PHOENIX – Employees at Desert Schools FCU raised $280,489 for 2010 in support of local United Way charities, nearly tying last year's high of $283,518.

FITCHBURG, Mass. – Workers’ CU is giving its branch in nearby Townsend a green makeover that will include a geothermal heating and cooling system.

BARRE, Vt. – Vermont State Employees CU contributed $40,000 to the Vermont Foodbank, reaffirming its 16-year commitment to the local charity.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Department of Financial Institutions warned credit unions last week they may want to save original copies of loan documents and transactions, just in case they need to produce the paper copy in the event of litigation.

MILWAUKEE – In a move that could help strengthen a handful of corporate credit unions, Corporate Central CU filed suit Friday against U.S. Central FCU claiming the troubled central bank for credit unions owes it more than $6 million and may owe corporates as much as $100 million in so-called excess investments it routinely returned to members until its financial problems accelerated last December.

WASHINGTON – Credit unions, under fire from a number of directions, were dodging a new bill yesterday that would require them to get members express approval–opt-in–for overdraft protection, and would set new limits on overdraft charges.

WASHINGTON – As legislation advances to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency some lawmakers are questioning whether the exemption from the new agency proposed for most credit unions amounts to an exemption, after all.

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. – First Citizens’ FCU is building on last year’s Hero Program for soldiers with a new program that will offer special rates and services to public servants.

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 yesterday–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.

FERNDALE, Mich. – Credit Union ONE (@CUO_OU) hosted a Scavenger Hunt for Oakland University students and tweeted clues from its Twitter page that led students to three designated locations around campus.

WASHINGTON – Last week’s debate over a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, coming on the heels of a variety of efforts to rein in overdraft protection programs, abusive credit card practices and the growth in interchange fees shows just how credit unions have been inadvertently drawn into much broader efforts to re-regulate financials services.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Authorities have traced a credit card breach that has caused at least three large area credit unions to reissue thousands of cards to Cheers Liquor Mart, where hackers apparently gained access to the company’s computer system last month.

CLOQUET, Minn. – Members Cooperative CU has formed a non-profit Foundation that will directly benefit young people in the communities it serves.

PHILADELPHIA – American Heritage FCU said its annual golf tournament raised more than $25,000 for its Kids-N-Hope Foundation, which supports the Music Therapy Program at the Children’s Seashore House of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees’ CU is providing a $1.1 million 0% construction loan to finance the renovation of residential home for pregnant teens and mothers.

GAINSEVILLE, Fla. – The North Central Florida YMCA said last week it has received an emergency $200,000 line of credit from Sunstate FCU that will allow it to pay employees who did not receive their money earlier this month.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Navy FCU plans to open a new branch here today to serve personnel at nearby Fort Belvoir.

LIVE OAK, Texas – Randolph-Brooks FCU said it is introducing deposit services through any wireless smart phone and service provider.

APPLETON, Wis. – Ken Eiden, the president of Prospera CU who introduced the popular GoodMoney payday loan program imitated by credit unions around the country, is retiring from the $150 million credit union.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Regulators seized San Joaquin Bank and sold the remnants of the latest bank failure to Citizens Business Bank of nearby Ontario, Calif.