Wells Fargo announced today that it is closing a mortgage processing center in Durham, a move that will eliminate 62 jobs.

The decision to close the Durham office and shift its operations to an existing mortgage processing center in Charlotte was triggered by declining mortgage volume, said company spokeswoman Christine Shaw.

The Durham office is part of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a division of Wells Fargo Bank.

Last year San Francisco-based Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia after the Charlotte-based bank veered to the brink of insolvency, creating a bank with 6,650 U.S. branches, more than any other bank. But the Durham mortgage processing center was established by Well Fargo well before it
acquired Wachovia.

Our sister newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, has a piece this morning about an Oregon artist traveling the country in his van, collecting stories about the recession.

Aaron Heideman is stopping in 22 cities to gather stories on a huge banner for his "The Man in the Van Project."

“The economic downturn forced me to close my business and re-enter corporate America…but I am choosing not to participate in the recession,” one man wrote.

Scrawled another: “I've lost my job, became homeless, been robbed, abused, discriminated, arrested and neglected. There is no compassion in America.”

Read the full story here.

What did you do with your summer vacation? John McLean wrote software to help IBM automate the process of counting computers on its Research Triangle Park campus. Last summer, at Raleigh-based Red Hat, he developed software that helps control robots.

Next week he's starting his freshman year at Duke University, with plans to study computer science and religion. His college costs will be partly paid with a 2009 Fedora scholarship, which recognizes students for their contributions to free, open-source software.

Here are some highlights from a recent telephone interview with McLean, who is 18 and lives in Cary:

While we sometimes tend to focus on the big national indicators like unemployment and housing starts, we also know that you don't have to be an economist to make shrewd observations about the economy.

So now we're asking you to play the real-world economist for a moment.

What everyday things do you watch for signs that the economy may be improving? And, what have you been seeing?

Are people buying Bud instead of Stella in the beer aisle?

Do your kids get invited to fancy exclusive birthday parties anymore?

And what are the lines like at restaurants nowadays?

Please share your thoughts, and we may publish some of them in an upcoming edition of Work & Money. Also, please provide your full name and the town in which you live. 

Raleigh public relations firm French/West/Vaughan is expanding its presence in Tampa, Fla.

FrenchWest announced today it has agreed to acquire a four-person Tampa
agency, Relations PR & Marketing, for an undisclosed price. The
move will give it a staff of 10 in Tampa, not including independent
contractors.

"We feel fortunate to be able to continue to invest in our business
while a lot of other agencies are pulling back," said FrenchWest CEO
Rick French.

Atomic Games recently laid off dozens of workers, a move the Raleigh video game company blamed on its failure to land a new publisher willing to fund development of its controversial game about the Iraq war, “Six Days in Fallujah.”

CEO Peter Tamte wouldn’t disclose how many of the company’s 75 workers were laid off but said today that more than a dozen remain after the staff was “substantially reduced.”

He also disputed rumors that the company plans to shut down.

“The rumors are being spread by people who would like to see our studio close,” Tamte said. “There are no plans to shut down Atomic Games.”

A small bright spot for strapped consumers: Progress Energy plans a bigger rate reduction than originally proposed to account for declining fuel costs.

The Raleigh utility in June announced plans to cut rates about 10 cents a month for the average household starting Dec. 1. But after gathering additional cost information, Progress today filed to reduce rates an additional 24 cents a month.

The net savings, if approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission, would be $4.08 a year. The average monthly bill would drop to $106.44, down from $106.78 now.

Electric utilities are allowed to pass along the cost of coal and other fuel, and adjust them annually. Fuel costs have surged in the past five years, but have fallen recently as recession weakens global demand.

The struggling company that makes moissanite, a shiny gemstone marketed as an alternative to diamonds, continues to get squeezed by falling sales.

Late Friday, Charles & Colvard reported that second-quarter sales dropped to $1.3 million, down 64 percent from the same period last year. Consumers hurt by the recession have cut back on spending.

BB&T, the regional bank based in Winston-Salem, agreed to take over branches and deposits of Colonial BancGroup, after the Alabama bank was shut down by regulators.

Colonial Bank's 346 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas will reopen under normal business hours beginning tomorrow and operate as branches of BB&T, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced tonight.

The corporate parent of Mechanics and Farmers Bank posted its second consecutive quarterly profit.

Durham-based M&F Bancorp posted a profit of $125,000, or six cents per share, in the second quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. That reversed a loss of $352,000 a year ago.

“We are very optimistic in this down economy,” said Lyn Hittle, chief financial officer.

Hittle attributed the bank’s performance to a combination of: cost-cutting efforts; lower debt and lower interest rates on debt payments; and lower rates paid on interest-bearing deposits such as money markets and certificates of deposit.

Mechanics and Farmers Bank has nine branches: three in Durham, two each in Raleigh and Charlotte, and single offices in Winston-Salem and Greensboro.