Kalispell woman sentenced for bank fraud

MISSOULA - A 47-year-old Kalispell woman has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for embezzling more than $227,000 from two companies she did bookkeeping work for.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molly also ordered Judy L. Hammack on Friday to pay about $223,000 in restitution.

Hammack had pleaded guilty earlier to bank fraud.

Prosecutors say Hammack took more than $157,000 from a masonry company and more than $70,000 from a construction company.

Hammack told investigators she took the money by inflating her paychecks, writing checks to herself, forging her employers' signatures and having her employers pre-sign checks before entering fraudulent amounts.

Flathead County pulls money from investment pool

KALISPELL - Flathead County has taken its money out of the state's Short-term Investment pool program due to low interest rates.

County Treasurer Adele Krantz says the county had about $35 million in the program at the beginning of the year.

Krantz says the county can get a higher interest rate by putting the money in local banks.

The Short-term Investment pool program is a statewide money pool where government agencies must keep their surplus money and where cities and counties can invest their surpluses.