The Nexus Card -- a proximity card used by frequent travelers to expedite the process of crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada -- is gaining more and more acceptance at border crossings. The program, which has been operational for a number of years, recently expanded its reach to include the Woodstock, Emerson, and Sault Ste. Marie crossings.

The primary purpose of most student ID cards is to protect - ID badges help quickly identify students and staff in case of emergency, and they are an easy way to single out who should and should not be in the school at any given moment. Student ID cards can also serve as library cards and cafeteria "money cards" that can be used to pay for hot lunches. Schools most often implement ID card policies to make security and attendance easier. But in Sioux City, Iowa, West High School sees the addition of ID cards to student life as a change in the student culture.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is looking to expand its smart-card fare-collection system to include use on commuter trains, ferries, and in parking facilities. The ultimate goal is to make the system, known as CharlieCard, a "passport" to the entire MBTA coverage area.

After an extensive pilot program, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is moving forward with plans to take its Medicaid smart card system statewide. The system provides cardholders with a convenient and secure method for verifying their Medicaid coverage.

Managing beds in an emergency room is no small task - with patients constantly streaming in and out of rooms, being tested, released from care, or wheeled into surgery, it takes supreme organization skills and constant movement to keep up with the newest information. Even with the most impeccably organized system, though, there are fallbacks. Rooms and beds aren't cleaned in time, there are bed mix-ups, and ultimately, lags in actual care.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing a proposal that would require all boaters to pass a safety class before operating a vessel. Upon passing the class, each boater would obtain an ID card that proves they're fit for the sea. The aim of the ID card is to cut down on the number of fatalities caused by dangerous boating. Reports show that similar boater ID card programs have reduced the number of boating fatalities by 25 percent in Oregon and Connecticut.

If you've ever been to a government building, you know the drill. A security guard inspects your ID card, your belongings take a spin through the x-ray machine, and you stroll through the metal detector, hoping that that filling won't act up again. However, worries about fake IDs, forgery and attacks have caused concerns among some.

In Prince William County, which contains the second-largest school system in Virginia, 86 schools have implemented an electronic visitor check-in system to keep tabs on visitors and instantly check them against a 460,000-person-long list of sex offenders from across the country. The system, otherwise known as the Raptor, will note when visitors enter and exit the building and keep registered sex offenders off school grounds. These security systems are not unique to Prince William County, either. In Anne Arundel County, the Raptor has ensnared three sex offenders and led to one arrest. And by the end of the school year, officials in the Loudoun County school district want to install video cameras and intercomes outside school doors so that all visitors would have to be buzzed in.

Saudi Arabia is the newest country to roll out a national ID program - and has chosen Entrust, Inc. to provide the infrastructure and technologies needed to get the new program going. The new ID cards will be issued to all Saudi nationals, and will feature state-of-the art encryption and security measures to keep sensitive personal data safe.

In Trinidad, tactical police offers must now wear identification badges with their photographs on display at all times. Criminals in black have been impersonating members of tactical forces, who usually participate in the execution of search warrants and raids, in order to commit crimes against unwitting civilians. From now on, legitimate tactical unit officers will travel with uniformed police, in marked vehicles. Acting Deputy Commissioner of Crime Operations Gilbert Reyes cautioned the public against cooperating with people dressed in black who do not have proper identification on display.

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center is implementing Mobilisa's Defense ID system in order to to secure the enormous facility, which has a potential patient population of 8 million people. The center will not be issuing their own cards; instead the Defense ID scanner reads data from any government ID card-- including Canadian driver's licenses-- and crosschecks each individual against more than 100 databases of criminal offenders and other parties who have been banned from military properties.

16 major cities in China's southeast coast have made plans to implement smart card fare payment systems by 2010. Convenient transportation is a key factor in the development of this increasingly prosperous economic region. So far, more than 3,300 cabs have been equipped with electronic card readers. Readers are standardized so the same smart card can be used to pay fares for different cab services in different cities.

"Soccer Mom" has a new meaning in South Florida (along with many other places). Instead of ferrying children back and forth to practice and cheering on the sidelines at games, many sports parents have taken an active role on their child's sports teams - volunteering, chauferring teams around, organizing parent activities, and helping coach. And now, along with the requisite station wagon, van or SUV keys and water bottles, team parents are now sporting ID badges when at practices and games.