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Lyft is introducing a new feature that let’s women and non-binary riders choose a preference to match with drivers of the same gender. The ride-hailing company said it was a “highly requested feature” in a blog post Tuesday, saying the new feature allows women and non-binary people to “feel that much more confident” in using Lyft and also hopefully encourage more women to sign up to be drivers to access its “flexible earning opportunities.” The service, called “Women+ Connect,” is rolling out in the coming months. Riders can turn on the option in the Lyft app, however the company warns...

An 82-year-old man was surrounded and assaulted by a group of people riding dirt bikes and ATVs in Boston last Thursday. Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying the suspects. The victim, a Brookline man, suffered serious injuries and remains in the hospital. He is expected to survive. State Police said the man was driving his 1996 Buick Century from Park Drive to Boylston Street when 30 to 40 dirt bike and ATV riders forced him onto the curb. Several of the suspects then began smashing windows of the victim’s car.

On a sunny Friday morning, Lindsey Baker was waiting at a bus stop across from Carlow University in Oakland. Clad in typical summer clothing — shorts and a T-shirt — Ms. Baker, 23, was biding her time for a bus to take her to Robinson, where she works as an assistant manager at the clothing store Maurices. But one piece of clothing she was wearing is becoming increasingly unnecessary in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania — a mask. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is lifting its order requiring universal face coverings on Monday, but this doesn't apply everywhere. The Centers for Disease...

On Thursday, Uber announced that if an Uber driver reports that a rider does not wear a mask during a ride, the rider will be required to take a selfie with their face covered before they are able to take another trip

Members of the caravan traveling from Central America are talking about rushing the border en masse to provoke the Trump administration and make it across the border, Fox News reported. "They have that intention,” Sergio Tamai, a founder of Angels without Borders, a group helping the migrants, told Telemundo 20 in San Diego. “I believe that thousands could make that jump." Over the last two weeks, at least 3,000 illegal aliens have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego, California. The Mexican federal government, however, anticipates that number to rise to 10,000 in the next few months. The...

Video of Ray Manzarak talking about writing a classic song.

Just how many new riders would jump on a train to one of Silicon Valley's most desired destinations? About 200, it turns out -- and it would cost taxpayers up to $175 million to build the rail line to Los Gatos. The new projections come from the Valley Transportation Authority's updated forecast for a long-envisioned light-rail extension. Still years from reality, the Los Gatos line would be one of the least-used light-rail extensions planned in the nation -- and would reduce South Bay vehicle traffic by a mere 0.01 percent.

Remember that student who was told to take the American flag off of his bike because tolerance or racism or George Bush or whatever? Yeah. Try telling that to all of these folks, California. For those without video, 13 year old Cody Alicea was escorted to Denair Middle School by veterans and bikers, all proudly flying the American flag on their bikes

Nearly 1 in 10 San Francisco Muni riders boards a bus or streetcar without paying, costing the city's transit agency an estimated $19 million a year in lost revenue. The system averages almost 700,000 boardings a day. The findings, outlined in a study to be presented to the Municipal Transportation Agency governing board Tuesday, echoes what many Muni regulars long have griped about: Fare cheating is commonplace. Previous studies also reflected that fare evasion is enshrined in Muni culture.

Oakland, in the Jerry Brown years, practiced an unofficial policy of what might be called “community cleansing.” This is not to be confused with “ethnic cleansing,” the horrific activity in parts of, say, Eastern Europe or Central Africa where whole ethnic populations are violently and bloodily removed, either through exile or actual genocide. No, Mr. Brown’s “community cleansing” policies were far more genteel, involving little violence (though some—that’s what the whole Oakland Riders police scandal was about) and targeting not whole ethnic groups, but rather portions of the population that were considered as being “undesirables.” Part of this involved harassment,...

Armed robbers terrorized Oakland restaurants and small businesses in three separate crime sprees over the past year. The first wave targeted Asian eateries and struck during the 2007 holiday season. The second arrived last spring and was more indiscriminate. The third struck in July and August. All three made newspaper headlines and led television newscasts, shining a spotlight on the city's out-of-control crime problem and the Oakland Police Department's apparent inability to cope with it. In fact, the department's public response to the takeover robberies was both odd and illuminating. The department's mantra for dealing with the city's crime spike...

