Morning Edition from NPR

In Chicago, a new policy on marijuana possession would mean adults who are caught with a small amount of the illegal drug would receive a fine instead of being arrested.

It's mostly about money and how best to use police resources.

Under current Illinois law, anyone found with less than about 1 ounce of marijuana can be charged with a misdemeanor. If found guilty, they face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Nora Ephron brought us two of the most indelible scenes in contemporary cinema — and they're startlingly different.

There's the infamous "Silkwood shower," from the 1983 movie, with Meryl Streep as a terrified worker at a nuclear power plant, being frantically scrubbed after exposure to radiation.

Then there's the scene in which Meg Ryan drives home a point to Billy Crystal at Katz's Deli, in 1989's When Harry Met Sally. You know — the one that ends with "I'll have what she's having."

Framed in my library is a sketch that LeRoy Neiman dashed off of me on the back of a menu, when he was watching me speak several years ago. LeRoy, who died the other day, was somewhat better known for another sketch, the "nymphette" that has appeared in Playboy since 1955 — but, of course, he's ever famous for simply being our most celebrated sports artist.

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NPR's business news starts with some yammering.

Microsoft is buying the tech startup Yammer for $1.2 billion, thus proving that you can get a 10 figure sales prices for a company called Yammer. It's the company's attempt to get a social network in its portfolio. Now Yammer, if you're not familiar with it, is like Facebook, but for businesses. It allows employees to see what colleagues in the same company are doing - in case you can't learn that at the water cooler.

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And many people want to carve out a slice of the national meat market - that includes people who would like to sell you locally grown meat.

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A company from Kansas City - now, there's a city that knows meat - is developing an application, or app, for smartphones. Nathan Jones wants to help local farmers find distributors.

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In Alabama, a similar but tougher immigration law faces its own legal challenge. That case had been on hold, pending a ruling on the Arizona law. Andrew Yeager reports from member station WBHM.

ANDREW YEAGER, BYLINE: State Senator Scott Beason's phone has been ringing off the hook.

STATE SEN. SCOTT BEASON: Everybody calls and says, you know, have you read the opinion yet? And my answer is always no, because I've been on the phone constantly since. But no, I haven't...

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Chances are that your car's license plate has been photographed recently and downloaded into a data bank. The leading vendor of automated license plate readers says they're now used in nearly every state. Police say they fight crime, but there are privacy concerns about the new technology, as Charlotte Alright reports from Vermont Public Radio.

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