The nuclear magnetic moment of the ground state of $^{55}$Ni ($I^{pi}=3/2^{-}, T_{1/2}=204$ ms) has been deduced to be $|mu$^{55}Ni)$|=(0.976 pm 0.026)$ $mu_N$ using the $beta$-NMR technique. Results of a shell model calculation in the full textit{fp
} shell model space with the GXPF1 interaction reproduce the experimental value. Together with the known magnetic moment of the mirror partner $^{55}$Co, the isoscalar spin expectation value was extracted as $<sum sigma_z >=0.91 pm 0.07$. The $<sum sigma_z>$ shows a similar trend as that established in the textit{sd} shell. The present theoretical interpretations of both $mu(^{55}$Ni) and $<sum sigma_z>$ for the $T=1/2$, A=55 mirror partners support the softness of the $^{56}$Ni core.
$beta$ decay of the $^{61}$Cr$_{37}$ ground state has been studied. A new half-life of 233 +/- 11 ms has been deduced, and seven delayed $gamma$ rays have been assigned to the daughter, $^{61}$Mn$_{36}$. The low-energy level structure of $^{61}$Mn$_{
36}$ is similar to that of the less neutron-rich $^{57,59}$Mn nuclei. The odd-A $_{25}$Mn isotopes follow the systematic trend in the yrast states of the even-even, Z + 1 $_{26}$Fe isotopes, and not that of the Z - 1 $_{24}$Cr isotopes, where a possible onset of collectivity has been suggested to occur already at N = 36.
The $beta$-decay and isomeric properties of $^{54}$Sc, $^{50}$K and $^{53}$Ca are presented, and their implications with respect to the goodness of the N=32 sub-shell closure discussed.
