LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Gwinnett FCU, a one-time teachers credit union, last week said it is celebrating its 50th anniversary by committing $50,000 to the Gwinnett Tech Foundation to fund student scholarships over the next 10 years.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A former financial operations officer for Catholic and Communities CU last week was convicted of embezzling more than $38,000 from accounts of her relatives.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Spirit of Alaska FCU opened its newest branch along the Johansen Expressway.

ONTARIO, Calif. – Financial Service Centers Cooperative said Friday it paid its owners a patronage dividend of $1 million, $200,000 of it in cash and the remainder as a written notice of allocation.

SAN FRANCISCO – Two healthy San Francisco credit unions have applied to state regulators to acquire ailing 1st Choice FCU and Pacifica-Coastside CU.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Affinity Plus FCU is now offering a new savings account that automatically rounds up to the nearest dollar every time members make a purchase or ATM transaction with their debit cards and transfers the difference into a savings account.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU, the nation’s biggest credit union by far, is looking for new ports to conquer.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is expected to vote a final rule on debit fees a week from today, now that a credit union-backed proposal to delay the rules has been shot down in Congress.

LOS ANGELES – Law enforcement agents believe hundreds of thousands of dollars being withdrawn from ATMs in California are related to the data breach announced recently by Michaels Stores.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – NCUA this afternoon took over BCT FCU and will manage the $52 million credit union under conservatorship while it works out the credit union’s financial troubles.

PHILADELPHIA – A federal appeals court yesterday dismissed a suit by Diebold Inc. requesting its insurer cover $6 million in losses from the theft by ATM supplier Tri-States Armored Services of some $50 million of cash it was supposed to be using to replenish ATMs for credit unions and banks.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Credit Union Journal is now accepting entries for its 2011 Best Practices Awards.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Andera Inc., a provider of online consumer acquisition solutions for retail financial institutions, has launched FortiFI, its hosted software solution that it says flags suspicious consumer data patterns in real time to stop online account opening fraud before it is too late.

LAUREL, Miss. – Central Sunbelt FCU has hired W. Christopher Hammond, the head of $125 million 1st Ed CU in Chambersburg, Penn., as president and CEO of the $165 million credit union.

GARDENA, Calif. – Northrup Grumman FCU has selected Connect Financial Software Solutions to provide it with its consumer suite of Internet Banking and customization services.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Global CU has deployed Financial Management Solutions Inc.’s Teller Management System at its 13 branches.

BREA, Calif. – Credit Union of Southern California has chosen Auto Expert, a CUSO owned by nearby Altura CU, to provide its members with online car buying services.

JACKSON, Mich. – American 1 FCU has agreed to acquire Premier Financial CU, a one-time $90 million credit union in nearby Clinton Township.

NEW BERLIN, Wis. – Landmark CU said one lucky member won the $25,000 grand prize in the “This Way to 25K” TurboTax for Online Banking sweepstakes.

SAGINAW, Mich. – Employees of Wildfire CU were randomly handing out cash at grocery stores, car washes and other places throughout Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties last weekend as part of the credit union’s new Pay it Forward campaign.