Opening Doors

Gun-control advocates are praising Gov. Corzine's work to secure the passage of a one-handgun-a-month buying limit, and his reelection team is preparing to use it on the campaign trail. But the law might not be in its final form. Corzine pushed the bill through the Legislature late last month only after agreeing to create a task-force team whose first job will be considering amendments to ensure that collectors, competitive shooters, and recreational gun users "are not adversely affected.

Police arrested a woman yesterday who they say helped plan the execution-style killings of Rian Thal and Timothy Gilmore and let the three shooters into Thal's apartment building last Saturday. They identified the woman as Katoya Jones, 25, who lives in the same building where Thal had an apartment at the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties. Although Jones was not one of the three people who fired on Thal and Gilmore, police said she played a significant role in their murders.

Randy Johnson isn't going to have new company in the 300-win club anytime soon, but 46-year-old Jamie Moyer gave chase last night. Moyer - who had won his 250th game Sunday - cruised through most of his seven innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving up two runs on only four hits. But it all came undone with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth last night when the Dodgers' Andre Ethier lined a shot into right field off closer Brad Lidge for a 4-3 victory over the Phillies.

Everybody has a key story. Carmen DiBartolomeo's involves a ninth-floor apartment, an imminent deadline, and a level of mortification he hopes never to repeat. DiBartolomeo was living in New York, getting dressed to deliver his first illustration job to an editor, when he managed to lock himself out of his apartment - in his underwear. He hid behind the stairwell door until someone stepped off the elevator. "Pssstt," he hissed to the stranger. "Could you call my wife and tell her I need the keys?"

For a Bensalem producer of energy-efficient windows and doors, yesterday's visit from Gov. Rendell meant a publicity surge. For the state of Pennsylvania, that visit will mean $366 million in federal stimulus funds to develop alternative energy projects and encourage energy conservation. Rendell used Accu-Weld Replacement Window & Door Co. as the backdrop for signing two certification letters necessary for Pennsylvania to receive its energy-related stimulus money. It's part of the overall $787 billion federal stimulus package.

Philadelphia's robust trial bar and the corporate defense lawyers who regularly go up against it seemed assured of doing battle for years to come under the Supreme Court decision yesterday allowing lawsuits over FDA-approved drugs to go forward. In essence, the court said that FDA approval is no defense in cases where drugmakers fail to adequately warn patients and doctors about potential side effects that can cause serious injury, even death. The principle effectively underlies much of the litigation over the alleged harmful effects of drugs.

OK, open the door. All the way? Yeah, watch DeSean Jackson try to catch this punt. Wives tale or not, the door is part of the legend of Giants Stadium, how the home team can open a big door past the tunnel at one end and get the wind really swirling. "I know as a returner, they play with the doors," said Comcast SportsNet analyst Vaughn Hebron, remembering his own playing days visiting Giants Stadium. "They open the doors and create that wind tunnel - oh yeah, they do it. " But even if the Giants don't, or if they used to do it but have stopped, or only do it occasionally - the swirling winds are part of today's NFC divisional playoff game between the Eagles and Giants.

It's amazing how 100 decorated trees, 1,000 wreaths and bows, 1,800 poinsettias, miles of evergreens, and thousands of ornaments and lights can spruce up a 250-room French Renaissance chateau. Greeted by carolers, my wife, Nancy, and I enter the palatial Biltmore Estate through the same front doors that George W. Vanderbilt first threw open to family and friends on Christmas Eve 1895. A natural garland garnished with bright red bows outlines the sweeping Grand Staircase, the evergreens scenting the foyer.

Nine days after the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, a telegram arrived at 211 Virginia Ave., Westmont, N.J. It was among the first of 294,000 such telegrams that would go to American families during World War II. It read: "The Navy Department deeply regrets to inform you that your son Ensign Joseph Parker Hittorff Jr., United States Navy, was lost in action. . . . " "If remains are recovered," the message added, "they will be interred temporarily in the locality where death occurred, and you will be notified accordingly.

The $700 billion bailout may or may not unclog the nation's financial system. But what it would surely do, experts say, is create opportunities for clever investors to game the system. "I think everyone who is in the financial-services business is busting a gut right now trying to figure out where" the money can be made, said Richard D. Jones, a partner at Dechert L.L.P. who focuses on mortgage finance and capital markets. As the U.S. Treasury Department begins implementing the bailout program - the first contractors might be hired this week - the nation's financial problems only deepened.