Ex-R.I. lawmaker given 37-month prison term

A former top Rhode Island state lawmaker was sentenced to more than three years in prison for using his legislative influence to benefit a pharmacy chain and insurance company. US District Judge Mary Lisi said former House Majority Leader Gerard Martineau had used his office "in the most perverse way" but also had shown genuine remorse. She sentenced him to 37 months, in line with what prosecutors had suggested, and fined him $100,000. Prosecutors said in court that Martineau was cooperating in an ongoing influence-peddling probe. Martineau pleaded guilty in November to using his influence to benefit the CVS pharmacy chain and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island while earning roughly $900,000 for selling paper and plastic bags to CVS and Blue Cross while at the same time working to defeat legislation the companies opposed. (AP)

Shares of Sovereign Bancorp Inc. fell yesterday after the company said late Thursday that chief financial officer Mark McCollom would step down March 3, to be replaced by Kirk Walters. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. analyst Robert Hughes said such a significant change is a sign the company is not "truly on the path to righting itself" and cut his rating to "underperform." (AP)

Gas prices have jumped to their highest level since June 8, a possible preview of what many analysts believe will be a record spike in pump prices this spring. But the current surge could be short-lived. While gasoline has risen sharply in recent days in response to oil's dramatic climb to a record above $101 a barrel, gas supplies have quietly grown to their highest level in 14 years. "We've got a major supply cushion," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill. At the pump, gas prices rose 2.9 cents to a national average of $3.115 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. (AP)

Some of the biggest publicly traded home builders probably won't survive the deteriorating housing market, two industry analysts said. Beazer Homes USA Inc., Standard Pacific Corp., and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. are "definitely in critical condition," while WCI Communities Inc. is "hanging on by a thread," Vicki Bryan of Gimme Credit LLC said on Bloomberg TV. Paul Puryear, managing director of Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Fla., agreed with Bryan's list. Sales of new homes fell in December to the lowest level since March 1993, according to the Census Bureau. The companies either did not answer requests for comment or could not be reached. (Bloomberg)

The Food and Drug Administration has approved Genentech Inc.'s cancer drug Avastin for breast cancer, the South San Francisco, Calif., company said. Avastin, already approved for colon and lung cancer, is considered Genentech's most important drug by Wall Street analysts. It had US sales of $2.3 billion in 2007. (Reuters)

Abbott Laboratories Inc. said its blockbuster arthritis drug, Humira, can now be used to treat juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in patients 4 years and older with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, thanks to Food and Drug Administration approval. Patients will get injections once every two weeks. Abbott estimated there are about 50,000 patients with juvenile arthritis in the United States. (Reuters)

Three British bankers were sentenced to just over three years in prison for their roles in a fraud scheme with former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, and they're hoping to serve some of that time back home. A federal judge in Houston sentenced David Bermingham, Giles Darby, and Gary Mulgrew to 37 months each. (AP)