world, microloans help finance budding businesses. The RaceWire Beat is a digest of the day’s top news stories on race and politics collected by the staff at ColorLines magazine.