A bill governing ride-sharing services got final legislative approval today. The Passenger Protection Act cleared the House by a 100-to-0 vote. The bill introduced by Wayne County Rep. John Bell requires rideshare drivers to display easily viewed company logos and have a printed license plate on the front of their vehicles. It also creates a new criminal penalty for impersonating a rideshare driver and makes it a misdemeanor to assault a rideshare driver. The bill came in the wake of the murder of a University of South Carolina student who died after getting into a car she thought was her Uber ride. The bill now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature.
George Olsen is a 1977 Havelock High School graduate. He received his B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina in 1982 where he got his first taste of non-commercial radio working for their student station WUSC. After graduation he worked about five years in commercial radio before coming to work at Public Radio East where he has remained since outside of a nearly 3-year stint as jazz and operations coordinator at WUAL in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the early 1990s. On his return to eastern North Carolina he hosted classical music for Public Radio East before moving into the Morning Edition host position and now can be heard on All Things Considered. He also hosts and produces The Sound, five hours of Americana, Roots Rock and Contemporary Folk weekday evenings on PRE Public Radio East News & Ideas, and is a news and feature producer for Public Radio East.