TAMPA, Fla. – GTE FCU is hoping to build a new branch on a city-owned lot in the underserved midtown community in nearby St. Petersburg, known as the 22nd Street Corridor.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Veridian CU, the state’s largest credit union, has implemented Integrated Media Management’s TotaleWorks product suite.

PORTLAND, Ore. – A robber who demands only $100 bills robbed another credit union Friday morning, the fifth hold-up by the suspect in recent weeks.

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Three lucky members will win loan payments for a year under Columbia CU’s Payment Free Promotion, meaning the credit union will pay their mortgage, home equity or auto loan payments for the next 12 months.

PENSACOLA, Fla. – In what is being touted as a rare partnership between credit unions and banks, Navy FCU and PenAir FCU have joined with Superior Bank to lend $38 million for a new hotel on Pensacola Beach.

WASHINGTON – The FDIC Friday took over five more failed banks, making a total of 45 for 2009.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA has approved a plan by a group of Florida credit unions to create a CUSO that would buy and collect on troubled loans.

MIRAMAR, Fla. – NCUA, which is predicting increasing loss from large credit union failures in the coming months, was trying last week to keep the costs down for the merger of Eastern Financial Florida CU, the largest natural person credit union failure ever.

NEWARK, N.J.-Among the credit unions victimized by the fraud and the amount of claims they filed with the bankruptcy court: Suffolk FCU, $33.8 million; Picatinny FCU, $15 million; Proponent FCU, $21.6 million; Sperry Associates FCU, $9.2 million; Treasury Department FCU, $8.7 million; Novartis FCU, $3.1 million; Educational Systems FCU, $3.1 million; County Educators FCU, $2.8 million; Energy FCU, $2.6 million; Rutgers FCU, $2.2 million; Piedmont Aviation FCU, $2.1 million; Pinnacle FCU, $1.8 million; Velocity County FCU, $1.5 million; TCT FCU, $1 million; Lassen County FCU, $832,000; JM Associates FCU, $502,000; Miami Firefighters FCU, $490,000; First Florida CU, $448,000 and Newark Board of Education Employees CU, $440,000.

More Losses Seen On MBS

Credit Union Journal is now accepting nominations for its 2009 Best Practices Awards. We've deliberately made it very easy to enter. The BP can be created by your CU or it may be a vendor-supplied program; it simply needs to have been implemented since June 1, 2008, and must be able to show tangible results. Get details on how easy it is to enter at www.cujournal.com.

MSECU Converts Core

MEMPHIS, Tenn.-uMonitor and BANKDetect have partnered to integrate their services the companies announced. uMonitor's account opening and funding solutions will incorporate its ID verification and red flags compliance capabilities to allow the financial solution services provider to meet all federal and state regulatory compliance requirements. Both firms are also partnered with Open Solutions and can integrate with all major core processors.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Are Twitter, Facebook and blogs more than a black hole of vanity and noise? Credit unions say "yes" - even if they don't have the metrics to prove it.

MADISON, Wis. — CUNA Mutual Group will double its retirement planning business by acquiring CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc. (CPI), a retirement plan record keeper in Great Bend, Kan.

NEWARK, N.J. — Authorities are doubtful of locating any of the $125 million of credit union funds missing from U.S. Mortgage Corp. after its owner and founder Michael McGrath surreptitiously sold them to Fannie Mae in what has become the biggest credit union fraud.

Greenwood Village, Colo. — Bellco CU here is all over social media.

Spokane Teachers Wins Award

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

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Three things have changed with the times at the Stanford FCU contact center here: the software allows telecommuting, all representatives are highly experienced and all but one works off-site.