DUNCAN, Okla. – Halliburton Employees’ FCU donated $50,000 to the city for the naming rights to the press box at Sportsmans Park baseball stadium.

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – Community Choice CU said its non-profit Community Choice Foundation will provide local high school students with $100,000 in scholarships this year.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Greylock FCU and its Greylock Insurance Agency CUSO last week pledged $100,000 to construction of a new youth center in nearby Williamstown.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – BrightStar CU said it signed a multi-year contract with Connect Financial Software Solutions for the company’s consumer suite of Internet banking services, Online Financial Management, and other services.

WASHINGTON – Regulators closed two failed banks Friday, the first such closures of the New Year, after 157 failures in 2010.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Marshland FCU announced last week it is closing two branches after costs associated with NCUA’s corporate system resolution and NCUSIF premium helped it plunge into the red last year.

WALL STREET – NCUA is expected to hit the Street this week with another multi-billion dollar offering of its corporate bonds.

SAN DIEGO – The reinterpretation of a few words caused a state appeals court to overturn an insurance claim last month in the 2004 theft of $2 million from Mission FCU ATMs by an employees of the credit union’s cash supplier.

SAN FRANCISCO – In an effort to satisfy thousands of credit unions and banks, Visa on Friday said it will develop a two-tiered system of debit card interchange to help in the implementation of the price controls required under the Dodd-Frank Act.

NORWALK, Conn. – A comment letter submitted by NCUA and the banking regulators has given the Financial Accounting Standards Board second thoughts to a proposed rule on accounting for troubled debt restructuring and could at least delay the implementation date.

YAKIMA, Wash. – An item in the Jan. 6 Credit Union Journal Daily Briefing on the proposed merger between Catholic Credit Union and Yakima Valley Credit Union should have clarified that for the merger to proceed an application will be sent to the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions and, if approved, members of Yakima Valley CU will vote in Spring of 2011.

WASHINGTON – Chip Filson, the well-known owner and founder of Callahan & Associates, is stepping aside from the day-to-day operations at the credit union consultancy and will become chairman to focus on an expanding role as an advocate for credit unions.

SAN FRANCISCO – A former teller at San Mateo CU who stole $40,000 from her elderly aunt and the $33,000 inheritance of a teenager whose mother had died on Wednesday was sentenced to a year in jail.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Allegacy FCU made five winners and their charities of choice $1,000 richer as a result of its Grand Holiday Giveaway debit card sweepstakes.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – First Cheyenne FCU said yesterday it signed a contract for electronic fund transfer services that includes ATM and debit card transaction processing, fraud monitoring, debit card portfolio marketing services and ATM terminal driving with Fifth Third Processing.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Teachers CU has selected TRC Interactive to deliver First Line of Defense ~ Fraud Detection and Loss Prevention Challenge, an online interactive experiential exercise for banks and credit unions that helps keep their staff sharp, focused and alert to the latest scams.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Gesa CU has chosen to implement Fiserv’s Acumen account processing solution with in-house delivery.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Educators FCU has signed with Bluepoint Solutions to implement the company’s ImagePoint products for in-house item capture and processing.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates declined this week, after rising in five of the final six weeks of 2010.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Pentagon FCU is shutting down credit and debit cards that may have been exposed to hackers via malware the credit union discovered on one of its laptops last month.