MINNEAPOLIS – As many as 100 individuals are expected to be charged in a broad identity theft ring that drained more than $2 million from credit unions and banks in 14 states.

CHICAGO – Police are searching for three men who made a big withdrawal from the Beverly branch of Chicago Post Office Employee CU – the credit union’s ATM, which they hauled away.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Empower FCU said it sold its branch in nearby Big Flats, N.Y., to Elmira Savings Bank.

NEWARK, Del. – Community Powered FCU will break ground on a new headquarters and retail branch project later this month on Route 40 in Bear.

FREMONT, Mich. – Gerber FCU paid members a 2.43% bonus dividend at the end of December, a total of $180,000.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Community Financial CU this week will be paying members a bonus dividend for the fourth year in a row, this time of $306,000.

SOUTH COLUMBIA, S.C. – SAFE FCU paid its members a $2 million bonus dividend and loan rebate Dec. 31.

EUGENE, Ore. – A former supervisor and assistant branch manager at SELCO Community CU on Wednesday was sentenced to a year of home detention for stealing $146,000 over eight years that she used to pay for a gambling addiction.

FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission is planning to open a community development credit union that would serve eight counties, from Bakersfield to Sacramento.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Sioux Empire FCU’s CU Mortgage Direct has signed with CU*Answers to implement the company’s CU*BASE SE, a new core processing suite targeted at vendors and CUSOs that service specialized member products for credit unions across multiple core processing platforms.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service CU unveiled a new ATM surcharge and Visa International Service Assessment fee refund program, essentially making all cash withdrawals at the credit union’s ATMs worldwide free.

DETROIT – A sixth participant, the alleged ringleader, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to murder charges in the December 2001 armed robbery and shooting of a cash carrier replenishing an ATM outside of Dearborn FCU, now DFCU Financial.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – University of Michigan CU announced this afternoon it hired Detroit native Tiffany Ford, a former executive at Michigan State University FCU, as president and CEO of the $450 million credit union.

LOS ANGELES – NCUA told a federal court yesterday that former officers of WesCorp FCU may not raise the regulators’ own oversight and numerous approvals of risky and exotic investments in their defense of a multi-billion dollar negligence suit brought by the credit union agency.

WASHINGTON – NCUA said the $12 billion the Congressional Budget Office reported Monday as representing federal budget outlays related to the corporate credit union resolution are unrelated to the sale of $12 billion of NCUA Guaranteed Notes in 2011.

YORBA LINDA, Calif. – Police are searching for a man suspected in a series of bank robberies in Orange County, the latest at an Orange County CU branch here last Friday.

BETTENDORF, Iowa – Ascentra CU was awarded $10,000 through two grants to help advance its financial education efforts in 2012.

SAYRE, N.Y. – Guthrie FCU announced the hiring of John Savelli, former chief financial officer at GHS FCU in Binghamton, as president and CEO of the $60-million credit union.

CINCINNATI – Emery FCU said it closed its downtown branch after First Financial Bancorp, the building’s owner, declined to renew its lease.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Mazuma CU paid its members a year-end bonus dividend of $930,000.