Infusion

Sovereign Bancorp Inc. said yesterday that it planned to raise $1.5 billion in the latest move by big banks to replenish balance sheets depleted by the failure of risky loans made during the credit boom that collapsed last year. Sovereign, officially headquartered in Philadelphia although its chief executive works in Boston, said it will attempt to sell $1 billion in common stock and $500 million in fixed-rate subordinated notes. Last year, Sovereign was the fourth-largest bank in the region, with 82 branches and $10.28 billion in deposits, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. said yesterday that it was getting a fresh cash investment of $6.6 billion to strengthen its balance sheet, led by three foreign investment groups. The investors also include New Jersey's pension fund, which said yesterday that it would invest $700 million in Merrill and Citigroup Inc. Merrill Lynch has been raising capital after losing billions of dollars on bad bets in the mortgage market. Rising delinquencies and defaults among mortgages have forced banks to write down the value of bonds and debt backed by the troubled loans.

Critical Homecare Solutions Holdings Inc., of Conshohocken, said yesterday that it was being acquired by a publicly traded acquisition company in a stock deal for $420 million. Critical Homecare, which provides at-home infusion therapy and specialty-infusion services to patients with acute and chronic medical conditions, will remain in Conshohocken. Under terms of the acquisition, MBF Healthcare Acquisition Corp., of Coral Gables, Fla., will change its name to Critical Homecare Solutions and its stock will continue to be traded publicly on the American Stock Exchange.

PharmaSciences Inc., a West Conshohocken company working on drug-delivery techniques, said yesterday that financial problems probably would force it to liquidate. Philip F. Heimlich, president and chief executive of the firm, said a restructuring plan announced in January would not be completed. The company, formerly called Himedics Inc., was renamed in January, at the same time that shareholders approved the restructuring plan and the acquisition of Controlled Therapeutics Ltd. Himedics had been based in Hollywood, Fla., before moving to the Philadelphia area and being taken over by three former executives of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., the Collegeville, Montgomery County, drug company.

Over the years while serving the City of Philadelphia as a deputy city solicitor for civil rights, I represented successfully in many trials, and/or interviewed, hundreds of police officers about the dangers of their jobs. I witnessed firsthand in court the unfair second-guessing of split-second decisions officers made in situations most people would run away from. My most cherished award came from the Fraternal Order of Police for my dedication to law enforcement. I also sat in the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul on Friday and watched with great sadness and pain the funeral for our most recent fallen police officer.

WHEN WE FIRST found out that my wife had cancer, we were told that she had between three and eight months to live. Needless to say, we were agitated, worried and extremely sad. Then we switched to Jefferson and right away, started to feel better. They made us feel that there was hope and good things ahead. That was two years ago! They didn't even know us, but we were treated like family! Their good cheer and caring nature really did more good than any medicine or needles. Although we don't expect miracles, at least we feel hope, cheerfulness and we're able to smile.

ATLANTA - In what's being called a landmark study, researchers used gene therapy to successfully treat six patients with severe hemophilia, a blood-clotting disorder. The study was preliminary and involved only six patients, and other promising early attempts to use gene therapy against hemophilia ultimately failed. But a single infusion using the new treatment worked in some patients for more than a year, boosting their clotting ability significantly. "I think this is a terrific advance for the field.

Ladawna Leeth of Eastampton is living proof that cancer can, in some ways, change a person's life for the better. Despite the treatment and tribulations that accompany a diagnosis, cancer tends to put patients' priorities into perspective and refine their life goals, said Leeth, 46, the newly appointed director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Hamilton, an adjunct to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital campus in Mercer County. Leeth, a 22-year thyroid cancer survivor, draws on her experience to create the best treatment plan for CINJ Hamilton's patients.

Last fall, during a friendly phone conversation in the early stages of my retirement, I ran my hand idly over my chest and found a lump that was about to place me in the extreme minority of the adult male population. The ensuing doctor visits and tests all pointed to the same diagnosis: At 59, I had breast cancer. The words from Dr. Beth DuPree of Langhorne put it all into sobering perspective: "Only about 1 percent of the breast cancer population are men, but they tend to ignore symptoms and have more advanced disease when they finally seek treatment.

