Opening Doors

Emmanuel Skordalakes scrutinized the genetic makeup of pigs and cows and rats and hundreds of other creatures before the red flour beetle, an eighth-of-an-inch-long pest found in Southern kitchens, delivered the breakthrough scientists had sought for more than a decade. The result - a key protein molecule modeled in 3-D - could speed the search for drugs against most human cancers. It might even help in the quest for the fountain of youth. "A molecule you can barely see has so much power," said Skordalakes, a structural biologist at Philadelphia's Wistar Institute and lead author of a paper published online yesterday in the journal Nature.

Using an outrageous loophole in state law, many wealthy New Jersey communities have for years avoided providing more affordable housing by paying off poorer towns to shoulder the responsibility. The practice has shamefully made New Jersey one of the most economically segregated states in the country, with high concentrations of poverty in its urban centers. Thankfully, the Legislature took a step toward changing that last week by approving an overhaul of New Jersey's housing policies.

On his first full day in office, as he hosted the City Hall open house that drew thousands, Mayor Nutter extended an invitation. "This is the people's hall, and I want them to know that they are welcome here, that I am listening," he said at the time. The people are RSVP'ing in droves. Civic groups, nonprofits, business leaders, pastors and activists have been banging on the doors of City Hall in huge numbers since Nutter took office, each pitching a program, pleading a case, or simply trying to connect to the new administration.

WASHINGTON - Atlanta's Tom Glavine left with a hamstring injury before recording a single out yesterday in the Braves' 5-4 loss to Washington. The Nationals snapped a nine-game losing streak. Glavine (0-1) matched the shortest start of his 22-season career, departing with a strained right hamstring after letting all four batters he faced reach base. After throwing his 16th pitch, he walked off the mound and briefly doubled over. "I will not know how it is until I get out there and throw, which will most likely be Tuesday," he said.

The streak that had New York Mets fans convinced that their team had a mental block against their rivals ended in hideous fashion for the Phillies last night at Shea Stadium. Too many walks. Too many errors. The Phillies have not played three innings as poorly as the first three innings of last night's 8-2 loss to the Mets in quite some time. Kyle Kendrick allowed seven runs (one earned) and six walks in 2 1/3 innings. The Phillies committed four errors in those early innings - three in the third - as the Mets snapped their losing streak to the Phillies at nine.

Nicholas Pisano heard a knock at the door in his Old City rowhouse and thought it was a food deliveryman, police said. Instead, he was gunned down Monday night as he opened the door to tell the man he hadn't placed an order, police said. Pisano, 25, of the 300 block of North Front Street, was taken by a medic unit to Hahnemann University Hospital and pronounced dead at 10:45 p.m. Police received a call about 9:30 p.m. of a shooting in the neighborhood of rowhouses with rear balconies that overlook Columbus Boulevard and the Delaware River.

Accusing trade unions of standing in the way of minority hiring objectives, City Council yesterday declared the $700 million Convention Center expansion open to nonunion contractors and workers - an unprecedented gesture in a city dominated by organized labor. Citing the construction industry's repeated failures to meet minority hiring goals on public projects and the unions' refusal to disclose the racial makeup of their memberships, Council voted to amend the Convention Center's operating agreement to allow nonunion workers, to help increase minority participation.

Accusing trade unions of standing in the way of minority hiring objectives, City Council yesterday declared the $700 million Convention Center expansion open to nonunion contractors and workers - an unprecedented gesture in a city dominated by organized labor. Citing the construction industry's repeated failures to meet minority hiring goals on public projects and the unions' refusal to disclose the racial makeup of their memberships, Council voted to amend the Convention Center's operating agreement to allow nonunion workers, to help increase minority participation.

A couple died in a rowhouse fire early yesterday morning in North Philadelphia when they could not unlock a dead bolt in time to escape, the executive fire chief said. The fire, which erupted shortly before 7 a.m. in the 1100 block of West Thompson Street, was caused by faulty electrical wiring in a basement appliance, according to the chief, Daniel Williams. Williams said the couple's wrought-iron security door had an unsafe dead bolt that required a key to open. By the time the homeowner, William Morris, found the key, he was too overcome by smoke to open the door.

It started with just 19 artists in 1999. But this weekend and next, the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours will turn this city into an open-air art gallery, as 285 artists open their homes and studios to the curious public in 16 neighborhoods from South Philadelphia to Germantown. POST is entirely free, and for the adventurous, it's entirely engrossing. That's because Philadelphia is teeming with painters, sculptors, photographers, weavers, glass blowers and makers of the hard-to-categorize.