Coupon handout angers some flight attendants

US Airways Group, which sells ads on seat-tray tables and air-sickness bags, has angered flight attendants by agreeing to have them distribute coupons for a chain of ice cream stores.

''Our primary job is to be onboard as safety professionals,'' Mike Flores, president of the Association of Flight Attendants at US Airways, told members on the union's Web site. ''Secondarily, our job is to promote US Airways by offering the finest in-flight service in the country. That does not include hawking other companies' goods and services.''

The giveaway on US Airways planes involves coupons for $1 off purchases at Phoenix-based Cold Stone Creamery, an airline spokeswoman said Friday. More than 250,000 of the cards will be distributed next week on 1,600 flights from Phoenix, Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Carolina.Stun guns

Wrongful death case against Taser dismissed

Taser International, the world's largest maker of stun guns, said a Louisiana federal judge dismissed a wrongful death case against the company involving a man who died after sheriff's deputies used the device on him before shooting him.

Taser was granted a motion for summary judgment by the U.S. District Court in Eastern Louisiana. On Nov. 6, a jury in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles cleared the company and the Los Angeles Police Department of any liability in the death of a 32-year-old man later found to have illegal drugs in his system. It was only the second suit against Taser to go to a jury.

In the Louisiana case, the court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to ''even remotely establish'' that the death of Maurice Gosserand was caused by electric shocks from a Taser, the company said.

Retail

Wal-Mart appliance prices cut to boost holiday sales

Wal-Mart shoppers got another early Christmas present on Friday when the world's largest retailer cut prices on appliances a week after slashing them on electronics and before that, toys.

Wal-Mart Stores - worried that holiday sales could be sluggish - has been aggressively slashing prices in a strategy that many of its rivals seem likely to follow, turning a boon for consumers into what may be a bane for retail profits.

On Friday, Wal-Mart announced discounts ranging from around 7 percent to 17 percent on roughly 50 small home appliances, including GE microwaves and programmable coffee makers. The prices are effective immediately through Christmas, a company spokeswoman said.

Last Friday, Wal-Mart cut prices on almost 100 electronics items, and in October it introduced discounts on more than 100 toys.

Utility apologizes

Water treatment plant

to move off Indian site

Pacific Gas & Electric apologized for desecrating the sacred site of an American Indian tribe when it built a $15 million water treatment plant, and it pledged to remove it as soon as another can be built.

California's biggest utility ''regrets the spiritual consequences to the tribe'' of building the plant at Topock Maze in the Mojave Desert west of the Arizona border, PG&E Chief Executive Thomas King said during a ceremony Thursday.

The apology was required under an agreement with the 1,100-member Fort Mojave tribe, which dropped a lawsuit against the utility.

Topock Maze near Needles is claimed by the tribe as part of its heritage. The pattern of pebble berms and furrows forms a series of lines that tribal ancients are believed to have used either as a place of purification or as a pathway for spirits to the afterlife.

Telecommunications

Qwest executives cash in $43M in stock options

Three Qwest Communications International executives have cashed in more than $43 million in stock options, according to regulatory filings this week.

Chief Executive Dick Notebaert made a profit of $18.4 million and Chief Financial Officer Oren Shaffer had a profit of $18.5 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Chief Legal Officer Rich Baer cashed in $6.4 million worth of options, according to SEC documents filed earlier this week.

Notebaert plans to donate his after-tax proceeds to charities, Qwest spokesman Nicholas Sweers said. Sweers did not identify the charities.

Shaffer and Baer have not revealed any plans for their proceeds.

Denver-based Qwest is the primary phone service provider in 14 Midwestern and Western states.