Thursday, March 11, 2004 The Marketplace Morning Report with Kai Ryssdal and Tess Vigeland is a series of seven 9-minute business news modules airing weekdays. This timely report delivers a global business newscast and a hard-hitting feature report. Visit the archive to browse previous stories. Note: Each of the broadcasts contains some of the newscast items below and one of the features. Since only a few radio markets get all seven broadcasts, we've made them available below.

Broadcasts Listen: 2:50 | 3:50 | 4:50 | 5:50 | 6:50 | 7:50 | 8:50 (times are a.m., Pacific Standard Time)

Newscast Stories From Los Angeles: Soaring gas prices are either the result of greedy oil companies or supply and demand. With gas prices about to hit record highs, the blame game has begun. Matthew Algeo reports. From New York: Major ISPs have filed their first lawsuit invoking the "can spam" act, which prohibits unsolicited e-mails. Judy Martin examines the potential impact of the suit. From Washington, DC: Major League Baseball faces scrutiny over steroid use and drug testing. Hillary Wicai reports on this workplace issue in a non-traditional workplace. From the Health Desk: A study followed elderly heart attack patients and showed that when doctors stuck to medical guidelines, there were less patient fatalities. Helen Palmer explains. From Los Angeles: Today, a group of gay and lesbian Republicans attacked President Bush over the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment with an ad campaign. Jeff Tyler has more. From New York: Bob Moon reports that investors have become emboldened to demand a more representative democracy in America's boardrooms. From Beijing: Bad loans are weighing down China's state-owned banks, a problem China wants to fix before opening its banking sector to foreign competition. Jocelyn Ford explains. From London: British lawmakers have attacked the UK insurance industry for selling millions of risky mortgages that were marketed to British consumers. Stephen Beard explains. From Washington, DC: Another sign that higher prices at the pump could be in your future: Hillary Wicai reports that a major forecast of world oil demand is being revised. Features How airlines are attracting customer attention With so many new low-fare airlines out there, it can be hard to tell them apart. Lisa Napoli has an example of how some carriers are trying to cut through the clutter and attract customer attention.

It's harder for NFL to attract top-dollar for broadcast rights The money for NFL television rights isn’t what it used to be. TV viewers for the games are down. Host Tess Vigeland discusses some of the reasons why with sports commentator Andrew Zimbalist.

Recent corporate cheating not just isolated examples Martha Stewart is just one of several corporate execs who have been accused of cheating in recent months. David Callahan, author of the book "The Cheating Culture," isn’t surprised. He tells host Cheryl Glaser he thinks it’s all a symptom of a much bigger problem. Web resource: Callahan's book "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead" is available at the Public Radio BookSource. Your purchase helps support Marketplace.