Uber's women-only option goes nationwide in the US

NEW YORK (AP) — Uber launched a feature Monday to allow both women riders and drivers across the U.S. to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its hail-riding platform.

Uber-Women Preferences

The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite anongoing class action lawsuitagainst the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is also facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024.

The feature, announced in a blog post, allows women to request a female driver through an option on the app called "Women Drivers." Passengers can opt for another ride if the wait for a woman is too long, and they can also reserve a trip with a woman driver in advance. A third option allows female users to set a preference for a woman driver in their app settings, which would increase the chances of being matched with a female driver, though it would not guarantee it. Uber is also allowing its teen account users to request women drivers.

Uber's women drivers can set the app's preferences to request trips with female riders, and they can turn off that preference at anytime.

Uber, based in San Francisco, says about one-fifth of its drivers in the U.S. are women, thought the ratio varies by city.

Two California Uber drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber in November, arguing that its Women Preferences feature violates California's Unruh Act, which prohibits sex discrimination by business enterprises. The lawsuit charges that the feature gives its minority female drivers access to the entire pool of passengers, while leaving its majority male drivers to compete for a smaller pool of passengers. The lawsuit also argues that Uber's policy "reinforces the gender stereotype that men are more dangerous than women."

Uber filed a motion to compel arbitration in the case, citing an agreement the plaintiffs signed when joining the app as drivers. In the motion, Uber disputed that its new feature violates the Unruh Act, saying it "serves a strong and recognized public policy interest in enhancing safety."

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"This feature is a common sense solution to a long-standing request from both women Drivers and Riders who told Uber they would feel more comfortable and safer if they could choose to ride with another woman," the company said in the court filing.

Two Lyft drivers have filed a similar lawsuit against that company against its"Women+Connect"feature, which allows women and nonbinary riders to match with drivers of the same identification.

Uber piloted the "Women Preferences" feature in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit last summer and expanded it to 26 U.S. cities in November. The company first launched a version of the feature in Saudi Arabia in 2019 following the country's landmark law granting women the right to drive. It now offers similar options in 40 other countries, including Canada and Mexico.

Both Uber and Lyft have for years faced criticism over their safety records, including thousands of reports of sexual assaults from both passengers and drivers. In February,federal jury found Uber to be legally responsible in a 2023 case of sexual assaultand the company was ordered to pay $8.5 million to an Arizona woman who said she was raped by one of its drivers.

Uber maintains that because its drivers are contractors and not employees, it's not liable for their misconduct. But Uber says has taken multiple steps in efforts to improve safety, including teaming up with Lyft in 2021 tocreate a databaseof drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints over sexual assault and other crimes.

Uber says sexual assault reports have decreased over the years. According to reports from Uber, 5,981 incidents of sexual assault were reported in U.S. rides between 2017 and 2018 — compared to 2,717 between 2021 and 2022 (the latest years with data available), which the platform says represented 0.0001% of total trips nationwide.

The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP'sstandardsfor working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas atAP.org.

byDaniel Coleman

in

March 09, 2026

Uber's women-only option goes nationwide in the US

NEW YORK (AP) — Uber launched a feature Monday to allow both women riders and drivers across the U.S. to be matched with ...

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As Iran war shakes energy system, some see powerful argument for renewable energy

World leaders have tried and failed to curb climate change by appealing to nations to act for the common good. Now, the Iran war and its costly energy crunch have some experts wondering if selfishness and nationalism may be a more likely way to save the planet, by boosting support for homegrown renewables over imported fossil fuels.

Emirates Iran US Israel

Bombed refineries, disruptedshipping channelsfor oil and liquefied natural gas andskyrocketing fuel pricesshould point even the most reluctant leaders to a cleaner fossil free future, hope some experts.

But others are dismissive, noting the same speculation emerged, and then quickly flopped, as recently as Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That prompted some European nations toreplace gas with even dirtier coal.

"Just wishful thinking," said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who tracks global emissions of carbon dioxide.

The head of the United Nations will argue otherwise on Monday.

