Hybrid

2004 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra (available to the public in the fall) Ford Escape (late summer) 2005 Saturn Vue Dodge Ram pickup 2006 Chevrolet Equinox Mercedes S-class 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe GMC Yukon Source: U.S. Department of Energy

The border between the United States and Mexico is sufficiently permeable to have produced its own distinctive hybrid culture. Glass artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre, while not of the border zone, are perfect representatives of that culture. The brothers are natives of Guadalajara who moved to Southern California as adolescents. Now they produce art that is truly bicultural in the way it thoroughly homogenizes Mexican and American source material. Their small exhibition at Snyderman Gallery indicates that they look at their native and adopted cultures skeptically.

There were many sides to Joseph Kassab - a skilled surgeon, a Wallingford community activist, an Army Reserve major and an area horticulturist, registered by the National Arboretum as the discoverer of a hybrid holly, 'Doctor Kassab.' Dr. Kassab, 82, died Wednesday at his Wallingford home, the same house where he had cared for the gardens since he was a child. "He was a very caring surgeon and loved his trees," said his wife of 38 years, Emma Elizabeth Smith Kassab. Born in the city of Chester, Dr. Kassab graduated in 1930 from Lafayette College and, in 1934, from Hahnemann Medical College.

Mayor Rendell emerged from a huddle with the board members of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority yesterday and said the center would be run by "a hybrid" of public employees and private companies. Rendell and City Council President John F. Street met for more than an hour in City Hall with the nine-member board and the top staff of the convention center, in a meeting closed to the public. The board then briefly convened a public meeting to award the $54 million bid on the Reading Terminal train shed to Dick Enterprises, of Pittsburgh.

It all started inauspiciously enough a decade ago when Taylor-Made introduced the Rescue club, a funny-looking sort of half fairway wood, half long iron. As the name implies, the Rescue was designed to be easy to hit and versatile, a club that recreational golfers use to get themselves out of trouble their other clubs had gotten them into. Ten years later, the Rescue - generically dubbed a "hybrid" club by the dozen or more manufacturers who have their own variations - is no longer a fad but the fastest-growing category of club in the game.

From time immemorial, if not sooner, women have wondered whether all men are pigs. Modern science has muddied the waters - can you cross a pig with a man? Is that redundant? And what do you call something that's part pig, or some other species, and part man? What would you call a guy who dated such a creature? Would the word "pig" even suffice? All these questions, and more, are explored in the zestily disturbing sci-fi/horror/monster mash-up "Splice. " It's a new-age Frankenstein about two married scientists (their names are Clive and Elsa, taken from the actors in "Frankenstein" movies)

Take away the laptops at the sound console and the camera phones, and the Mars Volta's 2 1/2-hour show of heavy rock transcendence at the Electric Factory on Sunday was an authentic, mind-expanding happening straight out of the original psychedelic ballroom in the late '60s. (The band plays a second sold-out show there tonight.) The band, expanded to seven pieces for the live performance, turned the Santana-on-steroids opener "Drunkship of Lanterns" into a half-hour opus that spewed discordant sax skronk, and its 35-minute finale, "Cassandra Gemini," made King Crimson's pioneering prog-rock absurdity "Court of the Crimson King" seem tame.

It's a cross between Waiting for Godot, Cabaret and Towering Inferno. It's "Cocktail in the Sky," a hard-to-peg but explosively funny dance-theater hybrid. This collaboration between choreographer Melanie Stewart and the Scottish-based Benchtours theater company bowed at Temple Center City's Stage III on Friday, sharing the bill with Darla Stanley's "Blood Carved. " Surprisingly, there was a coherent story here, emerging in pieces from under the strange goings-on: Five disparate characters find themselves in an elevator, bound for the highest cocktail lounge ever built.

Question: I understand that both Toyota and Honda are coming out with electric cars. When will they go on sale, and how much will they cost? Answer: They aren't true electric vehicles, for openers. They are called hybrids, which means they derive their power from both an electric motor and a small gas engine. The Honda Insight coupe is due on the U.S. market early next year. The Toyota Prius sedan will be along later as a 2001 model. (It is already on sale in Japan.) The advantage of the hybrid is that it gets much better mileage than a conventional gas-powered car - 70 m.p.g.

Of the manga artists producing adult comics in Japan, the one who most fascinates me is Masamune Shirow, whose work is the basis of the spectacular and heady Ghost in the Shell films and, now, Appleseed. The William Gibson of anime, Shirow is a cyberpunk artist-philosopher whose theme is how we define humanity in the cybernetic age. The imagery in Appleseed, a post-apocalyptic film set in a utopian community where the gleaming facades are beginning to crack under the strain of a plot against cyborgs, is so photorealistic that it's hard to believe it's the product of computer generation.

