This Wednesday, February 24, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host the 16th installment of the In Performance At The White House series, honoring iconic singer, songwriter, composer and musician Ray Charles. The special event will include performances by contemporary artists Yolanda Adams, Leon Bridges, Andra Day, Anthony Hamilton, Brittany Howard, Demi Lovato, Sam Moore, Jussie Smollett, The Band Perry and Usher with Rickey Minor serving as executive music director. In Performance At The White House was started by President Obama in February 2009 and has also honored musicians Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, Hal David and Carole King along the way. In addition, the series has celebrated Hispanic musical heritage during Hispanic Heritage Month, marked Black History Month with performances featuring the music of Motown, Memphis Soul, the Blues, and the Civil Rights era, and has also highlighted everything from Gospel and Country music to Broadway and the American musical.Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles: In Performance At The White House is scheduled to air this Wednesday at 7 PM via The White House’s website, and you can stream it through the L4LM LiveList Channel below: Check out the full schedule of upcoming shows on the L4LM LiveList Channel, and be sure to head to LiveList and see what there is in store! L4LM’s LiveList Channel Schedule (all times local) read more

Just a few weeks ago, Lettuce brought some all-star friends together for a two-night celebration at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in St. Augustine, FL, packing the venue with groups like Vulfpeck, GRiZ, The Nth Power and so many more. Dubbed Fool’s Paradise for its coincidence with April Fools’ Day, both nights of music were highlighted with monster sets from the funk gurus themselves, Lettuce.Thanks to Human Being Media, who was on hand to capture the entire weekend festivities, we have some truly immersive footage from the band’s set. Not only can we witness a killer drum solo from Adam Deitch, but we can watch it in 360-degree virtual reality! While the best way to watch the action would be with a VR headset, you can simply drag the embedded video with your mouse and enjoy from any angle imaginable.Check out the 360-degree Deitch drumming below:How cool is that?! Stay tuned for more innovative footage from Fool’s Paradise and Human Being Media, coming soon! Be sure not to miss Lettuce’s upcoming performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO, as they’ll be headlining the “Rage Rocks” performance with sets from The Wailers, Manic Focus and Grandmaster Flash. More information about that show on June 10th can be found here. read more

9SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr by: Portia CroweAlexa von Tobel is the leadership-award-winning, New York Times bestseller-writing, presidentially-recognized young entrepreneur who founded LearnVest. Her company is an online financial planning service geared primarily at millennials, who von Tobel says face more financial obstacles than any other generation.She sat down with OneWire‘s Skiddy von Stade to explain why financial planning is so challenging for millennials.“If you think about my grandfather… he paid for everything in cash. You can’t really make that many financial mistakes if everything is paid for in cash,” she said. But today, young people have access to credit, which can complicate things. On average, millennials rack up $30,000 in student debt and $4,000-5,000 in credit card debt before even entering the workforce, von Tobel said. Then, their mortgages are more leveraged than ever before. And when it comes to retirement planning, defined contribution plans put the responsibility on the young person, rather than their employer. continue reading » read more

New chip-enabled payment cards are still vulnerable to exploitation, according to an alert from the FBI, which said in a recent bulletin that no one technology eliminates fraud.CUNA has made the same point on numerous occasions, that EMV chip-enabled cards–while a marked security improvement–are not a panacea when it comes to stopping data breaches.Though the chip-enabled cards are more secure than magnetic strip cards, according to the FBI, an EMV chip does not stop lost or stolen cards from being used fraudulently, either online or at point-of-sale. Additionally, the data on the magnetic strip of an EMV card can be stolen if the merchant has not upgraded to an EMV terminal.“Consumers are urged to use the EMV feature of their new card wherever merchants accept it to limit the exposure of their sensitive payment data,” the FBI’s bulletin states.CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle, in an op-ed in The Hill, said that while credit unions and other financial institutions have spent billions of dollars in recent years on cybersecurity, lax merchant practices and a lack of security requirements are the weak link in the payments system. continue reading » 22SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr read more

Each organization has a culture, a way of practicing values and beliefs. In a credit union, the culture starts at the top—in the boardroom—and emanates from there to the executive team and staff. When the board is in alignment to be high performing, the CEO has an easier job of creating and maintaining a highly engaged organizational culture.The board’s role is simple: strategy, policy and advocacy. How directors organize themselves to create an engaged and productive board centers on a commitment for the group to act as such, an engaged and productive board. Engaged and productive directors increase board fitness by modeling the credit union’s vision, mission, and values in and outside of the boardroom.Low-Hanging FruitHere’s a list of 15 easy and common sense things you and your fellow directors can do on your path to being a high performing board. continue reading » 1SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr read more

14SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr continue reading » A credit union’s card portfolio can be its most important revenue source, aside from loans. Even when credit unions are satisfied with the performance of the card processing contracts that support their programs, regularly assessing these relationships to ensure that they are delivering the expected benefits has definite merit.Because credit union leaders must address so many issues, they may have a tendency to apply the old axiom, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” However, applying this approach to card processing contracts can leave money on the table—perhaps millions of dollars—that could be applied elsewhere to return value to members. Taking a second look at card processing contracts may reveal opportunities to increase interchange revenue and/or lower overall cost.This is not to say the contract was not fair in the beginning. It may have been very competitive when signed, but years later—near the end of the typical five-year contract term—certain factors can limit a credit union’s leverage. Changes in the market or the vendor landscape—e.g., consolidation, increased competition, introduction of new technology—all may influence a contract negotiation.Proactively managing contract negotiations does not necessarily mean switching vendors. Rather, sometimes just by applying a few key principles, a credit union can make its relationship with an existing processing vendor even more valuable to the institution and its members. read more

