While there’s talk here in New Mexico about the early release from prison of non-violent offenders, North  Carolina is struggling with the potential release of two dozen prisoners, some of whom were convicted of murder, reports WRAL.com. The issue is whether these violent offenders have served out their sentences under a 1981 North Carolina law. That state’s top court recently said yes.According to WRAL:

Gov. Beverly Perdue is fighting the court order, saying that the convicted killers and rapists would be let out from prison with no provision for any continued supervision after their release. Over time, she said, more than 120 people serving life sentences could qualify for early release under the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The lack of supervision has some North Carolina state lawmakers calling for a special legislative session, during which the Legislature could pass legislation requiring supervision, but at least one defense attorney has said supervision requirements wouldn’t be constitutional.

Meanwhile, Fort Hood was shocked by a mass rampage Thursday. Here’s more about the killer and what the scene in Texas looks like nearly a day after 13 people were killed.

In the area of more bad economic news, the nation’s employment rate topped 10 percent after the federal labor department announced that the economy had shed 190,000 jobs in October, the New York Times reports.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia urged the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to adopt more rigorous national policies so they can meet federal air pollution reduction requirements for the region, according to the Baltimore Sun. The story gets at one of the difficulties in fighting pollution when you’re focused on borders. The paper quotes the director of the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Air and Radiation Management Administration as saying that “though many states on the commission have made strides in cleaning the air, meeting EPA requirements is difficult when a lot of the pollution comes from other states.”

Here’s a direct quote:

“On our worst days, up to 70 percent of our problem comes from an upwind area, which we have no control over,” (director Ted) Aburn said. “So to continue making progress in Maryland, we not only need to do the right thing within our border, we need to get help from the EPA to ensure things take place in” neighboring states.

The states’ request to the EPA asks the federal agency to put harsher restrictions on pollution sources such as industrial boilers, consumer products and asphalt paving. It said the rules are necessary to meet the air quality requirements set forth by the Clean Air Act.

The Iranian regime has responded to mass protests in Tehran this week by cracking down on foreign journalists. Two Canadian, one Japanese and one Danish journalist are thought to have been arrested for “unauthorised reporting” on demonstrations that saw tens of thousands of opposition supporters take to the streets on Wednesday, reports the Times of London.

Meanwhile in Cleveland, the New York Times reports on the aftermath of last week’s gruesome find of 11 decomposing bodies in a house there.

And the melodrama that is S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s life these days continues. Sanford and a top state lawmaker are clashing over what exactly a state ethics commission can release publicly from its investigation into allegations of impropriety by Sanford, reports the Greenville News. At issue is an investigatory report the ethics board is compiling.

According to the News:

In a unanimous vote, the justices ruled that neither Sanford nor House Speaker Bobby Harrell had met the legal test required for a court order withholding or releasing the report. But the justices also found that Sanford totally waived his confidentiality in the case and that the law only prevents the release of the Ethics Commission’s “work product and internal investigative process” in the probe.

South Carolina House leaders have said they want to see the report before deciding whether to impeach Sanford, though a resolution for impeachment is expected to be filed Nov. 17 regardless of whether the report is released by then.

Idaho’s fired transportation director says in a legal complaint that she was forced out after refusing to send unnecessary state work and money to politically connected companies, according to the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review.

In the most political town in the nation, Tucker Carlson confirmed to Politico that he’s hired a former Roll Call writer and RNC staffer as an editor at a Washington-based conservative online news site, The Daily Caller.

In the hard-to-believe category, Sesame Street is celebrating its 40th anniversary next week. Here’s a cool, little profile of that wonderful show that appears in USA Today.