There should be no sophomore jinxes this season in area girls' soccer. A number of outstanding freshmen from last year have picked up right where they left off. According to coaches, this year's group of sophomores is well above average and will make a significant impact throughout South Jersey. Last season, four freshmen scored 20 or more goals. Leading the way was Quinn Sellers of Burlington Township with 31, followed by Cumberland's Alexis Seeley (24) and Delran's Erika "Boo" Schubert and Mainland's Jean Turner (both 20)

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney's presidential campaign raised $12.6 million in contributions in March, adding to roughly $14 million his Republican Party brought in last month. But the combined figure puts Romney at a disadvantage with the man whose job he wants in November. President Obama countered Romney's fund-raising haul with about $53 million in donations between his campaign and the Democratic Party during the same period. That left his campaign with $104 million cash on hand - about 10 times more than the $10 million Romney had in the bank at the end of March.

YOU AIN'T heard nothing like "rockjazz" musician ELEW - the torrent of power and passion kicking out the jams tonight for the "Live from Loews" (hotel) monthly concert series. The press release bills it as an "intimate live performance. " Don't they know what they're really getting here? Standing/dancing at his Yamaha piano, with legs fanned out like a sumo wrestler and arms encrusted with metallic "vambrace" armor, the man truly attacks his keyboard. The left hand pounds bass lines with such fervor you'll never notice there's no drummer.

'Twas the night before Christmas, but plenty was stirring, especially at Matisyahu's sold-out gig at the Theatre of Living Arts. There were other alternative Christmas Eve events around town showcasing Jewish culture, but nothing like this two-hour concert- cum -Hanukkah celebration, complete with a giant mirror-dreidel overhead and outsized menorah onstage. The popular Brooklyn-based Jewish reggae artist dispensed various holiday greetings, welcoming all to his sixth annual Festival of Light mini-tour: "And if you're an atheist, happy Saturday night.

ATLANTA - In what's being called a landmark study, researchers used gene therapy to successfully treat six patients with severe hemophilia, a blood-clotting disorder. The study was preliminary and involved only six patients, and other promising early attempts to use gene therapy against hemophilia ultimately failed. But a single infusion using the new treatment worked in some patients for more than a year, boosting their clotting ability significantly. "I think this is a terrific advance for the field.

W earable art is a term I first encountered some years back at a craft show. It struck me then, and it strikes me now, as a marketing gloss designed to enhance the prestige of handmade clothing and jewelry. Now Italian designer Roberto Capucci breezes into town with a collection of garments that confers legitimacy on the concept. Certainly the 80-year-old Capucci believes himself to be as much an artist as a couturier. At least half the approximately 90 designs in his first American museum exhibition, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, are designated "sculpture dresses"; a handful at the end of the installation are identified simply as "sculptures.

Few are the designers and architects who have not eventually cut themselves some creative leeway. In fact, one of the more interesting revelations of "The Usefulness of Useless Things," an exhibition organized by Jonathan Berger for Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, is that the Swiss furniture designer-turned-artist Janette Laverrière (1909-2011), who inspired this show, waited until she was 80 to indulge herself in her own art. (Luckily for Laverrière, she lived to 102, long enough to draw and make models for a number of what she referred to as her "useless things," conceptual mirrors honoring people, places, and events that affected her life.)

It becomes clear as Tim Mountz rhapsodizes about the pawpaws he has been foraging near the Susquehanna, shaking trees, having them rain down - by the dozens! - that Chris Curtin has no clue what he's talking about. The two of them are at the big pine table at Talula's Table, the Kennett Square ode to local eating - Mountz, who grows heirloom tomatoes and 20 varieties of fingerling potatoes and herbs at his Happy Cat Farm, spread discreetly on the gentle hills of Winterthur, the du Pont estate; Curtin, the European-trained chocolatier, who heads up Éclat Chocolate, the high-end, artisanal chocolate shop in West Chester.

Ladawna Leeth of Eastampton is living proof that cancer can, in some ways, change a person's life for the better. Despite the treatment and tribulations that accompany a diagnosis, cancer tends to put patients' priorities into perspective and refine their life goals, said Leeth, 46, the newly appointed director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Hamilton, an adjunct to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital campus in Mercer County. Leeth, a 22-year thyroid cancer survivor, draws on her experience to create the best treatment plan for CINJ Hamilton's patients.

The amount of money they had given already was historic for Pennsylvania - and now, it's more. Joel Greenberg, Arthur Dantchik, and Jeff Yass - all executives at the Susquehanna International Group L.L.P. of Bala Cynwyd - started over the winter by indirectly giving $1.5 million to State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams' Democratic campaign for governor. The cash allowed Williams, who belatedly entered the race in February, to pour out a Niagara of TV ads leading up to Tuesday's primary.