Small, low-income credit unions certified as minority depository institutions have until June 30 to apply for MDI mentoring grants from NCUA.The NCUA will make grants of up to $25,000 to help small institutions establish mentoring programs with larger, low-income-designated credit unions that can provide expertise and guidance in serving low-income and underserved populations.Interested credit unions should review the agency’s mentoring grants guidelines, and they must have an account with the General Services Administration’s System for Awards Management. Eligible credit unions can apply through the NCUA’s Cyber Grants online portal. continue reading » ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr

continue reading » COVID-19 has created unique challenges for the home appraisal process—nationwide shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines have made it difficult for appraisers to do on-site inspections, which means that turnaround times and appraisal fees have increased due to COVID-related backlog.In March, citing the extraordinary circumstances that the country is facing with the ongoing spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that they would be directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ease their standards for both property appraisals.1 Even if your institution services your portfolio of loans, you may want to consider alternative appraisal options as well.The resulting industry solution has been the adoption and acceptance of two alternative appraisal options: desktop appraisals and hybrid appraisals. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how these alternative appraisals are being used to help the home loan process stay on track in 2020. ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr read more

Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York A 90-year-old woman was fatally struck by a car that she was helping her friend move in Oceanside on Wednesday afternoon.Nassau County police said June Gerin was helping her 89-year-old friend move her Ford sedan to the top of the driveway at the friend’s Windsor Parkway home when the driver mistakenly put the car in reverse, hitting the victim as she stood behind the car at 2:35 p.m.The victim was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The driver was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.Homicide Squad detectives conducted a safety test on the car and determined that the incident was accidental.

Categories: Editorial, OpinionTen years ago on Thanksgiving Day, my 25-year-old brother, Trey, died after a car accident. Trey was handsome and popular – a high school valedictorian and college basketball player with a coveted job working for Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.But what stood out most about Trey was his innate capacity to love his neighbor as himself. This condolence note captures Trey well:“I do janitorial and maintenance work in the building that houses the Alexander campaign office. Trey and I would often speak in passing or occasionally make small talk.“After a few weeks, he took the time to introduce himself to me. Trey was always polite, mannerable and usually had a smile on his face.“In short, he was an impressive individual. “I am of a different generation, race and probably differ on some political issues, and all too often today people allow these things to solely define them and separate them from others.“I did not see that with Trey. I consider myself honored to have known him.”The Thanksgiving timing of Trey’s death was significant, framing our grief through a lens of gratitude.Trey’s boss, Sen. Alexander (whom I also worked for as press secretary), likes to quote his friend Alex Haley, who said, “Find the good and praise it.” We found “good” when we learned Trey would die the same way he lived – by loving and giving.Only three in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for organ donation.If you knew Trey, it wouldn’t surprise you that he marked “yes” to organ donation when he renewed his driver’s license the previous May. Ten years later, he is enjoying remarkably good health.He remarried, watched his grandchildren grow and continued his 40-year medical practice, now serving veterans. It turned out the “stranger” Trey helped with the gift of a kidney wasn’t a stranger.He was a neighbor.It’s made me realize there are no strangers, only neighbors awaiting our love and kindness in ways big and small.Laura Lefler Herzog is a resident of the District of Columbia. More from The Daily Gazette:EDITORIAL: Find a way to get family members into nursing homesEDITORIAL: Urgent: Today is the last day to complete the censusEDITORIAL: Beware of voter intimidationFoss: Should main downtown branch of the Schenectady County Public Library reopen?EDITORIAL: Thruway tax unfair to working motorists We were able to carry out Trey’s wishes with peace and confidence. I struggled with the decision to donate his eyes.It seemed so invasive. But he had made it clear he wanted to “give it all.”Now, somewhere out there is a person seeing the world through Trey’s eyes. In a divine plot twist, one of Trey’s kidneys went 250 miles away to a man living down the street from my mother and stepfather.We were advised that donors and recipients typically remain confidential, but as people in the small town learned that Trey had died on Thanksgiving and donated his organs and that a local doctor had finally received a long-awaited kidney the same day, the connection was unavoidable.On her birthday that March, my mom was out for dinner when she saw the physician for the first time.She introduced herself, and he thanked her for the gift Trey had given him.  His girlfriend also recalled an eerily relevant conversation with him just a few weeks before the accident affirming his decision. “I’ll be with the Big Guy,” he told her. “Give it all.”As a result, five people – two single mothers in their 40s, a 56-year-old mother of two, a 36-year-old uncle, and a 62-year-old doctor and father of four – received a Thanksgiving miracle: a life-giving organ from my brother. More than 116,000 men, women and children are on the national transplant waiting list, and 20 people die waiting each day.But here’s the stat that hits home for me: 95 percent of American adults support organ donation, but only 54 percent are signed up as donors.When I flipped my driver’s license over the day Trey died, it wasn’t signed.If you haven’t already, I urge you to register as an organ donor and to share your wishes with loved ones.Talking about organ donation may feel morbid and unnecessary, but it mattered to my family. read more