"The turmoil we are witnessing today in the Middle East makes it evident that we are facing a global energy system largely tied to fossil fuels — where supply is concentrated in a few regions and every conflict risks sending shock waves through the global economy," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in an email to The Associated Press. "In past oil shocks, countries had little choice but to absorb the pain. Now they have an exit ramp.

"Homegrown renewable energy has never been cheaper, more accessible, or more scalable," Guterres said. "The resources of the clean energy era cannot be blockaded or weaponized."

Going alone versus together

Annual U.N. climate conferences aimed at global cooperation have accomplished little. Themost recent meeting in Brazil, known as COP30, ended with a statement thatdidn't even mention the words "fossil fuels,"much less include a timeline to reduce their use. Guterres said then that he "cannot pretend that COP30 has delivered everything that is needed." Under President Donald Trump, whose attack on Iran has sparked new energy concerns, the U.S. didn't even participate in the Brazil meeting.

Even though renewable energy use and new installationsare soaring globally, outpacing fossil fuel growth, the world continues to increase its fossil fuel use every year with emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane rising to new highs year after. That's driving atmospheric warming that increases costly and deadly extreme weather, including dangerous heat, around the world.

"The bottom line is that for at least another five years and maybe longer, emissions reduction will in fact be dealt with largely unilaterally," said Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton climate and international affairs professor. "If countries see the Israel-U.S.-Iran war as a further reason to head for the exits on fossil fuels by loosening domestic opposition to the necessary policies, that will be accomplished unilaterally at the domestic level."

A moment of opportunity may be here

Caroline Baxter, director of the Converging Risks Lab at the Council on Strategic Risks in Washington, said there has already been a "dramatic slowdown" in the movement of fossil fuels to various ports due to the conflict. And for countries like Japan or South Korea that depend on tankers arriving in their ports to deliver energy, this is a really big deal, she said.

Baxter said she "wouldn't be surprised" if some shift to green energy because of the conflict, if only because renewable energy offers more stability than fossil fuels do.

"I think there is an opportunity, rightly or wrongly, for countries to really turn inward and try to power themselves in a way that cuts off their dependence on other nations for that source," said Baxter, who was U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for force education and training from 2021 to 2024 under the Biden administration.

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Baxter said if she's right and if "everyone does it in their backyard," it will limit future climate change "without the thorny diplomatic negotiations and the glad-handing and the machinations behind closed doors" of international climate conferences.

The war will lead to more solar panels and heat pumps installed in coming months, said energy analyst Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz, of IEEFA Europe.

A reality check from Ukraine: 'Exactly the wrong lesson'

More skeptical analysts point to the Russian invasion of Ukraine a few years ago, which put a massive kink in Europe's natural gas supply, yet didn't change the world's fossil fuel dependence. Politicians often pivot to other fossil fuels to address war-oriented energy insecurity, such as coal, which releases even higher amounts of heat-trapping gases.

"We have seen this at the European level where actors post-2022 slowly wanted to move away from the energy transition which is exactly the wrong lesson," said war studies lecturer Pauline Heinrichs at King's College in the United Kingdom.

Just as Europe did then, many countries, like China and India — already the world's No. 1 and No. 3 carbon-emitting countries — could turn to more coal use, said Ohio University's Geoff Dabelko, an expert on climate and conflict, and University of St. Andrews' Neta Crawford, author of "The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of U.S. Military Emissions."

War and militaries pollute the air

Whatever happens with nations' energy choices, the war itself will spike emissions.

Even before it began, reports showed that theworld's militaries are responsible for 5.5% of Earth's heat-trapping emissions each year,more than any country except China, the United States and India.

Crawford, co-founder of theCosts of Warproject at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, said fighter jets consuming vast quantities of fuel, releasing carbon dioxide and other pollutants, is just one example.

"The consequences of war on emissions will far exceed any incremental offset in emissions due to increased enthusiasm for a green transition," she said.

Borenstein reported from Washington and McDermott from Providence, Rhode Island.