OAKLAND -- A former Oakland police officer acquitted of charges that he framed people as a member of "the Riders" will receive $1.5 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit in which he claimed he was slandered, officials said today. Matt Hornung, 35, will receive the money as part of a settlement with the city's insurance carrier, Kemper Insurance Companies, said Erica Harrold, spokeswoman for Oakland City Attorney John Russo. "The city had no part in the settlement. No taxpayer money was used to pay Hornung," Harrold said today. "The city neither consented nor objected to this settlement. It...

It’s a quiet movement that rose from grass roots almost silently. Patriotic people across the nation have risen with a mission to serve U.S. troops, veterans and the families of both. The group began in 2005 and continues to grow as more people learn about the activities of the Patriot Guard Riders. Several from the Texoma area are members and the Riders were on hand Sunday to help with the laying to rest of Bonham’s fallen soldier, Staff Sgt. Michael Shank. In that group of riders there were people who rode from Waxahachie, Ponder and Terrell to name just a...

Wiping away tears and clutching a picture of her dead son, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq begged state lawmakers Thursday to limit protests at funerals, saying no parent should have to go through what she went through when she buried her son last November. Julie MacKenzie said a group of protesters from a Kansas church showed up with signs that said "Thank God for dead soldiers" and other messages for those who attended the funeral for her 20-year-old son, Tyler... trying to balance the free-speech rights of protesters and the rights of families to mourn peacefully and...

300 Michigan members of the Patriot Guard Riders headed to Grand Ledge, near Lansing Monday morning. The group of motorcycle riders showed its support at a soldier's funeral where a Kansas church group had come to protest. Army Corporal Nyle Yates III died on March 16 while serving in Iraq. His funeral took place today. The motorcycle riders outside the funeral far outnumbered a handful of protestors from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Members of the small church have protested soldiers’ funerals throughout the country. The goal of the riders was to shield the Yates family mourners from...

If you've ever dreamed of sailing the skies in a World War II bomber, there may be no time like the present in Tucson. But it'll cost ya. Four vintage bombers will touch down in the city in April, offering rides at about $400 a pop. The events are sponsored by two nonprofit foundations that use the money to help keep the rare old warplanes running. The Old Pueblo has become a favorite stopover for such outfits because our warm-weather city has all the attributes they look for. "Tucson is a hot spot because it has so many retirees and...

Six members of a fringe church in Kansas picketed Thursday outside the funeral of a Minnesota soldier who was killed in Iraq, leading to a heated exchange with the grieving mother. The six men and women, standing outside the Anoka funeral for Cpl. Andrew Kemple, 23, who died Feb. 12 after his vehicle came under fire, are members of a church in Topeka, Kan., that espouses the belief that God is killing American soldiers because they fought for a country that tolerates homosexuality. They were countered by a group of 20 affiliated with the Patriot Guard Riders, a rapidly growing...

Easy riders, free loaders The Stockholm chapter of the Hell's Angels biker gang is under investigation for benefit fraud after police noticed that 70 per cent of its members were claiming state disability payments after being certified as depressed by the same doctor. Christer Nilsson, deputy head of Stockholm police's criminal investigation department said: "It seems to be depressing being a member of this club." The Hell's Angels have a violent reputation in Scandinavia, allegedly participating in frequent shootouts and bomb attacks. However, in recent years they are believed to have branched out into benefit and tax frauds, police said.

MBTA officials say rampant absenteeism is hurting bus and subway service, discouraging riders, and eating away at the agency's finances by forcing it to pay overtime. ...about 35 percent of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's roughly 6,000 employees were absent for 11 or more days in 2004, and 16 percent were absent 26 or more days. Khalida Smalls, coordinator for the watchdog group called the T Riders Union, said yesterday that excessive absenteeism directly affects passengers. ''People stand at their bus stop at 4:45 waiting for a bus that doesn't show up," ...

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff told a judge this morning that he will not prosecute two former Oakland police officers — part of a squad known as "the Riders" — for a third time on charges that they assaulted or framed drug suspects in 2000. Citing two previous mistrials in the case, Orloff told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner that although he believed fired officers Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag, 39, and Jude Siapno, 36, had committed crimes, he questioned whether a third jury would convict them. "Experience has shown that the answer to that is no," said Orloff, who called...