DURHAM, N.C. – Self-Help CU said yesterday it signed a multi-year agreement with CRI Solutions to offer the company’s insurance products to its members.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Credit Union Journal still is accepting nominations for its 2010 Best Practices Awards, but the deadline to do so is today.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Hurricane Alex, the first named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, was projected to make landfall Wednesday night in northeastern Mexico, south of this city near the mouth of the Rio Grande River.

WASHINGTON – In an initiative that has had more lives than a Cheshire Cat, the proposal to increase the member business loan ceiling for credit unions was revived again yesterday with a proposal to add the measure to a jobs bill pending before the Senate.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Veteran credit union executive P. Kay Woods, brought in by NCUA last Friday to manage troubled Arrowhead Central CU under conservatorship, has brought with her several managers with long careers at large credit unions to help turn around the one-time $1.1 billion credit union.

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats, pressured by this week’s death of long-time leader Robert Byrd of West Virginia, will delay a final vote on the bank reform bill until after next week’s July 4th recess while they struggle to find enough Republican votes to pass the bill.

KEY WEST, Fla. – NCUA said today that ailing Keys FCU, the one-time $210 million credit union that has been operating under federal conservatorship since last September, is back on the market after a proposed deal to merge it into Miami’s Dade County FCU fell apart.

WASHINGTON – In an eleventh-hour endorsement delivered just as members of the House are poised to vote final passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, NCUA threw its weight behind the bank reform bill, now opposed overwhelmingly by the credit union lobby.

DETROIT – Opening statements are set for July 12 in a rare federal death penalty case after attorneys and a judge agreed on a potential jury pool Monday in the 2001 shooting of an armored security guard at a Dearborn FCU ATM.

HOUSTON – PrimeWay FCU announced yesterday the hiring of Annette Zimmerman, a senior vice president at Mountain America CU, as president and CEO of the $400 million credit union.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service CU has signed with Member Business Solutions, LLC, to provide it with member business loan including loan documentation, underwriting and servicing, as well as participation brokerage.

WARMINISTER, Penn. – Freedom CU has launched a YouTube channel as part of an overall social networking initiative aimed at educating and bringing value to its members.

NEW YORK – Actors FCU has signed with Allpoint Network, a unit of Cardtronics, to provide branded surcharge-free access to 215 New York ATM locations, including 200 McDonald’s restaurants throughout the New York City metro area.

CHATSWORTH, Calif. – Autoland, a car buying service owned by three local credit unions, has signed with Autobytel to offer the company’s new AutoPilot service for consumers who receive financing from their local credit union or bank.

YUMA, Ariz. – AEA FCU was awarded a $750,000 grant yesterday by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, part of $32.5 million of affordable housing assistance handed out by the FHLB.

JOLIET, Ill. – Employees At NuMark CU were urged to invest in their local community by spending cash at the locally-owned business of their choice.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Credit Union Journal still is accepting nominations for its 2010 Best Practices Awards, but the deadline to do so is looming.

HESPERIA, Calif. – Vons CU plans to open a new branch inside a Vons supermarket here, just as local Arrowhead Central CU is selling its branch to out-of-state credit union giant Alaska USA FCU.

JACKSON, Mich. – CP FCU plans to give away a four-bedroom house next month as part of its "Wish Upon a Home" promotion.

SALT LAKE CITY – A local consumer advocacy camped out on the steps of America First CU and assailed it and seven other Utah credit unions as predatory lenders for payday alternatives they offer their members.