JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – NCUA said it is closing down newborn Missouri Farmers Union CU and merging it into nearby River Region CU because of the declining financial status of the low-income credit union.

MIAMI – Eight area credit unions have bought time on the local NBC television affiliate to tout their service as part of the 100th anniversary of U.S. credit unions.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A federal grand jury charged a member of Fort Knox FCU with stealing $5,600 from another member after a teller mistakenly gave him access to the wrong account.

BOSTON – One credit union, Oregon’s SELCO Community CU, and one bank, AmeriFirst Bank in Alabama, continue to challenge the pennies-on-the-dollar settlement in the TJX data security case and earlier this month filed an appeal of the dismissal of the purported class action suit in the massive credit card breach.

A bill that could lead to substantial field of membership restrictions on state-chartered credit unions in Kansas has overwhelmingly passed the state Senate and is headed to the House.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska –A man suspected of robbing an Alaska USA FCU branch Sunday, and who shot a policeman during a bank robbery 25 years ago, killed himself yesterday morning after police cornered him in a motorhome hideout.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB) announced it will allow Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) to buy more mortgage backed securities (MBSs) from its members as part of the latest effort to add liquidity to the troubled mortgage market.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Fitch Ratings has affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and short-term IDR for Southeast Corporate Federal Credit Union at “AA-” and “F1+”, respectively. The Rating Outlook for Southeast Corporate is “Stable.”

WASHINGTON – The National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) announced that CUNA President Dan Mica will lead a session on public policy and advocacy for cooperative concerns at its annual Cooperative Conference on May 1.

WASHINGTON – CUNA sent a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank yesterday in support of Frank’s proposal to use Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan guarantees as incentives for lenders to accept mortgage writedowns for borrowers facing the prospect of foreclosure.

ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y. – An employee of Rockland Employees FCU has been arrested and charged with identity theft.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Service Credit Union has landed a big name speaker for its annual meeting later this week: Governor John Lynch.

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. – Residents of several area children’s homes were presented with an Easter gift courtesy of First Community Credit Union.

MONTEREY, Calif. – The $30-billion WesCorp will report the best financials in its history when it releases year-end 2007 numbers in approximately 30 days, according to CEO Bob Siravo.

NEW YORK – Some analysts are suggesting that the success of Visa’s recent initial public offering, which has further loosened the ties between the card networks and the banks that spawned them, has revived speculation that a major issuer might eventually set up an independent network on its own.

WICHITA, Kan. – Kansas’ bankers are hailing passage of a bill in the state Senate that limits growth opportunities for state-chartered CUs.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The $6.7-billion Golden 1 Credit Union has created a $20-million fund to help members in foreclosure due to a subprime loan to get back into their home.

SCARBOROUGH, Me. - Hundreds of credit unions throughout the East Coast were working last week to reissue both Visa and MasterCards after one of the nation’s largest supermarket chains reported that as many as 4.2 million account numbers had been stolen by hackers.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A state court ruling last week that essentially enforces the bylaws of a credit union that unsuccessfully tried to convert to a bank won’t stop NCUA from reincorporating credit union bylaws into its regulations.

WALL STREET - Fitch Ratings, citing continued exposure to the crashing mortgage market, downgraded its ratings for U.S. Central FCU last week.