TULLAHOMA, Tenn. – Ascend FCU, off a very successful year, is building a new 60,000-square-foot home, which is expected to completed early next year.

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Opportunities CU, which is working to build savings in the city’s growing Hispanic population, has another savings inducement, free movie tickets.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Energy FCU said yesterday it has deployed Code Green Network’s CI-750 Content Inspection Appliance to protect its network against data loss. The system, added in November, inspects content moving over the network as well as at network endpoints.

TICONDEROGA, N.Y. – Ticonderoga FCU has an unusual bottom line for 2008-0--as in zero net income and zero losses.

TREVOSE, Penn. – TruMark CU cracked the $1 billion asset mark at the end of 2008, as it began the celebrate for its 70th anniversary.

ALBANY, N.Y. – SEFCU celebrated another successful year with the addition of two more Buffalo-area branches over the past few weeks.

TOLEDO, Ohio – The National CU Foundation has awarded a $69,500 Innovation Grant to the Ohio CU foundation to help develop a credit union for Latinos in northwest Ohio, which would be the first new state charter in decades.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – After more than two years, prosecutors are scheduled this morning to charge local businessman Michael Vorce with a scheme that drained more than $27 million from local credit unions and banks who lent him funds to buy what turned out to be phantom boats.

WASHINGTON – The large-scale losses among many of the nation’s biggest credit unions are prompting some in the credit union movement to renew calls for access to outside sources of capital.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte Metro CU will make loud noises during the Super Bowl again this year with a TV commercial that emphasizes the piggishness of growing bank fees.

Beehive Credit Union in Salt Lake City has dropped its bid to convert to a mutual savings bank.

TAMPA, Fla. — An aging U.S. population and seniors struggling to get by on fixed incomes are making reverse mortgages more attractive- and necessary-to members and their credit unions alike.

WICHITA, Kan. – Boeing Wichita CU, the state’s largest credit union, is changing its name Feb. 1 to Meritrust CU.

PHOENIX – An assailant fired a shot at a cash carrier car outside Desert Schools FCU Friday morning but was hit by the armored car and fled instead.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – Marshall Community CU selected eight high school students to compete in its "Financially Made" program, which will reward each with $150 in matching deposits.

LAKELAND, Fla . – MidFlorida FCU said its real estate CUSO, MidFlorida Real Estate Sales LLC, has acquired two independent real estate companies, expanding its reach in the local market.

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU presented a check last week for $362,424 to the 1 Darn Cool School at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT FCU announced Friday it has signed with its sponsor, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to provide students at the University’s Sloan School of Business with lending options through the recently created venture, Credit Union Student Choice.

SALT LAKE CITY – Beehive CU, which announced last week it was abandoning its bid to convert to a mutual savings bank, reported the decision was preceded by a $1.8 million loss for its fourth quarter, and a $1.5 million loss for the year.

DECATUR, Ala. – The former president of Lauderdale County Teachers CU and one of its members were found innocent by a federal court last week of a $6 million fraud surrounding a loan to the member’s business.