WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Texoma Community CU is rolling out a new free checking account with high interest and free ATM use through a program with BancVue.

FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. – Fast-growing Teachers FCU has acquired a 20,400 square-foot office building in nearby Hauppauge, where it plans to build a new headquarters.

WARREN, Ohio – Seven Seventeen CU said it has agreed to lend almost $2.6 million to a $5.15 million Hotel Inn Express project at the Interstate 80 exchange in nearby Liberty.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Numerica CU said Friday it has agreed to merge into it School Employees CU, an ailing $12 million Richland credit union.

NEWARK, N.J. – Federal prosecutors are negotiating guilty pleas with at least three more executives of U.S. Mortgage/CU National Mortgage in the fraudulent sale of $140 million of credit union mortgages to Fannie Mae, sources in the case said Friday.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Credit Union Journal is now accepting nominations for its 2010 Best Practices Awards.

LAS VEGAS – Troubled Silver State Schools CU, one of several Las Vegas credit unions reporting big losses last year, cut its red ink for the first quarter to $8.5 million, from almost $51 million for 2009.

WASHINGTON – Regulators closed banks in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan on Friday, making a total of 72 failures so far this year, exceeding the pace of last year when 140 banks went down.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan First CU, a thriving credit union based in nearby Lathrup Village, filed a trademark infringement suit last week against First Michigan Bancorp., just days after the single-office, Troy-based bank entered the credit union’s markets with an acquisition of failed Port Huron-based Citizens First Bank from the FDIC.

WASHINGTON – CUNA President Dan Mica is expected to make one final pitch for Congress to increase the limit on member business loans when he testifies Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee on ways to expand small business lending.

WASHINGTON – The final debate on the landmark bank bill this week will leave credit unions having to oppose the bill even as Senate leaders are poised to add the long-sought increase in the member business loan cap.

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LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Gwinnett FCU awarded 29 career advancement and student scholarships worth a total of $64,000.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Brooklyn Park man pleaded guilty to robbing a Minnesota Building Trades FCU branch of more than $21,000 in October while armed with gun that he pulled from a kitty-litter bucket.

WOBURN, Mass. – EasCorp FCU yesterday announced its Vertifi Software CUSO signed seven additional credit unions for its recently introduced DeposZip remote deposit capture system.

AUSTIN, Texas – Amplify FCU has acquired a 58,000-square-foot office building in the northwest part of town, where it plans to relocate its operational headquarters.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA has implemented a new financial management system from Apptis, Inc., that transformed the core financial management processes and systems of the agency.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates this week declined again to their lowest level of the year, as rates fell on U.S. Treasuries.

FORT WORTH, Texas – American Airlines FCU has renewed its contract with TuVox for on-demand, speech and IVR applications, and will add the company’s service providing instant, relevant product recommendations to members.

NEW YORK – United Nations FCU, with members all over the world, yesterday said it has signed with Gemalto to provide its members with the first U.S.-issued, globally compliant microprocessor payment card.