Occasionally one hears about how underfunded New Mexico’s public defenders are, but it’s unclear if New Mexico’s system is as bad off as Missouri’s vastly underfunded public defenders. A new report says that state’s criminal justice system is at the “brink of collapse” because of lack of money, the Associated Press reports.

This dire warning comes from a new report that shows “offices throughout the state routinely report the attorneys have twice their recommended maximum workloads.” The study, by the Spangenberg Group and the Center for Justice, Law and Society at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., noted that Missouri ranks 49th out of 50 states in per-capita spending on indigent defense. Public defenders represent those unable to afford their own attorneys. Earlier this year, the AP reports, the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court warned that “vast numbers” of inmates may have to be released from jail because public defenders can’t try their cases soon enough.

Meanwhile in the nation’s capital, U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that he will include a public health care option in legislation that will go to the Senate floor within a few weeks, the New York Times reports.

The paper reports, however, that states that want to can opt out of such a public option:

His (Reid’s) proposal came with an escape hatch: A state could refuse to participate in the public insurance plan by adopting a law to opt out. Even so, the announcement was a turning point in the debate over how much of a role government should play in an overhauled health care system, and it set the stage for a test of Democratic party unity.

A few hundred miles south of Washington, Florida parents are in sticker shock over the steep increases that have recently added to the cost pre-paid college plans, the St. Petersburg Times reports.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, Mark Sanford, the disgraced, hangdog and for-all-practical-purposes batching-it-alone governor, can’t escape his troubles. The first impeachment bill will be introduced today in the House, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The legislation comes months after Sanford admitted to an affair with an Argentinian woman, which brought extra scrutiny to his tenure as governor. Several news reports since then have shown how Sanford used state resources for personal use. The impeachment bill will be referred to the House Judiciary Committee and await action after January. “Before considering impeachment, state legislators have said they want to wait for a report from the state’s ethics commission on the governor’s use of state funds. The commission is focused on his use of state aircraft, private travel expenditures, and campaign funds,” the paper reports.

About 1.5 million New Yorkers left the state from 2000 to 2008, reports the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Roughly a third of those leaving moved to Florida and another third moved to neighboring New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Despite the emigration wave, New York still grew by 2.7 percent from 2000 to 2008.

The paper went on to explain:

The report said the primary reason was an influx of 876,969 immigrants, who made up 22 percent of the state’s population in 2008, compared with 17 percent in 1995.

Still, New York’s population growth rate was slower than most of the nation, ranking it 41 out of 50 states from 2000 to 2008.