On Land and Sea, Passport Info in the Cards

Starting this month, US residents have the option to use a wallet-size passport card instead of the traditional booklet when crossing land and sea borders, the Miami Herald reports. The cards, which aren't accepted for air travel, cost less than standard passports and speed the border-crossing process. The State Department expects to issue as many as 1 million by the end of the year.

"It will make a difference as far as processing times," a State Department official said of the new card, which has an embedded chip that allows it to be read from 10 yards away. (More passport stories.)