OGDEN, Utah – America First CU has purchased a 71,000-square-foot office building in nearby Roy, which it plans to use for expansion.

FAIRFAX, Va. – Apple FCU, which serves the educational community in the Washington suburbs of northern Virginia, yesterday said it opened two more student-run branches, giving it a total of 34, the most in the country.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – CommunityAmerica CU was expecting as many as 3,000 attendees at its annual meeting last night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, when the $1.5 billion credit union planned to introduce its “Financial Makeover” contest.

RIVERWOODS, Ill. – Cards company Discover Financial Services yesterday said second quarter earnings rose 12% to $234 million, or 48 cents a share.

McLEAN, Va. – Home loan rates continued their move upwards this week, to eleven-month highs, according to Freddie Mac.

BOSTON – Fourteen credit unions in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont will share more than $500,000 in funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston to help them provide matching homeownership grants for low-income members.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Credit Union 24 network yesterday announced it has signed a multi-year contract to extend its CU HERE program with Allpoint Network, giving member credit unions access to 50,000 surcharge-free ATMs.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – CO-OP Financial Services yesterday said it will begin offering travel and youth reloadable cards, available in Visa and MasterCard versions, to credit unions in July.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- State Employees CU announced yesterday it is investing $1.1 billion to refinance and provide funding for student loans made by College Foundation, Inc., a state agency that provides funding for federally guaranteed student loans.

WASHINGTON – NAFCU moved yesterday to get Congress involved in a brewing controversy over a new JP Morgan Chase Mastercard brought on to the military bases to be used at Army and Air Force Exchange Service (PX) facilities.

WASHINGTON – The Senate Banking Committee endorsed 10 Bush nominees, including Michael Fryzel for the NCUA Board, then sent the package on for a full vote–expected as early as today–by the full Senate.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard yesterday announced it has agreed to pay American Express $1.8 billion to settle an antitrust suit claiming MasterCard and Visa conspired to keep credit unions and banks from issuing AmEx cards.

ADRIAN, Mich. – TLC Community CU said it has joined Lenawee Vo-Tech to build a Habitat for Humanity house here.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Unitus Community CU yesterday said it signed with Open Solutions’ IA Systems to implement the company’s StreamLend Velocity online loan origination solution.

PARCHMENT, Mich. – First Community FCU has launched three new Youth Club accounts to encourage saving and build financial literacy skills for its young members.

MOON TOWNSHIP, Penn. – Clearview FCU said it is expanding its non-member check cashing service to include the Center Township, Chippewa, and Hopewell Township branches.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Officials of Alliant CU have been running Kaiperm FCU, as the Chicago-based credit union giant prepares to expand its California footprint with a merger of the ailing $96 million credit union.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA yesterday said the declining value of mortgage backed securities held by corporate credit unions has prompted it to reclassify membership capital share accounts as equity.

WASHINGTON – In an unusual pairing, the credit union lobby is working with the bankers to get their newly combined regulatory relief bill through Congress as the legislative calendar continues to wind down toward a conclusion.

WASHINGTON – The House easily approved the credit union regulatory relief bill last night, after sweetening it with some goodies for the banks and thrifts, and sent the measure on to the Senate for its consideration.