ROANOKE, Va. – A former employee at Freedom First CU pleaded guilty to embezzling $36,000 by modifying loans held by her family members and taking the excess cash.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Gov. John Lynch yesterday joined employees of Service CU to celebrate the laying of the final beam to complete the steel frame of the credit union’s new, 100,000-square-foot headquarters building.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates continued to plunge to new lows this week, as the benchmark 30-year loans slipped below 4% for the first time in recorded history, to 3.94%.

WASHINGTON – The Senate Banking Committee on a partisan vote yesterday endorsed the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, despite all Republican members of the committee standing by their pledge to vote against the new consumer post.

NEWARK, N.J. – Fannie Mae, which has paid credit unions tens of millions of dollars to compensate them for the massive fraud at U.S Mortgage/CU National Mortgage, finds itself on the other suit of the court dock in a legal dispute with New Jersey’s Proponent FCU, one of the more than two dozen credit unions embroiled in a $140 million fraud.

LIVONIA, Mich. – Co-op Services CU is taking advantage of the outrage over Bank of America’s new $5 debit card fee by offering $105 payments for new checking accounts under its “Shred My Card” promotion.

MACON, Ga. – An alleged gang member has been charged with making terroristic threats after he refused to leave a Robins FCU branch Wednesday and threatened to shoot employees on a return trip.

OGDEN, Utah – America First CU announced this morning the roll-out of a new mobile banking platform from Fiserv, called Mobiliti.

MUSKEGON, Mich. – A retired Muskegon High School assistant principal pleaded guilty to embezzling from Muskegon Teachers CU, where he was office manager.

PHOENIX – First Corporate CU on Wednesday said its president and CEO Peter Pritts resigned, effective immediately.

SCRANTON, Penn. – Members of Tobyhanna FCU brought their postcard flashlight mailing to the branch to decode a prize for a chance to win loan-related discounts, a $10,000 shopping spree, or a 32” flat screen TV as part of the grand opening of the credit union’s new branch and administrative offices.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama One FCU has been approved by NCUA to acquire Birmingham News Employees CU, the latest newspaper credit union to close down.

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Hudson Valley FCU has chosen SWBC as its insurance agency of record.

LOS ANGELES – Schools FCU has signed with TRC Interactive to provide it with online instruction through CreditUnionTrainingOnline for its credit union-wide training needs.

WASHINGTON – CUNA and NAFCU joined a broad coalition of banking groups urging the Federal Reserve to trim a proposal that would require broad disclosures and new liability for providers of international wire transfers, including person-to-person remittances.

MIAMI – Power Financial CU is appealing last month’s ruling by a federal court dismissing its suit against NCUA over a $15 million real estate loan deal gone bad, saying the federal court erred in rejecting the credit union’s claims over field of membership eligibility.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A former assistant branch manager for Case CU was sentenced this morning to 27 months in prison for embezzling $236,000 from member accounts at the credit union.

PHOENIX, N.Y. – Liverpool FCU is taking over Empower FCU’s student-run operations at John Birdlebough High School here.

EUGENE, Ore. – A former assistant manager of SELCO Community CU’s Santa Clara branch has been charged with embezzling more than $146,500 between 2003 and May of this year.

WESTMINSTER, Colo. – Westminster FCU has signed with CRIF Select for an outsourced indirect auto lending solution.