Welcome to the latest edition of AFT NewsWatch, a weekly service of Advocates for Fairness in Transportation, an ad hoc group of regulated transportation service companies dedicated to informing and educating the public on threats to public safety from new so-called ride-sharing or ride-booking services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. Visit the Archive to read previous editions.

Uber no longer operating in Kansas after state ups mandatory insurance rates

If you want to call a cab in Kansas, it will no longer be an Uber. The company ceased its operations there after local legislators approved a new law that requires ride-sharing drivers to up their insurance coverage, and undergo a background check from the state's Bureau of Investigation. In a blog post today, Uber said the new bill "makes it impossible for Uber to operate in the state." As such, it stopped accepting rides from its app. 

Read more from The Verge

Pa. Public Utility Commission continues pursuit of trip data from Uber

An attorney for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's enforcement arm said Uber's refusal to comply with repeated orders from judges showed it was unfit to operate in the Commonwealth. Michael Swindler, a prosecutor with the PUC bureau of investigation and enforcement, stopped short of asking administrative law judges to revoke the San Francisco ride service company's two-year experimental license, but recommended civil penalties in the amount of $19 million.

Read more from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Many passengers unaware of Uber 'blacklist'

The next time you take Uber you might want to make sure you're nice to the driver. Turns out just like you can rate the drivers they are rating the passengers too. And that number can make the difference between a quick pick-up or being blacklisted. That's because if your Uber rating drops too low a driver might decide to ride right past you or you could get bounced from the Uber system completely. 

CBS Boston

Illegal ride-sharing service UberX outsmarts transport inspectors, disrupting undercover stings

Emails reveal illegal ride-sharing application UberX is undermining transport inspectors by blocking their mobile phones from accessing the service. UberX drivers use private vehicles as unlicensed taxis to collect passengers who have requested a car using Uber's smart phone application. It is effectively banned in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia, and drivers caught accepting passengers risk fines of up to $1,700.

Read more from ABC News Australia

Chinese authorities pay visits to Uber offices

Uber is said to be facing a new series of investigations in China, according to a report from Reuters. Chinese authorities paid visits to offices of the US-based taxi-hailing in China's Guangzhou and Chengdu provinces on April 30 and May 6, respectively. The visits appear to be related to China's zero-tolerance policy for unlicensed taxi drivers, and Chinese authorities have long suspected Uber of violating regulations by allowing private drivers to work in their fleets, reports the South China Morning Post. 

Read more from CNET

Uber took nearly a week to give police name of sexually harassing driver

On April 30, a 31-year-old New York woman took an Uber home around 2:30 a.m. from her DJ gig on the Lower East Side. The woman says she fell asleep in the car and awoke to find her driver caressing her face. The woman says the driver then jumped in the back of the car and tried to kiss her before she managed to escape. You'll be reassured to know it's only taken the NYPD and Uber a little under a week to get the driver's full name and maybe start looking for him.

Read more from Jezebel

'Wild West': Uber and Lyft running illegally at Salt Lake City Airport, director charges

Ground transportation is a circus at Salt Lake City International Airport, where ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft operate unofficially and where some traditional cabdrivers have gone rogue. Confusion reigns six months after the Salt Lake City Council sought to regulate the new freelance companies but ended up passing an ordinance that deregulated, to a great degree, taxis. Less than two months later, the Utah Legislature compounded the disruption by adding its own law - SB294 - to the mix.

Read more from The Salt Lake Tribune

Rideshare companies idling on invitation from San Diego Airport

27,000 San Diegans have responded to an email from mobile rideshare company Uber asking them to sign a petition telling local regulators they want Uber at the airport. But Uber has been allowed to pick up passengers at Lindbergh Field for a month now. Robert Callahan, who heads the California office of The Internet Association, a lobbying group for internet-based companies including airbnb and Amazon, said Uber is holding out for better arrangements.

Read more from KPBS San Diego

New procedure coming soon for using Uber or Lyft at D/FW International Airport

Download this, write it down, or print-clip-and-save, because the system for using one of the "transportation network companies" at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in the near future might seem complicated: 1. Book your ride. 2. Take your ride. That's it. The same as a taxi or a limo. D/FW Airport CEO Sean Donohue spelled out the process in a briefing for the editorial board of The Dallas Morning News. 

Read more from The Dallas Morning News

Broward County puts law and public safety ahead of Uber's economic interests

Last week, Broward County's commissioners put the interests of the people they serve, the public, ahead of the economic interests of Uber, Lyft and similar transportation providers known as "transportation network companies," or TNCs. Requirements like registration and licensing of drivers, improved county-monitored driver background checks and vehicle inspections, and insurance that complies with state laws are not burdensome government regulation. 

Read more from the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel

L.A. pushing regulators to legalize ride-sharing services at LAX

Michelle Lee walked out of Los Angeles International Airport, pulling her suitcase behind her, and boarded a boxy yellow-and-black parking shuttle. As other travelers rummaged through bags for car keys and parking stubs, Lee pulled out her iPhone and opened the Uber app. The ride-hailing company's standard airport message ("No UberX available") vanished as the shuttle left airport property, revealing a swarm of cars idling nearby on Century Boulevard. 

Read more from The Los Angeles Times

12-year-old struck and killed by Uber-affiliated car

A car affiliated with an Uber base struck and killed a 12-year-old boy in front of his Harlem middle school, officials said. Ervi Secundino was struck shortly after 3 p.m. as he crossed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard at 150th Street near the Frederick Douglass Academy, police said. The car was headed south past the school when the accident occurred, police said. Officers responded to a 911 call and found Secundino with "severe head and body trauma," police said.

Read more from Capital New York

Timeline: How Google and Uber went from BFFs to frenemies

The tech industry is full of interwoven allegiances and short-lived romances. But no corporate relationship is as interesting - or as potentially flammable - as the one between Uber and Google. For most of its five-year life, Uber has been hugely dependent on Google - in particular, on its vast troves of mapping data, which makes it possible for its riders and drivers to get from point A to point B. 

Read more from Fusion

Monrovia (Calif.) woman says she was billed for $400 in fraudulent Uber charges

A Monrovia woman said she awoke to discover that she had received some $400 in fraudulent charges from Uber. Monique Childers realized almost immediately there was an issue when she received cellphone notifications from the Uber app thanking her for using the ridesharing service overnight, she said. The problem: the rides occurred halfway across the world in London while Childers was sound asleep in her Southern California home.

Read more from KTLA Los Angeles

Bill regulating ride-hailing companies like Uber fails vote

Lawmakers rejected a bill that would regulate ride-hailing companies such as Uber in Nevada, with Democrats casting the deciding votes against the proposal for the second time this session. Senators voted 13-7 for AB175, which would create regulations for so-called "transportation network companies" that allow people to hail a ride using a smartphone. The bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass because it included a tax that was projected to raise up to $100 million over the next two years.

Read more from The Associated Press