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Scott Horsley of member station KPBS reports that San Diego is trying a new campaign to encourage more courteous use of cell phones. Cell phone maker Nokia and the San Diego city government are teaming up to post signs asking cell phone users to turn off their ringers, or their phones, in public places such as churches, libraries and movie theaters.

NPR's Steve Inskeep has a report on the running speculation over who will be tapped to run for Vice President on the Republican ticket. George W. Bush spent today on his ranch, where he said nothing about who will be his runningmate. Bush aides also had no comment, even about when an announcement might be made. But former Defense Secretary Richard Cheney, who headed up Bush's vice presidential search committee, has told colleagues he is the leading contender for the job and is doing nothing to tamp down the swell of news reports that he is Bush's choice.

Robert talks with Suzanne Rodgers, Northwest Editor of the Belfast Telegraph in Northern Ireland, about the prisoners who had been released under the Good Friday peace agreement. Some of the former prisoners are now working as taxi drivers and club bouncers, while others have gotten jobs doing "community work."

Government figures released today show that nearly one million Medicare recipients now enrolled in HMOs will have to find another source of care next year. As NPR's Julie Rovner reports, HMOs are abandoning Medicare in record numbers, saying the program doesn't pay enough.

Playwright and Commentator Thom Jones talks about basketball and "Yo Mama" jokes, in a piece adapted from his play, "Birth of the Boom."

Karen Michel reports on the Alice Neel retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Painter of New York's famous and not-so-famous, Neel's uncompromising adherence to figurative painting at the height of abstract expressionism left her outside the city's art scene for much of her life. The Whitney exhibit is the first major retrospective of Alice Neel's artwork since her death in 1984.

NPR's Peter Kenyon profiles possible Republican vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney. While critics point to his oil-company connections and previous health problems, Republicans say that Cheney is an established party man with foreign policy experience in Congress and in the executive branch.

Linda talks to Jacob Weisberg, SLATE magazine's chief political correspondent, about the latest round of political ads for the presidential campaigns.

NPR'S Jim Zarroli reports that Deutsche Telekom and Voicestream Wireless made it official today. The German telecom giant will acquire the Bellvue, Washington company in a stock and cash deal valued at more than 50-billion-dollars. The deal, if approved, would create a wireless phone service capable of operating in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The merger may face stiff opposition in Washington, though. Some lawmakers are concerned that the German government holds a majority stake in Deutsche Telekom.

Kathy Witkowsky reports on a controversial plan to re-introduce grizzly bears into the Bitterroot mountains of Montana and Idaho. Opponents of the plan fear that the presence of the bears will endanger human lives. Supporters argue that grizzly attacks on humans are extremely rare and that any problem bears will be removed or killed.