SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame FCU plans to close its downtown Mishawaka branch and open a new location in the Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Western Vista FCU has signed with TNB Card Services process transactions for its $3 million card portfolio.

WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department has approved three more lenders, including two credit unions, to its approved servicer list for its Home Affordable Modification Program.

MADISON, Wis. – CUNA Mutual Group said yesterday it is launching a new Employment Practices Liability coverage and risk management offering.

DES MOINES – Affinity CU has rolled out prepaid reloadable card geared especially to serve the underserved Hispanic market.

TAMPA, Fla. – Credit unions in this hard-hit center of Florida’s Gulf Coast are slashing dividend rates, shuttering branches and raising loan rates conserve capital and to stay afloat in one of the worst economies in the country.

WASHINGTON-The Federal Reserve announced it is shutting down three more check processing operations next month, furthering its plans to move all processing to a single center and making all checks considered "local" by the end of next year.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA approved another 29 mergers, half of them enabling a credit union over $600 million to acquire a smaller credit union.

Hearings

Five new members have joined advisory councils at Raleigh, N.C.-based Local Government FCU. Central Coast: Candice Conner, Eastern Carolina: Mary Jo Nimmo, Foothills: Heather Black, North Triangle: Elgin Lane, Wake: Phyllis Jackson.

PITTSBURGH-A well-known local investment broker was arrested and charged with a long-running Ponzi scheme that sold three local credit unions $2.1 million in fictitious CDs.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Navy FCU has opened a branch here to serve personnel at Fort Belvoir. The new branch is the tenth opened by the $40-billion NFCU in 2009 and its 180th overall. It plans to open another 10 facilities in 2010.

NEW LONDON, Conn.-A state judge who handed out a 30-month prison sentence for the 2006 robbery at Charter Oak FCU faced the woman who carried out that heist in court again last week - this time for allegedly robbing six banks in six days last month through Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, while on parole for the earlier crime. "If memory serves me correctly I sentenced you in that case," Judge Susan Handy remarked.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Technology CU awarded $1,000 to the East Side High School Educational Foundation after the school raised a matching amount as part of TCU's "Save 4 Your School Savings Challenge." The objective of the savings program was to rally parents, students and teachers to contribute money to a savings account, with proceeds earmarked to go toward their school, or to a particular educational program that may be in jeopardy.

LAS VEGAS — With capital on the meeting's agenda here during the recent Directors' Convention, Credit Union Journal asked attendees how their own CU's capital is surviving the current economy?

LAKE JACKSON, Texas — After getting its hand slapped for an earlier ad campaign, Texas Dow Employees CU here is back with another message about banks and credit unions that demonstrates the lesson learned.

MILWAUKEE — New legal battles emerged last week among corporate credit unions, with troubled U.S. Central FCU one of the primary targets.

BRIDGETON, Mo. — Vantage CU is believed to be the first financial institution to create an online banking app for Twitter.

The following are members of Credit Union Journal's Technology Panel.

DuTrac Redesigns Website