U.S. Fire Administration Acknowledges the New Fire Service Ethics Statement

To provide guidance to address complex ethical questions, the National Society of Executive Fire Officers and Congressional Fire Services Institute jointly have released a firefighter code of ethics that can be adopted by local fire and emergency medical service organizations. In acknowledgement of the importance of this first of its kind fire service ethics statement, the U.S. Fire Administration has posted the statement throughout the National Fire Academy's (NFA) facilities and will now include the statement in all course materials distributed to NFA students.....U.S. Fire Administration Acknowledges the New Fire Service Ethics Statement:

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Credit Union Profits Climb 21% As Margins Widen, NCUA Reports

If you don't read anything else, read this: Performance By Asset Category WASHINGTON—Federally insured credit unions posted a sharp rebound in profitability through the third quarter of 2025, with net income up 21% year over year to an annualized $19.1 billion, according to new NCUA data. The increase—one of the strongest gains across the agency’s quarterly metrics—came as institutions benefited from rising interest income, wider net interest margins, and relatively stable credit costs. The NCUA reported that Q3 data show interest income climbed 7.6% over the period while the systemwide net interest margin expanded nearly 13%, helping credit unions absorb higher operating expenses and modest increases in loan-loss provisioning. The earnings surge outpaced the credit union system’s 3.7% asset growth and came amid a mixed lending environment in which residential mortgage balances rose sharply, but auto lending weakened. The industry’s aggregate net worth ratio also im...

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Federal Reserve Board announces pricing, effective January 1, 2026

December 04, 2025 Federal Reserve Board announces pricing, effective January 1, 2026, for payment services the Federal Reserve Banks provide to banks and credit unions For release at 5:00 p.m. EST Share The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced pricing, effective January 1, 2026, for payment services the Federal Reserve Banks provide to banks and credit unions, such as the clearing of checks, automated clearing house (ACH) transactions, instant payments, and wholesale payment and settlement services. By law, the Federal Reserve must establish fees to recover the costs, including imputed costs, of providing payment services over the long run. The Federal Reserve expects to recover 108 percent of actual and imputed expenses in 2026, including the return on equity that would have been earned if a private-sector firm provided the services. Overall, price changes for 2026 will result in an estimated 0.9 percent average price increase for established, mature services. The entire ...

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Sunday Reading - What happened at Pearl Harbor?

What happened at Pearl Harbor? On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii ( watch visualization ). The strike marked the culmination of a decade of rising tensions as Japan expanded its empire across East Asia and the Pacific. With its industrial capacity unable to match the United States in a long-term war, Japanese leaders opted for a preemptive blow designed to cripple American naval power. The attack—which permanently sank three American ships, damaged 15 more, and killed 2,403 Americans—was a tactical success but a strategic failure. Japanese forces did not hit the base’s oil reserves, submarine facilities, or repair yards, all of which proved crucial in the months that followed. The US Navy ultimately refloated all but three damaged ships, returning many to combat . Pearl Harbor was the deadliest attack on US ...

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Housing Forecast 2026: Mortgage Rates Remain Above 6%, but Affordability Improves Modestly

Mortgage rates will continue to average above 6% next year, but affordability will improve modestly as the typical monthly payment falls below 30% of a household's income for the first time since 2022, the Realtor.com® economic research team predicts in its 2026 housing forecast . The forecast predicts mortgage rates will average 6.3% across 2026, a slight improvement from the 6.6% full-year average expected for 2025, but still well above the 4% historic average recorded from 2013 to 2019. Nationally, home prices will continue to grow 2.2% through the end of next year, after rising by 2% in 2025, the forecast indicates. However, incomes and overall inflation are expected to continue rising faster than growth in home prices, delivering a slight boost to affordability. Read the complete story and review graphs; HERE _______________________________________ Join/Upgrade Check out some of NCOFCU's additional features: First ...

