SAN FRANCISCO – Shares in Visa Inc. continued to surge yesterday–another 15%–earning credit unions and banks who are receiving shares in the initial public offering of the world’s largest payments system tens of millions of dollars of additional profits.

BATAVIA, Ill. – In just a matter of weeks, a CUNA-backed candidate twice has lost a bid for a House seat–the same House seat that was vacated by long-time credit union supporter and ex-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

LYNN, Mass. – Police are looking for a man who robbed the St. Jean’s CU branch here Tuesday morning–for the third time this year.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Ron Fong, the California and Nevada CU Leagues’ vice president of state government affairs, will take a new position as president and CEO of the California Grocers Association beginning March 31.

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon inspector general’s chief investigator of procurement fraud and official misconduct quietly resigned last month and pleaded guilty to structuring cash transactions through his Pentagon FCU account.

WASHINGTON – The regulator for secondary mortgage market giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac yesterday agreed to reduce the capital the firms must hold against potential mortgage defaults, allowing them to buy more mortgages in an effort to help boost the ailing housing market.

RIVERWOODS, Ill. – Shares of Discover Financial Services declined almost 11% yesterday after the parent of Pulse EFT announced a 65% drop in first quarter profits, to $81.2 million.

TOPEKA, Kan. – A bill that could lead to substantial restrictions on fields of membership for state chartered credit unions in Kansas passed the State Senate by a 35-2 vote Wednesday.

PORT NECHES, Texas – Private deposit insurance for credit unions officially returned to the Lone Star State with the conversion of MCT CU from federal insurance provided by NCUA, the federal regulator reported yesterday.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Pennsylvania State Employees CU was approved to acquire another small credit union, its third over the last three months, NCUA said yesterday.

DEARBORN, Mich. – Members of DFCU Financial FCU will get yet another day in court next month in their long battle over the now-abandoned attempt by the $1.8 billion credit union to convert to a mutual savings bank.

WASHINGTON – NCUA yesterday said it approved a request by CommonwealthOne FCU to serve the entire city of Washington as an underserved community, the second credit union granted that field of membership in the last two months and seventh overall.

WALL STREET – Shares in Visa Inc. soared as much as 50% as the market opened yesterday before closing at $56.50, a 28% premium over the initial public offering price.

SAN FRANCISCO – Solidus Networks, which is undergoing bankruptcy liquidation, yesterday said it is closing down its biometric payments network operating under the Pay By Touch name.

SCARBOROUGH, Maine – Authorities say the theft of an estimated 4.2 million account numbers from the Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain was not enough information to enable thieves to access cardholders accounts, meaning the thieves must have been able to match the stolen account numbers to names by another method.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Two Canadian credit unions are pilot testing a new service that allows their members to conduct business through text messaging or Short Messaging Service.

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. – DealerTrack Holdings said it has introduced a new web-based system to connect independent auto dealers and financing sources.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A man wearing a black San Francisco 49ers ball cap is being sought in armed robberies of New Mexico Educators FCU and First Financial CU branches within 20 minutes of each other Monday.

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Another large credit union merger potentially is in the works, as the board of Walla Walla Valley FCU has approved a combination into Gesa CU, creating a credit union with almost $700 million.

HARRISBURG, Penn. – Pennsylvania State Employees CU yesterday said it has deployed a state-of-the-art customer routing system installed by IBM and Avaya.