WASHINGTON -- Fending off the rains amidst Washington's famous cherry blossoms April 6, Ridouane Harroufi of Morocco and Lineth Chepkurui of Kenya, both new to the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run, took the wins at the 36th annual running of the world-class road race.

Credit unions are dealing with a lot these days: margin squeeze, rising delinquencies, Treasury's Blueprint ideas and competition to name a few items. Not to add to credit union woes, but I'm dedicating this column to five things credit unions don't want to hear--or read.

They've done it before and they'll do it again. Picture it, early 1991. Congress is just returning from winter break and, boom, the Deposit Insurance and Regulatory Reform Act (H.R. 6) is introduced by Democratic Congressman Henry Gonzalez (Texas). The bill would, among other things, fold all the financial institution...

WASHINGTON -- Credit Union Miracle Day, Inc., sponsors of the 36th annual Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run(R), announced today that it has exceeded its goal of raising $1 million for the Children's Miracle Network.

The banking trades are working at all levels of the government to make life increasingly unpleasant for credit unions. This is why credit unions need to be politically active at all levels at all times.

I'm frequently asked how to better pitch stories for Credit Union Times' coverage.

A little while back I had an e-mail exchange with the CEO of an approximately $200 million credit union--who shall remain nameless--that troubled me. In part, the executive was saying that it was no longer prudent to branch and I didn't know what I was talking about by promoting it.

Credit unions just can't stop making news, particularly in Washington. Of course this last week, Capitol Hill got a huge dose of credit unions with CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference taking place from March 2-6.