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New Podcast Series -3 Succession Planning Podcasts

https://www.ncofcu.org/podcast Join/Upgrade Check out some of NCOFCU's additional features: First Responder Credit Union Academy Financial Literacy Podcasts YouTube Mini's Blog Job Board

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Fed’s Powell: Strong hiring could force further rate hikes

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that if the U.S. job market further strengthens in the coming months or inflation readings accelerate, the Fed might have to raise its benchmark interest rate higher than it now projects. Powell’s remarks followed the government’s blockbuster report last week that employers added 517,000 jobs in January , nearly double December’s gain. The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 53 years, 3.4%. “The reality is if we continue to get strong labor market reports or higher inflation reports, it might be the case that we have to raise rates more” than is now expected, Powell said in remarks to the Economic Club of Washington. Though price pressures are easing and Powell said he envisions a “significant” decline in inflation this year, he cautioned that so far the central bank is seeing only “the very early stages of disinflation. It has a long way to go.” Even as the Fed has raised r...

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New Jobs Report Released; Here's What CU Economists Say

WASHINGTON–The newest jobs report data indicate the labor market is moving away from a state of “imbalance,” but there remains “work to be done,” according to credit union economists. Data released today by the Labor Department show U.S. employers added 236,000 workers in March, with the unemployment rate falling to 3.5%. The data indicate the labor market remains solid even after a year of aggressive rate increases by the Federal Reserve as it has sought to tamp down inflation. Employers added jobs last month in leisure and hospitality, government, professional and business services and healthcare. Fewer jobs were seen construction, manufacturing and retail, the Labor Department said. ...

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Loan Growth Part 3

MADISON, Wis.–Credit union loan balances rose 1.1% in February, faster than the 0.2% reported in February 2021, even as membership growth slowed significantly during the first two months of 2022, according to data released as part of CUNA Mutual’s April Trends Report. The Report, which is based on data through February, showed overall loan growth was 9.6% during the last 12 months. What is actually happening below the surface? According to the Trends Report, consistent with the trend line the analysis shows large credit unions reported significantly faster loan growth in 2021 as compared to smaller credit unions. Credit unions with assets greater than $1 billion reported loan growth of 8.4% compared to credit unions with assets less than $20 million, reporting loan growth of 0.9%. Here's a look at how credit unions performed by category, according to the newest Trends Report” ...

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Not Your Mother’s Credit Union

“Stablecoins aren’t a speculative play. They’re the next evolution of payments — and a chance for credit unions to lead, not lag. It starts with connecting members to DLT rails - the digital wallet. Without that, nothing else can happen. It’s just a new payment rail - embrace it or lose the relationship. It’s that simple.” While ‘ stablecoins ’ were the prevailing buzzword across Money20/20 this year, the credit union industry had a significant presence. Small financial institutions have staked a place in the future of payments. Credit unions received a significant boost this summer with the enactment of the stablecoin bill into law. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act authorizes subsidiaries of federally insured credit unions, such as credit union service organizations, to become issuers. Not Your Mother’s Credit Union A Money20/20 fireside chat with the regulator for credit unions that I moderated focused on the rulemaking task a...

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Two Members of FOMC Indicate December Rate Cut Not a Sure Thing

WASHINGTON–Two members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee have indicated they are in no hurry to further cut rates, despite market expectations. “I’m not decided going into the December meeting” and “my threshold for cutting is a little bit higher than it was at the last two meetings,” Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said in a Yahoo Finance interview. “I am nervous about the inflation side of the ledger, where you’ve seen inflation above the target for four and a half years, and it’s trending the wrong way.” Goolsbee was interviewed after last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting that saw policymakers cut their interest rate target by a quarter percentage point, to between 3.75% and 4%, as officials sought to offset rising risks to the job market while still keeping interest rates in a position where they’ll help lower inflation pressures, noted Yahoo Finance. As the report also noted, Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned last week that “a further r...

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