The end of a year is a time to reflect on the events of the past12 months and consider what they say about us as a society. I surewish 2017 could be remembered by stories as innocent as the Pokémoncraze. Or the “Seinfeld” finale. Or that time when U2 installedtheir latest album on everyone's phone without asking.

Rather, the past year's headlines have been a bit more serious.Here are four of the biggest news stories of 2017 that eitheroriginated in the credit union world or impacted it in someway.

Safety: A Thing of the Past?

In just a two-month timeframe, from December 2016 to January2017, employees and members at three different credit unionbranches in Florida, Alabama and California experienced the terrorof being held as hostages and terrorized during robbery attempts.These nightmares, coupled with the national news of mass shootingsat a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, which killed 26 people,and on the Las Vegas strip, which took 58 lives – the most everrecorded in a mass shooting in U.S. history – made us all wonder,“Are we ever really safe?”

The threats of violence are real, and the credit union industryresponded this year by putting more emphasis on preparing for theseworst-case scenarios. For example, this year's annual conferenceheld by the League of Southeastern Credit Unions featured an activeshooter workshop. For advice on how to prepare for an activeshooter situation, read Tina Orem's Oct. 8, 2015 story, “ActiveShooters: 6 Mistakes Credit Unions Make,” and for ahostage-robbery incident, check out Peter Strozniak's story fromour Dec. 6 print issue, “Managinga Hostage-Robbery Crisis.”

Modern World, Outdated Mindsets

After eight years of having a black president in the OvalOffice, many of us assumed racism in the U.S. was well on its wayto being buried on a shelf in the pages of history books. We werewrong. The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlotesville, Va., wherewhite supremacists protesting the removal of a Confederate statuedrove a speeding car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killingone woman, followed by President Trump's remarks that there was“blame on both sides” and the “Unite the Right” protesters includedsome “very fine people,” was a major indication that we still havea long way to go.

Racial insensitivity unfortunately became an issue in the creditunion industry as well, leading us to report on two big stories. InMay at a Sound Credit Union branch in Kent, Wash., a teller called9-1-1 after Muslim member Jamela Mohamed refused to remove her hoodas she was asked to for religious reasons, sparking a social mediaoutrage after Mohamed posted a video of the incident on Facebook.Then, in November, Potlatch No. 1 Federal Credit Union in Lewiston,Idaho faced scrutiny after a photo of four employees who came towork on Halloween dressed in Olympic uniforms and blackfaceappeared on Facebook.

Let's hope we take some steps forward, not backward, on theissue of racial and cultural tolerance in 2018. Another Day, Another Jackass

Harvey Weinstein. Kevin Spacey. Roy Moore. Louis C.K. Andperhaps the most shocking of all, Matt Lauer. This year, it seemedevery day another powerful man was being accused of serious sexualmisconduct, usually in the workplace. But it's not that theseincidents are taking place more often – it's that more womennowadays have the guts to speak out about them.

On-the-job sexual harassment has been in existence since womenfirst began working with men, and until recently, many of theseguys got away with it. First-hand example: In the 1970s, my mother,a supervisor at an airline ticketing office in Manhattan, calledher boss to ask him if she should hire a woman she had justinterviewed for a new position. He asked, “Does she have bigboobs?” Back then, the comment was laughed off, but today, I hopeit would send the jerk straight out the door.

The continuing news of allegations against male public figuresin 2017 has been disappointing, but it's also inspired people totake action against harassment. So ladies, if you're harassed by amale colleague, do not be afraid to share your story. HR managers,enforce a no-tolerance policy for sexual harassment in theworkplace, and create an environment where female workers feelcomfortable coming forward. And parents of young boys, monitor themessages your sons are exposed to and show them how to treat womenwith respect.

Who's the Boss?

At CU Times, we're great about unplugging on holidaysand weekends, but the day after Thanksgiving was an exception.David Baumann alerted me he was working on a story so crazy that Icut my Black Friday shopping short and rushed to my computer to setup a breaking news email. Former CFPB Director Richard Cordrayannounced that Friday was his last day of work, and appointedDeputy Director Leandra English as acting director. But that sameday, President Trump appointed Office of Management and BudgetDirector Mick Mulvaney as acting director, meaning both English andMulvaney would show up at work Monday thinking they were in charge.Really? This is the kind of HR mistake you'd expect to see at aDollar Tree, not a government agency.

That Tuesday, a judge ruled Mulvaney would serve as actingdirector, but the mix-up is a great example of the level ofdysfunction that has been trickling out of Washington this entireyear. Oh, and I'm not surprised Trump chose Mulvaney, who actuallycalled the CFPB “a sick, sad joke,” to lead the agency. Some of hisother picks, namely the Environmental Protection Agency's ScottPruitt, and their views on the mission of the agencies they werechosen to lead, seem to represent the president's disdain for theparticular work these agencies have been doing all along. In thecase of the CFPB, if it were to be dismantled, it's thefinancially-struggling consumer – the one most likely to be takenadvantage of by a payday lender – who is going to suffer.

Much of the news this year has been hard to hear – and to reporton. At CU Times, our goal is to continue bringing readersrelevant, accurate news as quickly as possible, that willultimately help you do your jobs better in the credit union world.I genuinely hope we fulfilled this goal for you in 2017. Thank youfor reading, and see you next year!

Natasha Chilingerian is managing editor for CU Times. Shecan be reached at [email protected].