Latest Montana news, sports, business and entertainment:

BANK FRAUD-SENTENCE Former Montana bank executive sentenced for fraud BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) A 50-year-old former vice president of First Interstate Bank in Hardin has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for stealing more than $1.6 million from the bank.

Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull on Wednesday also ordered Vickie D. Becker to pay back the money.

Becker had pleaded guilty earlier to bank fraud and money laundering.

Prosecutors say Becker used a loan scheme to defraud the bank and then laundered the money through her husband's business.

Prosecutors say the money she took over a five-year period was used to cover gambling and other losses racked up by her husband.

Becker had asked for a three-year sentence.

Information from: Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com Missoula FATAL Stevensville woman killed in Missoula crash MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) Authorities say a 44-year-old Stevensville woman has been killed in a three-car accident in Missoula.

Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Sean Finley says Kerina A. Rose was driving Wednesday afternoon when she stopped for a dog that was crossing Mullan Road. A man in a pickup truck rear-ended her and forced her car into the path of another pickup.

Rose, a University of Montana student who was student teaching in the Frenchtown area, was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. A passenger in her car and a man in the second pickup truck also were hospitalized.

Finley says it doesn't appear that alcohol played a role in the crash, but criminal charges will probably be filed against the driver of the pickup that rear-ended Rose's vehicle.

Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com RONAN FATAL Man dies in crash near Ronan RONAN, Mont. (AP) A 39-year-old man is dead after rolling his vehicle on private property north of Missoula, and authorities say alcohol was involved.

The name of the man was not immediately released.

The Montana Highway Patrol says the accident happened on Tuesday while the man and a passenger were looking at deer while traveling through a field in a pickup truck.

The driver was transported to St. Luke's Hospital where he later died of injuries sustained in the crash.

Police say alcohol and speed were factors in the crash. Neither of the two people in the truck was wearing a seat belt.

Information from: KPAX-TV, http://www.kpax.com HARDIN SCHOOL Voters in Montana county approve school bond HARDIN, Mont. (AP) Voters in Big Horn County have narrowly approved a $7.5 million bond issue to expand and improve Hardin High School.

The bond issue passed Tuesday on a 634-619 vote, allowing Hardin High School District 1 to issue the general-obligation bonds.

The main improvement project at the school is a 41,690-square-foot addition that would add nine classrooms, a study hall, locker rooms with showers, a commons area and extra office and storage space.

Built almost 60 years ago, the school was designed for a maximum capacity of about 400 students. It has housed as many as 500 students, but enrollment has stayed steady at about 480 in recent years.

Information from: Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com CFALLS ALUMINUM SHUTDOWN Columbia Falls Aluminum to shut down Oct. 31 COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. (AP) Columbia Falls Aluminum is set to shut down at the end of October, leaving 88 employees out of work.

The company had been able to buy discount electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration, but with an increase in population came an increase in demand for cheap hydropower, pitting industry against other users.

The amount of at-cost power available to industry was diminished and eventually was replaced by a subsidy that helped the aluminum company and others buy down the cost of electricity.

Critics successfully argued that the subsidy was too large and came at the expense of other rate payers, and in December a court ordered the Bonneville Power Administration to end its subsidy to the company.

Bonneville and the aluminum producer put together a "bridge agreement" that carried the company through Sept. 30, but that agreement also was successfully challenged.

Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com ZOMETA VERDICT Montana woman awarded $3.2 million in drugmaker trial MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) A Missoula jury has awarded $3.2 million to a woman suing the maker of a bone-strengthening drug in a decision that could have a bearing on hundreds of cases against the company nationwide.

Peggy L. Stevens of Missoula filed suit against Novartis Pharmaceuticals, alleging the company should have disclosed health risks associated with the bone-strengthening drug called Zometa.

Stevens developed dental and jaw-related problems after taking the drug for several years.

Stevens' attorneys said the company knew patients taking Zometa were vulnerable to a degenerative jaw disorder, particularly those patients who undergo invasive dental procedures. Symptoms include pain, loosening of teeth, exposed bone and infection.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 10-22-09 0231CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list