IN BRIEF

Kohl's opening three new stores in valley

Kohl's plans to unleash a significant nationwide expansion today, and Las Vegas is set to be part of the new-store rollout.

The Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based department store owner will hold grand openings of new stores at 1316 W. Sunset Road, 1300 S. Nellis Blvd. and 4265 S. Grand Canyon Drive. The openings will create 450 new jobs and bring the Kohl's store count in Nevada to 11.

Kohl's is scheduled to open 34 other stores around the country today, for more than 5,200 jobs nationwide.

After today, Kohl's will have 1,059 stores in 49 states.

NEW YORK

Walgreen profits fall but top Street outlook

Drugstore operator Walgreen Co. said prescription drug sales rose in the fiscal fourth quarter, pushing the company's results past Wall Street expectations and lifting shares to an annual high.

The Deerfield, Ill., company said its "Rewiring for Growth" savings plan started to pay off during the quarter, and also indicated the effects of the recession may be easing. Walgreen shares climbed to an annual high on the results.

For the quarter ended Aug. 31, Walgreen's profit fell 2 percent, to $436 million, or 44 cents per share, down from profit of $443 million, or 45 cents per share, a year prior. Revenue rose 8 percent to $15.7 billion from $14.6 billion. The latest per-share results include 7 cents in savings from Rewiring for Growth, offset by 3 cents in costs.

Walgreen shares rose $3.16, or 9.24 percent, Tuesday to close at $37.35 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Airline offers new business class flights

British Airways is launching its pricey new business class service between London and New York.

The first flight takes off at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday from London City airport, which was chosen because it is close to the financial district.

Return fares start at 1,999.60 pounds ($3,172), and rise to 5,326.60 pounds for a fully flexible return.

The flight to New York includes a stop at Shannon in western Ireland, because the 32-bed Airbus A318 can't carry enough fuel to cross the Atlantic against the prevailing winds. There is no Shannon stop on the flight to London.

BA is jumping into a tough market. In recent years, attempts by Silverjet, MAXjet and EOS to run business-only services to the U.S. all flopped.

Starbucks rolls out new instant brew

Caffeine addicts nationwide got first tastes of Starbucks Corp.'s newest offering as the coffee giant blanketed the nation with tens of thousands of free samples of its instant coffee called Via.

The beverage, which comes in a long cylindrical plastic sleeve and dissolves in a cup of water, debuted nationwide Tuesday after months of preliminary sales in test markets.

Starbucks workers handed out free samples of Via and mixed drinks for customers from coast to coast as part of the chain's quest to convince customers that instant coffee -- long viewed as inferior by U.S. coffee drinkers -- can taste as good as brewed.

Verdicts from an unscientific sampling of customers ranged from a tentative thumbs-up to serious skepticism.

LOS ANGELES

YouTube says Warner music videos returning

YouTube said Tuesday that music videos from Warner Music Group Corp. will return to the video site in the coming months after a nine-month dispute over splitting ad revenue.

Most of the catalog of videos from artists such as Madonna, Metallica and Green Day will be available for free viewing by the end of the year.

YouTube typically gives content owners the majority of the revenue in ad-sharing deals. Under the new arrangement, Warner will get an even larger share than before because it is also bearing the burden of selling ads, which Warner will contract to an outside agency.

WASHINGTON

Fed proposes rules to shield credit-card users

The Federal Reserve proposed rules Tuesday to better protect Americans from sudden increases in interest rates on credit cards.

The proposal would generally bar rate increases during the first year after an account is opened. It also would ban -- with a few exceptions-- increasing the rate on existing credit card balances. For instance, if a customer is behind more than 60 days on a payment, the rate on the existing balance can be boosted.

The proposal also would require credit card companies to get a customer's consent before charging fees or transactions that exceed their credit limit, and would forbid companies from issuing credit cards to people younger than 21 unless they have the ability to make the required payments or a parent or other co-signer.

Cosmopolitan names information officer

The Cosmopolitan has hired Marshall Andrew as the Strip property's chief information officer effective Tuesday, a resort official confirmed Tuesday.

Andrew was with Station Casinos from 1994 through 2008 before ending his career as vice president and CIO. He has spent the past year as a consultant.

Andrew will report to the $3.9 billion resort's chief executive officer, John Unwin.

Unwin, who resigned as the general manager at Caesars Palace in July, will join the project in October.

Andrew's hiring comes three weeks after Palazzo and Venetian executive Jeff Burge was hired away from the Las Vegas Sands Corp. as chief financial officer.

The Cosmopolitan is scheduled to open September 2010.

OSLO

No matter how you slice it, it's bankruptcy

The original makers of Norway's "Oestehoevel" cheese slicer are bankrupt because their 84-year-old design doesn't appear to cut it in the market anymore.

The triangular cheese slicers are a Norwegian national icon, and were even made with official Olympic rings for the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer.

District Court records say the Lillehammer-based Thor Bjoerklund og Soenner AS filed for bankruptcy Monday after a sharp decline in sales. The company was founded by Thor Bjoerklund soon after he invented the cheese slicer in 1925.

The failure of the 15-employee company made national news in Norway on Tuesday. The slicer has a flat, slitted steel blade that is mounted on a handle.