The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP'sstandardsfor working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas atAP.org.

byDaniel Coleman

in

March 09, 2026

As Iran war shakes energy system, some see powerful argument for renewable energy

World leaders have tried and failed to curb climate change by appealing to nations to act for the common good. Now, the I...

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See photos of aftermath left behind by tornadoes in Oklahoma, Michigan

Eight people are deadafter severe storms and tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma and Michigan.

From Thursday, March 5, to Friday, March 6, the storms ripped through the states, killing eight, including a mother and daughter in Oklahoma, according toUSA TODAY's previous reporting.

On Monday, March 9, theNational Weather Service(NWS) announced another severe thunderstorm warning was placed on Atoka, Oklahoma, Coleman, Oklahoma, and Lane, Oklahoma, until 7:15 a.m. local time, while parts of the state also face0.5 inches of hail and 30 mph winds.

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In Michigan, severe weather is possible at night on Tuesday, March 10, according to theNWS.

See damage left behind in the states after last week's storms.

See photos of aftermath left behind by severe weather, tornadoes in Oklahoma, Michigan

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Tornadoes leave destruction in Michigan, Oklahoma. See photos.

byDaniel Coleman

in

March 09, 2026

See photos of aftermath left behind by tornadoes in Oklahoma, Michigan

Eight people are deadafter severe storms and tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma and Michigan. From Thur...

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These lawmakers were shaped by combat after 9/11. Now they're grappling with a new Mideast war

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress responds toPresident Donald Trump'sattack onIran, lawmakers who served on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan are making their voices heard in a war debate that has taken on intensely personal meaning.

US Iran Congress

Many admit mixed feelings, taking satisfaction in seeing vengeance taken onthe leadership of an Iranian regimethat has targeted U.S. service members for decades, yet fearful that another generation of soldiers could soon face the same combat experiences that they did.

"Do I take gratification? You know there's the Marine side of me: Yeah, of course," said Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, whose company suffered some of the heaviest losses on the U.S. side during the Iraq War. "I know they killed a lot of American soldiers, American Marines. But do I also understand that I have a responsibility not to let my lust for revenge drive my country into another war?"

Experiences in the post 9/11 wars are also coloring the decisions of the Trump administration, given that top officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were once deployed to Iraq.

Gallego, like others on Capitol Hill, leaned heavily on his firsthand experience of fighting in the wars afterthe Sept. 11, 2001, attacksas he assessed the Iran conflict. Lawmakers wore bracelets etched with the names of friends killed in battle, told stories of coming under attack from Iran-backed militant groups and reflected on their own life-changing injuries suffered during combat.

Veteran lawmakers are wary of war

While the initial votes on Iran saw Congressdivide mostly along party lines, with Republicans backing Trump's actions and Democrats warning of an extended conflict, veterans in both parties share deep reservations about entering the conflict.

"As somebody who knows a lot of friends that didn't come home and a lot of Gold Star families, that's why the week before the attack, I was actually one of the ones that was talking about caution and why we needed to avoid at all costs getting into another long, drawn-out Middle Eastern war," said Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, a former Navy SEAL who left college to enlist the week after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Crane said his concerns were partially assuaged bybriefings from the Trump administrationthat indicated to him the president is not planning a drawn-out war. He voted againsta war powers resolutionthat would have halted attacks on Iran unless Trump got congressional approval.

But Crane said wars are never straightforward. "I've been on military operations that did not go to plan many times, and so I understand the nature," he said, adding that he was calling for the Trump administration to approach the conflict with "humility and caution."

Gallego and other Democrats worried that it was too late for that approach. They paid tribute to the six U.S. military members who were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait and worried that there could soon be more American casualties.

"War is dirty, and mistakes happen," Gallego said. The longer the conflict drags on, he added, the more chance there will be for U.S. military members to be killed. He said he saw that in Iraq when friends would be killed by seemingly random shots from enemy combatants.

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Still, many Republicans argued that it was necessary to attack Iran to stop a regime that for decades has helped train and arm militant groups throughout the Middle East. Republican Rep. Brian Mast, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led the debate on the House floor against the war powers resolution.

