BRISTOL, Tenn. – The former treasurer of First Christian Church this week was found guilty of draining almost all of the $170,000 in the church’s accounts at United Southeast FCU over an eight-year period and using the money for his own purposes.

NEW ORLEANS – An Arkansas man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to eight armed robberies in four states in three weeks, including one in nearby Metairie, then one at Alabama CU, 300 miles away in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the next day.

NORTH CANTON, Ohio – ATM maker Diebold yesterday unveiled new technology aimed at preventing “skimming” of cards numbers at an ATM or point of sale.

PORTLAND, Ore. – TRM Corp., the one-time backbone of the CO-OP ATM network, reported third quarter losses of $4.9 million, or 28 cents a share. That’s down from $98.1 million for last year’s third quarter, when the company wrote down more than $100 million in assets.

ROME, N.Y.– The Griffiss Park Branch of AmeriCU CU here will be the site tomorrow of a drawing in which one person will win $10,000 and have five hours to spend it as part of a shopping spree.

TEXARKANA, Texas – Red River FCU is expanding its efforts to reach the area’s growing Hispanic population by opening a branch Vero’s Latino Store.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Montana FCU, the state’s ninth-largest credit union, is poised to absorb Community FCU and leap-frog into the position as the third largest.

PADUCAH, Ky. – C-Plant FCU yesterday announced plans to sell shares in its Alliance Institutional Services, LLC, CUSO to as many as six other credit union partners. The credit union expects to increase the asset base of the CUSO to more than $1 billion over the next 90 days.

KOKOMO, Ind. – Transmission Builders FCU yesterday said it has contracted with Lending Solutions Inc. for online lending services.

McLEAN, Va. – Mortgage rates declined again this week, for the third week in a row, according to Freddie Mac.

WASHINGTON – NAFCU is working with members of the House to exempt prime mortgage loans from pending legislation that would allow bankruptcy court judges to rewrite the terms of home loans brought before them in personal bankruptcies.

DETROIT – A 40-year-old Ford assembly plant worker yesterday was found guilty of a 2001 armed robbery of an armored truck at Dearborn FCU, which left a guard shot to death.

PORTLAND, Ore. – OnPoint Community CU announced yesterday it made a total of $75,000 in grants to 10 community groups to mark its 75th anniversary.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage lenders, including credit unions and banks, convinced the House Judiciary Committee last night to postpone a vote on a bill that would give bankruptcy judges the power to amend the terms of mortgages during the bankruptcy proceedings.

NEW YORK – Visa Inc., which is preparing to go public in an initial offering, yesterday announced it has agreed to pay American Express $2.25 billion to settle charges that Visa, MasterCard and their issuing banks and credit unions illegally blocked American Express from the bank-issued card business in the United States.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A long-time public works employees on Tuesday was charged with stealing as much as $34,000 worth of coins he was supposed to be collecting from parking meters over a period of nine months.

RICHARDSON, Texas – Texans CU employees raised more than $85,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Walk To Cure Diabetes in Collin County.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A 34-year-old man who committed suicide in the Sacramento County jail last month has been identified as the serial bank robber known to law enforcement agencies as the “X-Games Bandit.”

DURHAM, N.C. – RTP FCU has become the first credit union in the country to convert to a real-time interface with Open Solutions' “The Complete Credit Union System,” which also is referred to as the “Standard Market Edition.”

ORLANDO, Fla. – Martin FCU yesterday said it has hired LEVEL5 to develop a strategic retail delivery plan and design and build branches to support the credit union’s community charter.