NEW ORLEANS – A man who confessed to eight credit union and banks robberies in five states during a three-month spree last year was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to repay $26,608–the amount of money he stole in the eight heists.

JACKSON, Miss. – A former auditor for Mississippi Public Employees CU was charged this week with stealing $72,000 from the credit union.

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU said its annual golf tournament raised $220,000 to help fund the Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s 1 Darn Cool School classroom for long-term patients.

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Power Financial CU announced yesterday it is holding a new and used auto sale at its parking lot this weekend in conjunction with a AutoBranch, a car buying service for 13 area credit unions.

LOWELL, Mass. – Jeanne D’Arc CU announced yesterday it is moving its offices to a new downtown project being development in the historic Tremont Mills Power House.

CHICAGO – A half-dozen large credit unions have created a CUSO that will try to develop an industry-wide metric to gauge and measure credit union member loyalty, the group announced yesterday.

McLEAN, Va. – Long-term mortgage rates held steady again this week, while short-rates continued to decline, according to Freddie Mac.

WALL STREET – The crisis in the student loan market intensified yesterday after the nation’s two largest banks, Citibank and Bank of America, announced major cutbacks in student lending.

McLEAN, Va. – In a move that will ease liquidity in the troubled mortgage market, Freddie Mac announced its commitment yesterday to buy up to $15 billion in jumbo mortgages from four large lenders: Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and WaMu.

FRESNO, Calif. – A women who tried to pass a counterfeit check at a local retailer was charged this week with heading a local identity theft ring that victimized as many as 1,000 consumers, including 319 members at Educational Employees CU.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The NCUA Board yesterday proposed a broad expansion of CUSO powers, including a provision that would allow the growing number of credit unions contemplating the sale of their credit card operations to move them off the books and into a separately owned CU Service Organization, or CUSO.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Another large credit union has run into troubles with its member business loan program, prompting a suit filed by Denali Alaskan FCU against a prominent real estate developer to recover $17 million in delinquent loans.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Fidelity National Information Services, which was spun off last year from Fidelity National Title, said yesterday it received approval from the Internal Revenue Service for the tax-free spin-off of its huge Lender Processing Services, handles more than half of all mortgage loans in the U.S.

FAIRFAX CITY, Va. – Norman Rappaport, a well-known figure in the credit union movement who served as a volunteer at Pentagon FCU for 30 years, passed away last week at 82. The cause was congestive heart failure.

WICHITA, Kan. – Gary Regoli, who helped build Boeing Wichita CU into the state’s largest credit union, announced yesterday he is leaving to become president and CEO of Achieva CU, in Clearwater, Fla.

VISALIA, Calif. -- The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a workplace discrimination verdict against Tucoemas FCU, clearing the way for a former manager to receive $1.5 million in punitive damages.

WEST MONROE, La. – A local man was charged with stealing funds from Ouachita Valley FCU by withdrawing $5,000 from the account of a member with the same name.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a $342,000 grant to the Iowa CU Foundation to help it finance the CU Family Partnership Individual Development Account program.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers began hearings yesterday on one part of the Treasury Department’s new "Blueprint" for regulatory reform, the proposal for a national charter and regulator for insurance companies.

RESTON, Va. – Sallie Mae, the key player in the troubled student loan market, reported a $104 million loss for the first quarter and said it cannot continue lending at a profit amid the credit crunch.