MECHANICSBURG, Penn. – Members 1st FCU yesterday said it has signed on to offer private loans through the newly formed Credit Union Student Choice CUSO.

HONOLULU – Aloha Airlines FCU said it plans to rebrand itself, introduce new products and change its name over the next 12 months in an effort to shed its ties with its bankrupt corporate sponsor.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Enrichment FCU celebrated the opening of its newest branch, a “dialogue” model that stresses member conversations with service reps.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Addison Avenue FCU, the credit union for computer maker Hewlett Packard, launched an online branch aimed at reeling in Generation Y.

REEDSBURG, Wis. – Dozens of credit unions throughout this flood-soaked region were improvising over the weekend and yesterday to provide emergency financial services to their members.

WASHINGTON – Credit unions may qualify for free rent in federal buildings if 95% of the members who use the space are government employees or their family members, NCUA explained last week.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A man who robbed the ESL FCU branch on Jan. 17, then carjacked two cars during his escape, was sentenced Friday to six years in prison.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Man believed to be responsible for as many as eight area credit union and bank robberies, including last month’s hold-up at Sterlent CU, was arrested last week after he allegedly hit a Citibank branch near here.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – South Carolina Telco CU said last week it awarded a $15,000 grant to CARE House of Pee Dee to help the organization in its efforts to help child victims of physical and sexual abuse.

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – First Community CU became the first lender in the state to process a loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Guaranteed Underwriting System, aimed at speeding up mortgage lending.

FITCHBURG, Mass. – GFA FCU announced last week that the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved it as a participant in its 7(a) guaranteed loan program.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Sears FCU has started construction on its new $2 million office in nearby Bartlett.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The deadline for submitting nominations to Credit Union Journal’s Best Practices Awards is approaching swiftly.

WASHINGTON – A federal judge last week reinstated one member of the Harrisburg (Penn.) Housing Authority board and is expected to reinstate a second who were both barred from federal housing contracts because of their actions to help charter a now-failed community development credit union.

WALL STREET – Standard & Poor's Ratings said last week it lowered the counterparty credit rating on the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, which continues to struggle from the weight of more than $30 billion worth of loans its purchased from credit unions and banks under its Mortgage Partnership Finance program.

WALL STREET – Fitch Ratings put two more corporate credit unions, Southwest Corporate FCU and Constitution State FCU, on its Negative Watch Friday because of growing losses in the value of their mortgage backed securities portfolios.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – First FCU President Tim Byers climbed into a borrowed boat last week to navigate the rising waters of the Cedar River, then had to break a window to enter his credit union’s flooded branch in order to extricate data processing and other equipment threatened by the approaching deluge.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California’s Department of Financial Institutions has named long-time supervisory examiner Bert McLane to the newly-created new position of chief examiner in its Division of CUs.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - An attorney for Del Norte Credit Union has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a perhaps former, perhaps current member of the CU’s supervisory committee regarding statements made to Credit Union Journal.

Grant To Fund Expansion Of Prize-Linked Savings