Uriah Kiser, Author at Potomac Local News

OmniRide short on cash; doomsday scenario unveiled

Published January 8, 2016 at 12:48PM | Updated January 10, 2016 at 1:05PM

There’s a lot of hope in the newly approved budget put forward Thursday night by the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission.

Hope that Prince William County will magically find $6 million to help make up some of an annual $9.2 million budget shortfall, every year over the next five years. Hope the Virginia General Assembly will enact a gas tax “floor” to help the agency recoup and additional $3.5 million it lost when gas prices dropped.

News

New elementary school would come at cost of park, trails

By Uriah Kiser

Published January 7, 2016 at 11:30PM

Amber is doing better after cancer surgery.

The brown and white 8-year-old boxer-lab-mix had two cysts removed from her stomach late last year. Her owner, Stephanie Dobranski, brings Amber to their favorite place: Chinn Park.

Prince William

Sherwood murder trial continued until June 20

By Uriah Kiser

Published January 5, 2016 at 3:33PM | Updated January 5, 2016 at 6:14PM

The murder case against John Sherwood has been continued until June 20.

Sherwood is accused of killing his 21-year-old wife Erica Renae Sherwood in a violent incident at home in Dale City on New Year’s Day 2015. A witness told a court last year Sherwood was trying to escape from her husband and took refuge at her friends house where she would be killed.

News

PRTC lost $1.5 million when HOT lanes opened on I-95

By Uriah Kiser

Published January 4, 2016 at 6:00PM | Updated January 5, 2016 at 1:28PM

[Submitted photo]

New toll lanes on Interstates 95 and 395 brought more options to commuters when they opened one year ago.

Single drivers can now pay a toll and ride the lanes, whereas before all vehicles had to have at least three occupants during peak times. Today, the toll lanes are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and all drivers must have an electronic E-ZPass to use them. A vehicle with three or more occupants still rides free.

News

Brew Republic will be Stonebridge’s brewery in Woodbridge

By Uriah Kiser

Published December 30, 2015 at 3:53PM

What do you get when you mix a “recovering politician” with alcohol?

Woodbridge residents will find out this spring when Brew Republic Bierwerks opens in Potomac Town Center in Stonebridge.

Prince William

Stewart ‘disgusted’ with coal ash plan moving ahead

By Uriah Kiser

Published December 22, 2015 at 10:33AM

Corey Stewart

A deadline for public comments on a plan to treat and release toxic water into the Potomac River has come and gone.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors asked for a 60-day extension of a public comment period ending December 14 for the Possum Point Power Station near Dumfries and Quantico where water from coal ash ponds have been seeping into tributaries for years.

News

How many homes would be lost to a Godwin Drive extension to I-66? This $2.5 million study will tell us in 18 months

By Uriah Kiser

Published December 17, 2015 at 5:00AM | Updated December 17, 2015 at 7:21AM

Godwin Drive extension

Should Godwin Drive be linked with Interstate 66? That’s the question a new $2.5 million study will examine.

Transportation planners from Prince William County and Manassas City will study the “Flat Branch” corridor between where Godwin Drive intersects with Sudley Road just outside Manassas, near Novant Prince William Medical Center.

News

Prince William: We can stop funding commuter bus service in Manassas, right?

By Uriah Kiser

Published December 14, 2015 at 4:10PM

Dozens of OmniRide busses are lined up ready to go out on the afternoon runs at PRTC in Woodbridge.

The cost Prince William County taxpayers shelled out to support the local bus system this year: $15.5 million.

Neighboring jurisdictions in the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park paid a combined $576,000.

News

Buses in jeopardy: Prince William faced with ‘transit death spiral’

By Uriah Kiser

Published December 10, 2015 at 5:21PM | Updated December 10, 2015 at 10:57PM

PRTC’s offices and Transit Center are located at 14700 Potomac Mills Road in Woodbridge.

The future looks bleak for transit bus service in Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park.

The Potoamc and Rappahannock Transportation Commission which operates OmniRide commuter buses and OmniLink local buses faces a $9 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2017. That number grows to about $12 million in FY 2018 and continues in the following years.

News

Residents on Potomac River Coal Ash Plan: We weren’t notified

By Uriah Kiser

Published December 8, 2015 at 11:04PM

Virginia environmental officials took questions Tuesday night from the public about a plan to treat toxic water and drain it into the Potomac River.

Residents who live near Dominion Virginia Power’s Possum Point Power Station outside Dumfries and across from Quantico say they’re fearful of the plan, which could lead to higher than normal levels of heavy metals in Quantico Creek and Potomac River that would flow downstream to the Chesapeake Bay.