Wednesday, April 28, 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: A Senate Committee is holding a hearing today to find out if Medicare has been too generous about picking up the cost of power wheelchairs, which can easily run several thousand dollars. From Washington: You may remember the Department of Labor issued new overtime rules last week. Unions and workers' rights advocates criticized them roundly, claiming the new regulations would make many employees ineligible for overtime pay. From Beijing: The old silk road from Europe to Asia is mostly a romantic memory. But this week, in Shanghai, Asian governments signed an agreement to resurrect the ancient roads as a modern day trade route. From Los Angeles: As Spanish-language media have grown in the U.S., so has the potential audience for deceptive ads. The government has been keeping watch, and now it's cracking down. From Washington: Women owned business employ more than 19 million Americans. They are responsible for more than $2.5 trillion in annual sales, and the number of women owned business is growing at twice the rate of privately held firms in the rest of the economy. From Los Angeles: Many economists support outsourcing jobs overseas. They say it's yet another aspect of free trade. Wall Street often likes it because outsourcing can cut costs while boosting productivity, corporate profits and stock prices. So you'd think investors would fall in line and back the idea, too. From London: The troubled oil giant Shell says it is cutting several thousand more jobs. This is not a good sign. Features Education's Toll: It's decision time for many high school seniors: which college. Educational credentials seem to count for more and more these days. A degree from the Ivy League or another top school doesn't necessarily put you in an express lane to fat city, but it sure helps. In this edition of "The Public's Business," commentator Robert Reich says at the very least, you need a bachelors degree just to get on the highway. But not everyone can pay the toll. An Orphan on the Shelf: Let's say you want to be a big player in the consumer products sector. You might think your first step has to be coming up with a new product - a laundry powder that gets out any stain, guaranteed, or a toothpaste that whitens, fights tartar and straightens your teeth at the same time. Not necessarily. Some venture capitalists have found a different way to make a profit. And they don't look any further than what's already sitting on the supermarket shelves. Carl Marziali reports.