PERSONALLY, I'M GLAD that at least a couple of Philly state lawmakers appear to focus on goals higher and nobler than usually seen in your Legislature. Democratic Rep. Dwight Evans, for example, is out to save the planet. Democratic Sen. Mike Stack seems driven to cleanliness, which, as you know, is next to godliness. So, good for them. And I hope you admire their aspirations because, well, you're paying for them. These factoids about this pair emerge following a comprehensive review of lawmakers' expenses published in Monday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . Evans, of course, is a two-decades-plus North Philly House member who once ran for governor (and lieutenant governor and mayor)

INDIANAPOLIS - Bill Davis calls it the "predator. " Gus Bradley calls it the "Leo. " It's the weakside defensive end, who predominately rushes the passer in a hybrid defense. Whether they ended up with Chip Kelly or Bradley, the Eagles were moving to a hybrid scheme that utilized both 4-3 and 3-4 principles. Kelly, of course, got the head coaching job, but he and Davis, his defensive coordinator, have revealed very little about their defense. Kelly's stated preference and Davis' history, along with the buzz at the NFL combine this past week, have made it evident that the Eagles will have a very different scheme, one that needs players they don't have.

When the NHL's 119-day lockout finally died last month, it took with it a potential rule change that hit home for Flyers defenseman Kurtis Foster. Granted, Foster would rather be playing than pushing for new league policy. Still, Foster couldn't help but shake his head when asked about the AHL - the minor hockey league often used as the NHL's proving ground for potential changes - abandoning its experiment with hybrid icing once the lockout ended. Foster, 31, nearly lost his leg and almost had his career cut short because of the NHL's dangerous icing regulations, which require players to touch the puck after it has been iced by the opposing team.

America's destiny for the Rhône's famous red grape will ultimately be crafting wines that land between the earthy French version known as "syrah" and the luscious Aussie fruit bomb dubbed "shiraz. " The perfect compromise should probably be called "sy-raz," although I'm sure the great winemakers of Washington State would object. They stick with the classic label of syrah, and since these tend to be my favorite domestic renditions, they've earned the right. Even so, a great bottle like this 2006 Cougar Crest Reserve from Walla Walla, steeply discounted in Pennsylvania issue from $55 to $24.99, shows its true hybrid personality in the glass - in the very best way. The fruit is New World ripe, brooding, figgy, round, and deep.

WASHINGTON - As members of Congress pledged Thursday to revive legislation to save the financially ailing U.S. Postal Service, a Washington think tank announced that it will conduct an independent study of how the quasi-government agency could cede much of its operation to private companies. The review by the nonprofit National Academy of Public Administration will analyze the benefits of restoring the agency's financial health by using a "hybrid" model, which would farm out to the private sector postal operations other than the last delivery mile.

Recall affects Priuses in U.S. Toyota is recalling 670,000 Prius hybrids from model years 2004-09 in the United States to fix problems involving loss of steering and hybrid powertrain shutdown, the automaker has told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Metal used for a steering component is not hard enough, according to a report the automaker filed Wednesday with the safety agency. The part could wear out "if the steering wheel is frequently and forcefully turned to the full left or full right position while driving at low speeds," and that "could result in the loss of steering," according to the report.

Ford C-Max Hybrid SEL: Smooth, sippy family mover. Price: $32,075 as tested, including a $3,080 package that adds premium audio and navigation, power liftgate, rear camera, and automated parking. (A base model starts at $25,020.) Marketer's pitch: Hybrid efficiency. Real-world performance. Conventional wisdom: Edmunds.com credits its "superb gas mileage ... refined ride and responsive handling. " Reality: I'd call it 2½ out of 3. Weekend vehicle: The C-Max came to me in an unusual way. Normally, I work with fleet companies that provide test vehicles for members of the media.

ROSEVILLE, MICH. - Investigators will take soil samples from the ground beneath a suburban Detroit driveway after a man told police he believes that he witnessed the burial there of missing Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa about 35 years ago, police said Wednesday. Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said that his department got a tip from the man, who said he "thinks it may have been Jimmy he saw interred. " Hoffa was last seen on July 30, 1975, outside a suburban Detroit restaurant where he was supposed to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain.

I'M A SUCKER for a love story. I just never thought I'd see one on "Frontline. "   The weekly PBS documentary showcase rivals only "60 Minutes" in its Very Important Coverage of news and public affairs. The last thing you'd expect while watching "Frontline" is to reach for a Kleenex while pressing your hand to your heart and sniffling, "I LOVE these guys…" But if you watch Tuesday night's "Frontline" premiere of "Fast Times at West Philly High," I promise that you, too, will be tearful and smitten.

LITITZ, Pa. - Levi, the hybrid wolf-dog who eluded capture in Pennypack Park from March until 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, is not seeing any visitors these days. That's the word from Speedwell Forge Wolf Sanctuary, where Levi lives in quarantine in a 10-by-10-foot enclosure. The gray wolf-Malamute can hear the barks, growls, and howls from the 44 other gray wolves and hybrids on the place, a private, nonprofit sanctuary licensed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. If he were suddenly thrown in with one of the packs of wolves that roam 22 acres of securely fenced Lancaster County land, he'd be torn to pieces in two minutes.