Uriah Kiser, Author at Potomac Local News

Original | City’s new cigarette-butt bins curb river pollution, made possible by cigarette maker

Published February 6, 2020 at 11:45PM | Updated February 8, 2020 at 9:19AM

Photo: Fredericksburg City.

Downtown Fredericksburg residents have a tobacco company to thank in the fight to keep the city beautiful.

The city received 30 new cigarette buttlers, which are mounted on sidewalk trashcans and serve as a place for smokers to snuff out their butts. They’re located mainly along Caroline and William streets, two of downtown’s busiest thoroughfares.

Publisher's Post

Mr. President: I was impeached, too, for running an underground newspaper

By Uriah Kiser

Published February 5, 2020 at 1:30PM | Updated February 5, 2020 at 1:57PM

Kiser

On this day that the president is set to be exonerated after his impeachment trial, I stumbled on to a memory that I didn’t even recall until now.

Mr. Trump, I want you to know that I’ve been impeached, too.

Originals

Original | Effort to bring gaming parlor to Dumfries fails, council denies permit

By Uriah Kiser

Published February 4, 2020 at 11:20PM | Updated February 5, 2020 at 8:33AM

Dumfries Town Council

The effort to bring gambling to Dumfries is dead in the water.

The Town Council voted 4-3 to deny a conditional use permit that would have allowed an 18,000 square-foot Rosie’s Gaming Emporium, an off-track pari-mutuel betting parlor, in the Triangle Shopping Center at the corner of Route 1 and Graham Park Road.

Originals

Original | Wiggins appointed to Prince William Service Authority, Wheeler chastised

By Uriah Kiser

Published February 4, 2020 at 5:01PM | Updated February 5, 2020 at 12:20PM

Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair At-large Ann Wheeler. [Photo: Uriah Kiser/Potomac Local News]

After much public outcry and debate, Harry Wiggins won a political appointment to the Prince William County Service Authority.

Supervisors voted 6-2 Tuesday to appoint the controversial, former county Democratic Party Chairman as the at-large member of the county’s water and sewer authority. The appointment to the high-profile, independent, non-political commission comes after Wiggins was fined by the Virginia State Board of Elections in 2018 after he founded a political action committee called Republicans for Stanley Bender, and then failing to register it with the state as required by law.

Features

Original | ‘Scrabble Scramble’ game night to raise funds for adult literacy

By Uriah Kiser

Published February 4, 2020 at 3:08PM | Updated February 5, 2020 at 7:34AM

Photo: BEACON for Adult Literacy Facebook page

A popular game night will return to Bristow next month in an effort to raise money for adult literacy.

BEACON for Adult Literacy’s “Scrabble Scramble” features 35 tables, each with a team of four players, all who sit down to play two rounds of the word-making game. Teams play for prizes, eat pizza, and can participate in a raffle for items, including a $100 southwest airline gift card, salon gift cards, a gift basket from Chick-fil-A Bristow.

Originals

Exclusive | Man who called Prince William Sup ‘NRA whore’ to be appointed to Service Authority

By Uriah Kiser

Published February 3, 2020 at 5:00PM | Updated February 4, 2020 at 11:21PM

Wiggins speaks to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Jan. 7, 2020, asking it to urge lawmakers in Richmond to tighten restrictions on the right to bear arms.

The man who called a sitting Prince William County Supervisor a “whore” for the NRA could soon be on the county’s water and sewer authority.

Ann Wheeler, County Board Chair, At-large, seeks to appoint Harry Wiggins as an At-Large member of the Prince William County Service Authority, one of the multiple agencies that provide water service to county residents.

News

Exclusive | Manassas Park outlines plan to leave Prince William library, privatize services

By Uriah Kiser

Published February 3, 2020 at 4:00AM | Updated March 31, 2020 at 2:13PM

The Manassas Park City Hall.

Manassas Park is ready to take the next steps to leave the Prince William Public Library System and open its own library.

To do so, city leaders want to hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 18 on a plan to hire California-based firm Library Systems & Services to operate a new library that would be located at 9701 Manassas Drive. That’s the site of the old General’s Ridge Golf Course that was shuttered last year.

Schools

Original | Osbourn High School gets the beat, starts indoor drumline

By Uriah Kiser

Published January 31, 2020 at 3:30PM | Updated February 2, 2020 at 9:28PM

For the first time in its school’s history, Osbourn High School has created an indoor drumline. A group of 16 students in the Manassas high school, from grades 7 to 12, all bonded this year through a passion for percussion.

Drumline students have been spending most weekday evenings practicing, spending hours rehearsing to perfect a performance that will last just five minutes. Some of their weekends have been sacrificed to fundraise to cover the cost of purchasing equipment, drum sticks, mallets, props, and purchase uniforms, said band mom and spokeswoman Erica Washington.

News

Exclusive | Stafford’s low-hanging, forgotten bridge may be replaced after all

By Uriah Kiser

Published January 30, 2020 at 2:43PM | Updated February 2, 2020 at 9:29PM

A redesigned I-95/Route 17 interchange near Falmouth includes new lanes down the median of the interstate, and a new exit ramp from I-95 north that would lead drivers to a signal light on Route 17, shown in yellow. [Image: VDOT]

One of four bridges that carry drivers on Interstate 95 over Route 17 near Falmouth is too low.

There are signs all over the intersection in Stafford County waring trucks that are too tall to go under the bridge to take another route. In fact, if a truck that’s too tall approaches the bridge a blaring alarm rings out in an effort to warn the driver. It can be an unsettling sound if you’re driving by when this happens.

Publisher's Post

We’ve got some big changes coming to Potomac Local News in February

By Uriah Kiser

Published January 29, 2020 at 3:33PM

Kiser

Since we launched our paid subscriber program two years ago, you’ve spoken and we’ve listened.

In February, we’re launching a newly redesigned weekday email newsletter and website at PotomacLocalNews.com that will be easier to read, with even more local content.