Mast, who served as an Army bomb disposal expert, now uses prosthetic legs after receiving catastrophic injuries from an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. "Me especially, many of my other colleagues, no one wants to see our military go into combat or war," he said.

Then he added, "But Iran's terror, which has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans, it has to stop."

Trying to push soldiers to forefront of war debate

Important questions loomfor Congress as the conflict with Iran unfolds and spreads to other parts of the Middle East. The price for the operation is already likely running into the billions of dollars, likely forcing the Trump administration to soon seek billions in funding from Congress. The outbreak of war has also scrambled global alliances and the future of U.S. foreign policy.

Shadowing it all is the potential of another drawn-out conflict. Lawmakers said they owe it to their fallen comrades to ensure that doesn't happen.

"To me, it's to speak out. It's to say another generation should not go fight in an open-ended, ill-conceived regime change war in the Middle East," said Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, his hand moving to a bracelet etched with the names of friends who were killed during his two Army combat tours in Iraq.

Others remembered how frustrated they became with Washington during their service, especially as soldiers tried to fight with insufficiently armored vehicles and not enough troops.

"I know what it was like to be on the very end of the receiving line of the decisions made in Washington," said Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, who entered the Army as a private before being promoted to a captain and deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Crow said that front-line soldiers often suffered "because people stopped asking tough questions. People stopped being held accountable. Congress stopped voting on it."

Another veteran, Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, said that was one of the reasons she sought a congressional seat in the first place. As a Blackhawk helicopter pilot with the Illinois National Guard, Duckworth lost her legs when her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq.

"I ran for Congress so that when the drums of war started beating once again, I'd be in a position to make sure that our elected officials fully considered the true cost of the war," she said. "Not just in dollars and cents but in human lives."

byDaniel Coleman

in

March 09, 2026

These lawmakers were shaped by combat after 9/11. Now they're grappling with a new Mideast war

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress responds toPresident Donald Trump'sattack onIran, lawmakers who served on the front lin...

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Fox News apologizes for showing old video of a hatless Donald Trump at a dignified transfer ceremony

Fox News apologized for airing old video of a hatless President Donald Trump during coverage Sunday of his attendance at thedignified transferceremony for U.S. soldiers killed in the Middle East war, insisting it was an honest mistake.

In a polarized time, some online critics suggested without evidence that it wasn't an error — that the network was trying to make Trump look better by not showing him wearing a baseball cap during what is considered one of the most solemn duties of a commander in chief. The return of the bodies of six soldiers took place Saturday at Dover Air Force Base.

But Fox News said archival footage of Trump at an earlier ceremony was inadvertently pulled up by a staff member and used on two Sunday morning telecasts. A spokeswoman noted the correct footage was used at other times, including on Saturday.

"We regret the error and apologize for the incorrect footage," Fox said in a statement.

Fox News anchor Griff Jenkins issued an on-the-air correction Sunday, saying "we extend our respect and condolences" to the families of the service members killed.

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The apology didn't sit well with some critics. "If any other network did this it would be a huge scandal, Fox would lead the chorus of criticisms and faux-outrage, and people would lose their jobs," saidMehdi Hasan, founder of the online site Zeteo.

Johnny "Joey" Jones, a veteran and co-host of "The Big Weekend Show" on Fox News Channel, said on social media that he was "embarrassed and ashamed" that this happened.

"My belief was that this was an honest mistake, but that doesn't make it an acceptable one," Jones wrote. "Few things are more sacred than our heroes who give their lives in the line of duty."

Jones said that "if posting snarky comments and insults is your way of reacting to this, please direct them at me. I'm the one with sharp words on these issues. If you are using this as a way to take a partisan jab at my hard working colleagues, check your watch."

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him athttp://x.com/dbauderandhttps://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

byDaniel Coleman

in

March 09, 2026

Fox News apologizes for showing old video of a hatless Donald Trump at a dignified transfer ceremony

Fox News apologized for airing old video of a hatless President Donald Trump during coverage Sunday of his attendance at ...

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