AUGUSTA, Kan. – White Eagle CU said it has donated a total of $10,000 to three local non-profits.

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – Texas Dow Employees CU said it plans to open a new branch in nearby Pearland in May, the $1.5 billion credit union’s 21st service center.

MIAMI – A new branch of South Florida Educational FCU is among the first building projects that are part of the Franjo Triangle development designed to create an improved downtown area in the Village of Palmetto Bay.

HONOLULU – Hickam FCU said yesterday it has signed with Open Solutions Inc.’s Imaged Payment Technologies Group’s outsourced services to integrate with its existing core platform, Open Solutions’ DNA.

HONOLULU – Hawaii Central CU has hired Drake Tanabe as president of the $130 million credit union.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates held below the 5% mark for the third straight week, even as the Federal Reserve prepares to end a program that has kept rates at or near record lows.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Success may be too much for some large credit unions, who are looking at drawing in the reins a bit because of the negative affects it is having on their regulatory capital.

RACINE, Wis. – Educators said it will end a long fight with the state’s auto dealers and sell a used car lot it operates.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Fast-growing Alaska USA FCU, which entered the California market with last year’s acquisition of two failed credit unions near here, has finalized an agreement with Arrowhead Central CU to acquire five of its branches, four in the High Desert and one in Big Bear region.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With losses growing among credit unions, the NCUA Board last week proposed reining in its popular regulatory flexibility program, known as Reg-Flex, which eases restrictions on healthy, well-run credit unions.

SAN FRANCISCO – In a move that could presage a similar effort by corporate credit unions, the FHLB San Francisco filed suits this week against nine Wall Street firms alleging they misled it about the credit quality and risks of loans behind $19.1 billion in private-label residential mortgage-backed securities.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Three men were charged with stealing more than $500,000 from Pentagon FCU by submitting fraudulent automobile and personal loans in the name of third parties, some whom were deceased at the time of the application.

CHANTILLY, Va. – A 21-year-old woman and her alleged getaway car driver were arrested after Tuesday’s robbery at an Apple FCU branch in this northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C.

WARWICK, R.I. – Wave FCU is sponsoring its Home Buyer Expo this Saturday, at the credit union's corporate headquarters.

LOCKPORT, N.Y. – Fast-growing Cornerstone Community FCU is rolling out a new logo, part of a marketing campaign to better promote its four Niagara County branches.

WOODLAND, Calif. – Yolo FCU yesterday said it bought property in downtown Davis, Calif., where it plans to build a new full-service branch.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service CU said is opening another Wal-Mart branch, this one in Hudson, one of seven in-store Wal-Mart service centers.

CHAMBERSBURG, Penn. – Patriot FCU has opened a new, larger branch in nearby Hagerstown, representing the credit union’s growing expansion into northern Maryland.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz on Wednesday announced the hiring of Christopher Colford, a former journalist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and long-time Washington hand, as a speech writer and senior advisor for communications.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Northwest Area Foundation has awarded the Iowa CU Foundation $165,000 to expand its Credit Union Family Partnership Individual Development Accounts program.