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If it has fur or feathers, Dale and Deb Tolentino have probably cared for it.

The owners of D-D Farm Animal Sanctuary and Rescue make their livelihood by rescuing and rehabilitating animals.

More than two months after interviewing its final four candidates, MU’s Life Sciences Center has chosen its director.

MU Provost Brady Deaton announced Tuesday that R. Michael Roberts, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, has been appointed director of the $60 million center. His appointment will be effective Jan. 1.

As long as the developer is able to address concerns about traffic and storm water runoff, Columbia’s planning department has recommended approving nearly all the plans for the 489-acre Philips farm in southeast Columbia.

Developer Elvin Sapp wants to put a mix of commercial, office and residential development on the land inside the environmentally sensitive Gans and Clear Creek and Little Bonne Femme watersheds. If approved in its current form, the development would be the largest in Boone County history.

JEFFERSON CITY — Speaker of the House Catherine Hanaway, R-St. Louis County, announced her candidacy Tuesday in the 2004 race for secretary of state elections.

Citing her experience as a securities lawyer in St. Louis and her time in the state legislature, Hanaway pledged that as secretary of state, she would create jobs for all Missourians who want them and restore the integrity of the election process.

JEFFERSON CITY — Another Missouri city has added its name to the growing list of places that ban smoking in restaurants.

Despite a loud outcry from restaurant owners, the City Council of Jefferson City voted 6-4 on Monday for a clean-air ordinance.

JEFFERSON CITY — Sen. Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, has pre-filed a bill targeting the bank accounts of drug dealers in Missouri.

The act requires drug dealers to pay a stamp tax on each gram of illegal drugs in their possession. The stamps would be purchased anonymously and be valid for three months.

One man claimed that a Wal-Mart supercenter failed to accommodate his disability and that a manager cussed him out when he complained.

Another complained that Gerbes employees accused him of shoplifting because he’s black and walks with a cane.

City planners are still looking for a way to move traffic in and around the Russell property.

Planning Director Roy Dudark presented four options to the City Council on Monday to extend roads from Cunningham Road through the park. Dudark said an extension of Cunningham, which is included in the city’s Major Roadway Plan, would greatly benefit traffic in the surrounding neighborhoods and parks, but also included three options that extend roads further west.

Westlake Ace Hardware is hoping to open a third store in Columbia.

Harold Elsberry, Westlake Ace Hardware’s president and CEO, said Friday the company wants to expand in Columbia and is looking into potential locations in the Nifong-Providence area.

The 6-foot blood python lunged at Kelly Diedring’s legs, attempting to strike the animal care specialist. Diedring hopped back while still grasping the aggressive snake and successfully avoided the jaws of the python — all the while explaining its features and behaviors on camera.

This scene from the Dec. 1 episode of Animal Planet’s first reality show, “King of the Jungle,” was one of many that impressed the judges so much that “Queen of the Jungle” might have been a more fitting title for the show.

Henry Lane will once again run for a seat on the Columbia Board of Education and plans to file the paperwork this morning to make his sixth candidacy official.

Lane said in a news release that his primary concerns are quality of education, financial management of the district, school property taxes and the $22.5 million bond issue that district officials are preparing to place on the April ballot.

John Hauck Von Braun shares a room with 10 other men. He sleeps in a bed that is a foot shorter than his 6-foot-7-inch frame. He has a curfew at night, and his phone calls are limited.

But the 55-year-old could not be more thankful for his place of residency, New Life Evangelical Center. “My life would probably be over if it wasn’t for this shelter,” he said.

Some have been abused, some neglected. Some arrive at their new home unable to read and unable to function in the outside world. They come to Missouri Girls Town because it’s a safe place where they can begin to heal from the trauma they’ve experienced and learn the skills they need to make their lives a success.

Elizabeth — the state requested that her real name not be printed — came to Girls Town because she began having problems with her family. She grew apart from her mother as she became more independent. She maintains a relationship with her mother, stepfather and siblings who live in Columbia, but her parents share custody with the state of Missouri. For the past four years, Elizabeth has lived at a Girls Town facility, attending high school at North Callaway.

An empty hallway lit by fluorescent lights cuts through the ninth floor of St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Nurses in brightly colored scrubs pass frequently through the hall, sliding into one room, then another. This is the place 4-year-old Tim Grant called home for about four months, including Christmas, last year.

Tim is living with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a form of cancer that affects nerve cells. The disease is most often found in the adrenal glands, above the kidneys or behind the eye.

Cancer hasn’t stopped Josephine Kelly, it just sidelined her for a while.

“I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Kelly said while looking at a notebook that logged her surgery and chemotherapy. “It was a sad time for me.”

Robert Selsor knows he looks like Santa Claus. He used to play the jolly old elf for the Salvation Army around Christmas, and he said his appearance is instantly comforting to children whether or not he’s in full costume.

“The little ones know,” he said. “They see me and know that it’s OK, that I won’t hurt them.”

The car swerved, rolled on the passenger side and dragged along the guardrail. When help reached 21-year-old Warren Thompson, his 6-foot-3-inch body was crammed down into the leg area of the passenger seat.

Thompson, who had caught a ride home from work, didn’t know he was getting into a car with a person who had been drinking and smoking marijuana.

Count Cindy Bolles among the busiest people in town today.

Bolles, supervisor of customer service at the Columbia Post Office, said that historically the lines of people waiting to ship holiday packages and gifts are longest the second Monday before Christmas.

It has become a familiar scenario: Faced with mounting budget deficits, state legislators cut funding for higher education, forcing colleges and universities to raise tuition.

While educators, parents, students and policymakers have been watching it happen for several years now, agencies that determine the credit rating of institutions like the University of Missouri system are beginning to take notice, as well.

ADWAR, Iraq — When darkness fell, the Americans moved into position, 600 of them, from infantrymen to elite special forces. Their target: two houses in this rural village of orange, lemon and palm groves. Someone big was inside, they were told.

But when they struck, they found nothing.