In light of the tornadoes and hailstorm that caused damage to parts of Tennessee last week, the Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) is reminding homeowners to verify the licensure of purported home contractors by using its license database at verify.tn.gov.

“Unscrupulous, unlicensed contractors often prey on victims of natural disasters,” says TDCI Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak. “Taking the time to make sure someone is licensed with the state is your fundamental first step, when selecting a contractor to work on your home. By all means, use verify.tn.gov to see whether the person you’re considering is a licensed contractor.”

By ANNE DONNELL

I have a little question for you, and don’t laugh! I am capable of confusing “than” and “then.” Do you have some magic Ask Anne dust to solve this? Or maybe just a simple, easy to understand rule? -A Good Buddy

I like good buddies. Bad buddies, about whom I was warned in yore by parents and teachers, really can be risky. Speaking of risky, yore, which refers to a long distant past, is generally used with of not in.* I thought it might be a refreshing twist (sounds like a commercial for lemons) to use yore with another preposition. In yore and about yore. Yoring! Say that the way adolescents say boring – yor-ring.

By ANNE DONNELL

Today’s that extra day on which, if babies are born with cruel families and friends, they’ll receive birthday presents only at four-year intervals. Tennessee’s own Dinah Shore is among those born on Feb. 29. With a kind family. There’s also another skip that those living as the 21^st century turns into the 22^nd will discover. No year divisible by 100 has February 29, unless the year is divisible by 400. 1900 and 2100 aren’t leap years, but 2000 is. And, before women were “allowed” to believe themselves the equal of men, Feb. 29 was the day women could kneel before their choices and propose marriage.

Well, we’re moving from no birthday presents and rare proposals to a continent almost never visited. Here’s more from my friend Laura Triebold’s excellent account of the recent trip she and her husband Dave took to Australia and New Zealand. This is “Antarctica,” journal entry #13.

By EDDIE CALLIS

Our community lost one of its best last week when Fran Moscardelli died at St. Thomas Hospital.  In his quiet unassuming way, Fran Moscardelli went about his life making things better for everyone.  We will miss him.  He cannot be easily replaced.

It was on a summer night in 1970, as my wife and I meandered around the Lebanon Parent Back Club’s carnival grounds, when we ran into good friends who introduced us to their new next door neighbors who had recently moved to Lebanon.  These new people had a strange sounding name.  It was Moscardelli.  Fran and Alexa Moscardelli soon became our close friends.  Few, if any, such encounters have affected our lives so positively.  They truly became members of our family and we of theirs.

Refunds totaling $16,130,000 may be waiting for about 18,400 Tennesseans who did not file a federal income tax return for 2008, the Internal Revenue Service announces.

Nationwide, the IRS has over $1 billion for about 1 million people who haven't filed for 2008 yet.

To collect the money, a return for 2008 must be filed with the IRS no later than Tuesday, April 17. There is no penalty for filing a late return qualifying for a refund.