Business

On a street corner in downtown Washington, D.C., David Wise is opening a century-old iron gate in front of an old, boarded-up brick building.

Wise is an investigator for the Government Accountability Office, the government's watchdog group. His mission is to figure out why the government owns so many buildings, like this one, that it doesn't use.

Herbalife revealed on Wednesday that the Federal Trade Commission has opened a civil investigation into the practices of the nutrition company, which sells weight-loss shakes, vitamins and other products.

Moments after Herbalife made the announcement, its stock price plunged. At 1:51 p.m., it had lost 12 percent of its value.

Bloomberg explains that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman accused the company of running a pyramid scheme. Bloomberg adds:

Think a machine that can turn water into wine is too good to be true? Well, it turns out, it is.

President Obama's planned move to expand the pool of the nation's employees covered by overtime pay laws was hailed Wednesday by Democrats as key to their midterm election strategy.

And it was just as predictably criticized by conservatives as an overreach by a president who recently characterized income inequality as the "defining challenge of our time."

The Obama administration's push to put income inequality atop the domestic political agenda has another battlefront.

According to The New York Times, the president "this week will seek to force American businesses to pay more overtime to millions of workers, the latest move by his administration to confront corporations that have had soaring profits even as wages have stagnated."

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

In the 1990s, the U.S. government embarked on an ambitious social experiment to try to help people get out of poverty. The Moving to Opportunity Program gave housing vouchers to single mothers so they could raise their kids in areas with better job prospects and better schools. The hope was the families would thrive.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The shale oil boom is having a major impact on cities across the U.S. In Philadelphia, trains bringing crude oil from North Dakota have helped revived refineries there. Plus, other businesses are now eagerly looking for ways to tap into Pennsylvania's own vast supply of natural gas.

Katie Colaneri of member station WHYY reports.

Some of the worst hit brewers have been those making mass-market, low-alcohol beers. An exception: Pabst Blue Ribbon saw a 97 percent increase in consumption from 2008-2012.