HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut regulators on Thursday said they have approved the merger of The Greater Norwalk CU, a one-time $31-million credit union that has reported losses the past four years, into North East Alliance FCU, a $75-million credit union based in nearby Nanuet, N.Y

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Greylock FCU and Leominster CU were among 87 Bay State companies to be awarded worker training grants from the state.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Florida Hospital CU has signed with CU*Answers to convert its processing to the company’s CU*BASE core processing system.

RIDLEY PARK, Penn. – Boeing Helicopters CU has signed with Andera to implement the company’s oFlows paperless platform for online account opening.

MOLINE, Ill. – IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union has signed with IQR Consulting to conduct an in-depth analysis of the cooperative’s credit card and checking account portfolios.

WASHINGTON – Long-term mortgage rates started the New Year in the same holding pattern they have had for months, remaining near all-time lows, according to Freddie Mac.

DENVER – Public Service CU, which expanded into two counties last year, has applied to Colorado regulators to serve almost 1 million people in the state’s El Paso and Douglas counties.

NEW YORK – NCUA has joined a variety of creditors in the huge Residential Capital LLC bankruptcy seeking a mediator to review its claims of $300 million in recompense for the failures of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp, among the credit union agency’s growing claims over the collapse of the corporate system.

CINCINNATI – A teller at CINCO Family Financial Center CU was charged in a civil suit with stealing $620,000 from the credit union’s vault and cash dispensers at its Clifton branch by inserting $1 bills within the bricks of $50s and $100s to replace the $50 and $100 bills that she stole.

The former president and sole employee at Women’s Southwest FCU, a tiny feminist credit union shuttered by NCUA in October, pled guilty yesterday to stealing $3.4 million from the credit union over 11 years.

NCR Corp. announced this morning it has acquired uGenius, the pioneer in video teller machines being used in as many as a dozen credit unions.

Tucson Old Pueblo CU said this afternoon it hired Vern Babilon, a long-time credit union executive and head of his own credit union recruiting firm, GVBabilon Associates, as president and CEO of the $135 million credit union.

ATLANTA – Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Children’s Miracle Network have recognized Delta Community CU for the credit union’s ongoing support, which includes $1.6 million in contributions, by naming Egleston Hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab for the credit union and its outgoing CEO Rick Foley.

ORLANDO, Fla. – NCUA has barred a former collections manager at McCoy FCU from the credit union industry for her conviction on charges of embezzling $167,000 of vehicle insurance checks paid to the credit union.

MIDDLETOWN, Penn. – MY CU Services, a CUSO for Mid-Atlantic Corporate FCU, has launched a new program aimed at lowering workplace supply costs for credit unions by utilizing a group-buying strategy.

DENTON, Texas – DATCU CU, which recorded its best year ever, shared record earnings with its members by paying $974,000 in special dividends Jan. 1.

TEXAS CITY, Texas – AMOCO FCU will celebrate another strong year by paying its members $1 million in bonus dividends and loan interest refunds, its 17th straight member bonus.

ANTIGO, Wis. – CoVantage CU announced $1.5 million in patronage dividends were paid to the credit union’s borrowing and saving members.

WOODBRIDGE, Va. – Belvoir FCU has implemented a new technology called DigitalPersona, a biometrics fingerprint authentication system, for its employees.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said it approved more than two dozen additional credit unions for low-income status in the final weeks of the year, making 811 credit unions qualified in 2012 for the designation, which exempts credit unions from the member business loan cap and allows them to accept non-member deposits and to raise supplementary capital.