ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA is shedding its long-time seal – the drab and often confusing symbol of a house roof and door – and adopting a new one featuring the American bald eagle.

McLEAN, Va. – Mortgage rates spiked across the board this week as investors worried about the rising rate of inflation, according to Freddie Mac.

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – Kinecta FCU said a mid-year loss of $10.2 million won’t deter it from expanding on last year’s acquisition of Nix Check Cashing – but will slow it down some.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Growing credit union losses are putting increasing stress on the National CU Insurance Fund, eliminating any chance of a dividend and raising questions whether credit unions will be asked to replenish the fund by paying a premium after year-end.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Credit unions that are shareholders in Credit Union 24, an ATM and POS network, will divide a $3.3 million patronage dividend, the largest patronage dividend in Credit Union 24’s history.

MOBILE, Ala. – Three men who wore hooded sweatshirts to hide their faces during a string of armed robberies on Monday pleaded guilty to April’s heist at Navigator CU. A fourth suspect in the credit union case has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, Penn. – Authorities are searching for a member of Franklin Mint FCU who took $11,050 of cash a careless member left behind in the drive-thru’s pneumatic teller tube last week.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Ray Curtin, the long-time president of Empower FCU and a life-long resident of Syracuse, died unexpectedly Monday at 60.

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Firemen’s CU said it has signed with Open Solutions Inc. to convert to the latest version of the company’s The Complete Credit Union Solution core processing system, known as DNA.

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU will hold a job fair to recruit employees for its call center next month.

OAK PARK, Ill. – Alliance Financial FCU has contributed more than 50 used personal computers and peripherals to the School City of East Chicago, the school district for nearby East Chicago, Ind.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service CU yesterday announced it is contributing $25,000 to help poor New Hampshire families heat their homes this winter.

HAVERHILL, Mass. – Northeast Community CU gave away three gas cards, for $1,000, $500 and $250, in a drawing among its members.

PORTLAND, Ore. – OnPoint CU yesterday said it has signed an outsourcing deal with Diebold for its ATM fleet.

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The FDIC moved swiftly to reimburse credit unions that had invested in IndyMac certificates of deposit through Primary Financial’s SimpliCD program, Credit Union Journal has learned.

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives yesterday passed a massive housing rescue bill, which now includes bailout provisions for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while the White House dropped a threat to veto it.

LAS VEGAS – The economic slowdown that has troubled credit unions started to spread through the Silver State in the second quarter, with most of the biggest credit unions reporting losses at mid-year.

PHOENIX – Officials of Arizona FCU are notifying the credit union’s 220,000 members of the financial health of the institution in the face of a $42.5 million mid-year loss, almost $30 million of it in the second quarter.

JACKSON, Fla. – Lender Processing Services, spun off from Fidelity National Information Services just two weeks ago, yesterday said it has agreed to acquire McDash Analytics, which provides access to the industry's largest database of mortgage loans, for the purpose of benchmarking and analysis.

CINCINNATI – The man who robbed C&O United CU three years ago in nearby Edgewood on Monday was sentenced to 13 years in prison.