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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.

As NPR's Tom Goldman reports, 29-year-old Michael Bennett of Chicago is given a good chance to win a gold medal in the heavyweight division of the Olympics, even though he only took up boxing six years ago. Even more surprising than his late start is how he honed his skills: Bennett learned to box from fellow inmates when he was in prison. www.bennettboxing.com

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 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.

NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr wonders if all the time spent on speculation about presidential running mates is time well spent.

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

Host Bob Edwards talks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about the possibility that Texas Governor George W. Bush will choose former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney as his running mate. Bush is expected to make the announcement today.

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.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on a very conservative appeals court that made a series of important and controversial decisions that made it to the Supreme Court this past term. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was upheld by the Supreme Court on its ruling that a key part of the Violence Against Women Act was unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court rejected the 4th Circuit's decision that the Miranda warnings to a criminal suspect were not necessary if a court were confident the defendant's confession was given voluntarily.

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.