EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Police were baffled when an arrest for Tuesday’s armed robbery at Columbus CU prompted a confession by supervisor that she stole more than $300,000 cash from the credit union’s vault since June.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA, which said last week it approved an additional 553 federally chartered credit unions to low-income status and its exemption from the member business loan cap, said this morning it plans to add another 400 state chartered credit unions to the list, providing them with the ability to accept non-member deposits, secondary capital and the ability to tap into NCUA’s low-rate community development loans, as well as exceed the 12.25% of assets limit on commercial loans.

WICHITA, Kan. – A federal judge agreed yesterday to halt pending litigation over the failure of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU to allow two Wall Street banks to appeal his July ruling preserving mortgage-backed securities suits by NCUA, in an effort to resolve whether the statute of limitations can be extended to allow for a government conservator’s claims.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Police arrested a woman they suspect of robbing Columbus CU Tuesday while her three-year-old was outside in the truck she later used as a getaway vehicle.

JACKSON, Mich. – A former branch manager at EECU yesterday was charged with embezzling about $145,000 from the credit union.

BIDDEFORD, Maine – Ocean Communities FCU has selected CU Realty Services to help it expand its mortgage program.

MOLINE, Ill. – State regulators fined DHCU Community CU $10,000 for violating rules on granting an unsecured consumer loan.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Members of Santa Monica City Employees FCU approved the merger of the troubled, one-time $30-million credit union into Southland CU in nearby Los Alamitos.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – A low-interest loan provided by HOPE CU through the CDFI’s New Markets Tax Credits program has helped finance the Orthopedic Institute, a new medical facility treating bone and joint cases here.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Two Romanian men this week pleaded guilty to hacking into point-of-sale terminals at hundreds of Subway stores in the U.S. from Romania to steal credit union and bank credit card data from more than 146,000 accounts, which they used to siphon more than $10 million between 2009 and 2011.

WASHINGTON – A group of Republican state attorneys general has declined to sign cooperation agreements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, part of a Republican revolt against the agency that began with GOP lawmakers in Congress.

AUGUSTA, Me. – The Maine CU League joined several other groups this afternoon in endorsing Angus King, the two-time former governor who is running as an independent for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Olympia Snow.

ARLINGTON, Va. – A study released this morning by NAFCU shows that credit unions have increased their debit interchange revenues since last year’s enactment of the Durbin Amendment’s cap on interchange because of a rise in transaction volume, even though per-transaction fees have declined for many of them.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – In one of the biggest credit union donations ever, Royal CU pledged this morning to contribute $1 million to help fund the Community Arts Center.

CLEVELAND – Cardinal Community CU is opening a branch at Lake Catholic High School.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A man fitting the description of the “Bearded Bandit,” who has hit six area credit unions and banks this year, robbed a Pawtucket CU branch in east Providence on Tuesday.

MEDFORD, N.Y. – Suffolk FCU is offering loan rates as low as 1.22% for cars bought through Enterprise Car Sales.

WATERTOWN, N.Y. – Northern FCU on Tuesday said it is eliminating fees on check-cashing, incoming wire transfers and account balance reconciliations, and cutting other fees on money orders and deposited checks returned unpaid.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Summit CU has converted its debit and ATM processing to Jack Henry & Associates’ JHA Payment Processing Solution.

TEMPE, Ariz. – TruWest CU has been beta testing the 5.2 version of Integrated Media Management’s TotaleAtlas document presentment application, with e-signature capabilities.