ATLANTA - Shareholders of CheckFree Corp. yesterday overwhelmingly voted in favor of the company's takeover by Fiserv.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A thief broke into a neighboring business Sunday night, then through the roof of the Olympia CU branch, before forcing his way into the safe and making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

LAWRENCE, Mass. - Merrimack Valley FCU said it contributed $45,000 to local charities to help mark the opening of its new headquarters.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - People's Community FCU said it contracted with Lending Solutions Inc. for the company's online and phone-based lending products.

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association is crying foul over last week's winning bid by Oklahoma Employees CU to buy a parcel of land near the state capitol to build a new headquarters.

DEARBORN, Mich. - DFCU Financial yesterday announced it will pay its members a special dividend of more than $17 million for the second straight year.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Members continued to withdraw their funds from Norlarco CU at alarming rates last month, according to notices posted this week at the credit union's branches.

SAN FRANCISCO - A consortium of technology and wireless communications companies and banks announced they have successfully field-tested mobile transactions technology that incorporates biometric fingerprint technology for authentication.

BERKELEY, Calif. - Internet start-up Mobile Candy Dish Inc. yesterday announced a deal to offer its wireless mobile payment system via a MasterCard debit card.

SAN DIEGO - Scores of credit unions have closed their offices across San Diego County and other areas of California, where at least 17 wildfires are raging from north of Los Angeles to southeast of here. Even in instances where credit unions have not suffered damage, some were unable to operate due to power outages, while others are unable to sufficiently staff certain locations, with more than 500,000 people in San Diego County alone ordered to evacuate and seek shelter.

AUSTIN — The Texas CU Commission announced yesterday it adopted new rules governing mergers at its Oct. 19 meeting, including a prohibition of any financial offer to members to encourage them to vote for a merger, in effect, barring any hostile takeover.

EL PASO — FirstLight FCU has created a memorial fund for the benefit of an injured soldier and one of its members, whose children were killed on the way to the hospital to visit him.

EL PASO — West Texas CU announced a unique partnership with the Mexican Consulate Friday to offer free education programs to Mexican nationals living in the U.S. through the Mexican government's "Plaza Comunitaria" program.

New York State Credit Union League, Latham, N.Y., inducted Greg Card, Lorraine Jordan, Bill Myers and Beverly Towers into its hall of fame.

NOVEMBER

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - What can a $100 candy bar teach CUs about the relative value of members?

Online's Importance Shown

MADISON, Wis. - The average salaries of male and female CEOs at credit unions with $100 million or more in assets are almost identical overall, according to a new CUNA survey.

GREENVILLE, S.C. - A new service is offering a personalized URL for every member targeted in lending promotions as a means of boosting response rates. Credit unions that have launched the tool, called PURLS (Personal URL System) are seeing response rates of 1% or higher, said CU Exceed, which has designed the system.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Cooperative Federal, which is also known as Syracuse Cooperative is marking what it calls its "25th year working for social and economic justice in Syracuse." To mark the event the credit union held an Anniversary Celebration at which nearly 200 members, community leaders, and local politicians participated in the event that featured dinner, dancing, and impromptu testimonials from people whose lives have been touched by the credit union. "Our credit union's success has demonstrated that ordinary people can come together to create a financial institution that meets the needs of their families and neighbors," said Ron Ehrenreich, co-founder and Treasurer/CEO of Cooperative Federal.