LAKELAND, Fla. - MIDFLORIDA Federal Credit Union members each received their share of a $650,000 on July 31, as the result of a voluntary merger with Imperial Polk Credit Union.

LAS VEGAS - The CUNA Technology Council announced the winners of its Best Practices Awards, which recognize outstanding approaches to technology challenges with potential for universal application across the credit union movement. Winners include:

Digital Dialogue Honors CUs

In the July 16 issue the Credit Union Journal provided in-depth coverage of whether the future for CUs is reserved for the big dogs. Do you agree? Disagree? Take a minute or two, log onto www.cujournal.com and click Letters to the Editor and start barking. (c) 2007 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

Williamsport, Penn. - For the first time, Horizon Federal Credit Union is planning to have a float in the city's parade that celebrates the Little League Baseball World Series.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported on Air Academy FCU's new program to offer members an alternative to payday loans at a "fraction of the interest rate such lenders charge." The newspaper cited AAFCU's Smart Solutions program, which charges an 18% APR on loans made without a credit check or collateral and which must be repaid in 60 days.

AUGUSTA, Maine. - Maine credit unions have begun airing their third series of radio ads touting shared branching.

WASHINGTON - Capital area radio stations will begin airing a series of upbeat commercials this fall targeting so-called Gen Y consumers and focusing on the credit union difference.

MADISON, Wis. - REAL Solutions National Program Manager Lois Kitsch is following in some big footsteps...right up the side of Mount Kilimanjaro.

DENVER - The MEMBERS Financial Services program located at Denver's Westerra Credit Union has changed its name to Westerra Financial Advisors as part of the CU's phased branding strategy that started last year after three area credit unions merged to become Westerra.

WACO, Texas - Police are searching for a man who stole a security guard's handgun while he was robbing First Central Credit Union-the third hold-up at the credit union in five months.

Dec. 1976

ST. LOUIS - Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which does substantial car sales business with credit unions, has concluded its purchase of Vanguard Car Rental and its National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands from Cerberus Capital Management LP. Terms of the transaction between the two privately held companies were not disclosed. Enterprise CEO Andrew Taylor said Enterprise will operate all of the companies as independent subsidiaries separate from Enterprise for the foreseeable future. In total, the companies have $11.7 billion in annual revenue, 10,683 locations, 1.1 million vehicles, and 74,169 employees.

ARLINGTON, Va. - NAFCU, whose members are required to obtain federal deposit insurance provided by NCUA, called on state regulators in Washington state to reject a bid to revive private insurance for state chartered credit unions.

NEWARK, N.J. - A former investment banker was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 million in profits last week for a scheme to illegally qualify for initial public offerings of 65 mutual savings banks-including eight converted credit unions.

The following are members of Credit Union Journal's Technology Panel.

Although your July 16 article "Will Only the Big Dogs Survive" was wide-ranging and timely, its unfortunate contextual omission may leave your readers with an incomplete picture of what I conveyed to Mr. Jim Jerving during my interview.

What will it take for small credit unions to survive?

Let's begin with some wisdom. At a recent credit union conference I heard one speaker refer not once, but twice to "strategic strategies." Those are not to be confused with "tactical tactics."

The article in the July 23 edition of the Credit Union Journal by Jim Blaine puts me to shame. In the article, Mr. Blaine recalls the persistence of Hubert Hoosman's solicitation for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Mr. Blaine calls on CEOs of credit unions to summon the courage to approach their boards for a donation to the MLK Memorial.