Ireland's walk on prosthetic legs is first step in years-long process

Ireland Nugent used new prosthetic legs Tuesday to walk through her family's front door in Palm Harbor, just yards from where her lower legs and feet were amputated in a lawn mower accident 10 weeks ago.

Two-year-old Ireland took her first steps on a set of test prostheses Monday at Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates in Orlando. Tuesday, they picked up the finished limbs.

"She just couldn't wait to throw them on and start walking again," said Ireland's father, Jerry Nugent. "It didn't last as long as (Monday) because she's a little tired. She's using those muscles, so she's got to get strong again."...

Long-awaited downtown Dunedin Gateway project draws critics

Preliminary plans for a long-anticipated mixed-use complex in downtown Dunedin has drawn criticism from neighbors and others who fear the project will bring parking problems, noise, lowered property values and the ruin of the corridor's quaint charm.

Six years after the poor economy stalled a medical office-retail development dubbed the Gateway project, Pizzuti Builders LLC has revamped it as a three-story development featuring 124 one- and two-bedroom rental apartments over 24,500 square feet of shops and restaurants, possibly including a Lucky Dill Deli....

Utility billing audit, crosswalk signals on Dunedin commission agenda

The Dunedin City Commission on Thursday will consider hiring a company to audit the city’s new utility billing system and spending nearly $35,000 on improved crosswalk signals along Causeway Boulevard and Patricia Avenue.

City Manager Rob DiSpirito says staff has "agressively" worked to fix problems and establish new guidelines following the 2009 discovery that Dunedin had been undercharging commercial users of stormwater, water and sewer lines. The discrepancies cost the city $2.2 million over seven years....

Dunedin eyes reduced trash pickups as recycling rises

Seven months after the launch of a citywide single-stream recycling program, Dunedin officials say high participation is paving the way for a transition to once-weekly trash pickup.

According to solid waste department figures:

-77 percent of households are participating either each week, every other week or once a month. That's up from 2,000, or 15 percent of households that had previously participated under a voluntary fee-based recycling program....

Astros courting Blue Jays while Dunedin watches from sidelines

Three months after news broke that the Toronto Blue Jays were considering ditching their Dunedin spring training home for Palm Beach Gardens on Florida's east coast, Dunedin officials still haven't managed to schedule negotiations with team officials.

Jays president Paul Beeston has yet to follow up on Mayor Dave Eggers' emails and phone calls with concrete plans. Eggers' last communication with Beeston was about a month ago. ...

In 2012, Pinellas logged most domestic homicides in two decades

LARGO — The Pinellas County Domestic Violence Task Force recorded 13 homicide cases in 2012 — the highest number the group has logged over the nearly two decades it has collected data.

Eighteen people died, because five of the homicide cases were murder-suicides — also an unusually high number in a county that typically sees only one or two a year.

The statistics frustrate task force members, who have no idea what caused the sudden spike, said Frieda Widera, chairwoman of the fatality review subcommittee....

City might extend Dunedin Fine Art Center lease to help grant chances

Dunedin city commissioners on Thursday will consider a staff recommendation that they extend the Dunedin Fine Art Center’s lease another 15 years through 2038.

City Manager Rob DiSpirito says the new term would help the art center qualify for a state grant to fund a new wing and a construction loan.

That’s because the grant requires that any expansion it funds operate at least 10 years, while banks typically require that loans be tied to leases of at least 20 years. DFAC's current lease expires Aug. 31, 2023 — only nine years away from the new wing’s expected completion date of summer 2014....

Heavy rains forecast for Tampa Bay area all week

That umbrella is going to be your new best friend this week.

Saturday evening's heavy downpours that brought record rainfall totals and street flooding were just the beginning of a stretch of stormy weather expected to continue throughout the Tampa Bay area until at least Thursday, said Bay News 9 meteorologist Josh Linker.

Forecasters recorded a June 1 record of 3.5 inches of rain at Tampa International Airport on Saturday, and between 2 and 5 inches in parts of Pasco and Manatee counties....

New state laws will ease toll on human-trafficking victims

CLEARWATER — Ten years after Telisia Espinosa had broken free, her life on the lam with the boyfriend who had urged her to sell her body for cash continued to haunt her.

From Las Vegas to Cleveland to Florida, Espinosa had racked up arrests for prostitution, loitering, solicitation — so many charges that, years later, it would take her months to track down all the arrest warrants she didn't even realize she had....

Dunedin to get new fire station, but will pay more

The good news: Dunedin is finally getting a replacement firehouse.

The bad news: Even after rejecting original contractor bids because they came in a half-million dollars too high, the new station will still cost the city roughly $400,000 more than architects originally estimated.

Even so, city engineer Tom Burke says what will ultimately be a $1.95 million contract with CRS Building Corp. of St. Petersburg is a good price for market conditions....