FENTON, Mo. – Alliance CU has raised $20,000 in matching funds for Homes for Our Troops, will go towards building a specially-adapted home for severely injured veterans.

TULSA, Okla. – Energy One FCU celebrated the opening of its newest branch — an in-company location at the OXY La Porte VCM Plant in La Porte, Texas.

PORTLAND, Ore. – OnPoint Community CU, the state’s largest credit union, plans to open new branches in Deschutes County after state regulators approved its bid to expand its field of membership to serve there.

UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas – Randolph-Brooks FCU will roll out a deposit-by-cell phone service this January.

WASHINGTON – Regulators on Friday shut banks in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and California, bringing the number of bank failures this year to 120 amid the struggling economy and a cascade of defaults on loans.

DETROIT – The Oakland County (Detroit) Board of Commissioners voted to approve the use of federally-insured credit unions as another investment option for collected tax dollars.

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin consumers looking to maximize their tax deductions should be aware that a credit union CD option has been added to the state-sponsored EdVest 529 college savings plan, which offers up to $3,000 in state tax deductions per child per year for individual contributors regardless of income level.

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. –The lobby of 66 FCU is one of more than a dozen local businesses where the buffalo roam, so to speak—life-sized acrylic statutes purchased to benefit Mary Martha Outreach, which feeds and clothes the poor.

DETROIT – Detroit Edison CU announced today it has agreed to combine with NuUnion CU to create the state’s fourth-largest credit union with almost $1.5 billion in assets.

SAN ANGELO, Texas – One of three men suspected of stealing a fiberglass sheep from behind 1st Community FCU in July was indicted on theft charges this week.

MT. LAUREL, N.J. – PHH Corp., which operates the largest mortgage bank for credit unions, reported a loss yesterday of $52 million for its third quarter, despite strong production from its mortgage unit.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – Fiserv has announced plans to roll out a person-to-person payments service, which will allow consumers to send money to one another using their existing online relationship.

FAIRFAX, Va. – Apple FCU and The Salvation Army will collect new and gently-worn coats for both adults and children of all ages at the credit union’s local branch.

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Pen Air FCU contributed $20,500 to the American Cancer Society in the month of October.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Knoxville TVA Employees CU has purchased a former BB&T branch in Bearden for $687,000.

McLEAN, Va. – Long-term mortgage rates declined slightly this week, with the benchmark 30-year rate dipping below 5% again, according to Freddie Mac.

WASHINGTON – CUNA offered guidance on Unrelated Business Income Taxes to state chartered credit unions yesterday, saying the recent court ruling in the Community First CU case represents substantial authority to exempt all income earned from credit life and disability insurance and GAP coverage from UBIT.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA officials told representatives from the corporate credit unions yesterday they have not definitively ruled out the possibility they could recapture losses on their U.S. Central FCU capital they have depleted – if losses on the U.S. Central portfolio turn out to be less than currently projected.

SAN DIEGO – North Island Financial CU, struggling with the region’s economic troubles, said yesterday it has hired John Tippets, the well-respected former president of American Airlines Employees FCU, as its new president and CEO.

LAS VEGAS – The chief executive at American Share Insurance sought to calm growing concerns about his private deposit insurer amid the growing financial problems at the state’s credit unions, especially last month’s failure of Cumorah CU, the privately insured credit union for the Mormon Church.