93-3-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast.

And now, Preston and Steve's news update with Kathy Romano.

All right, today is Friday, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day.

Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning.

In the news this morning, panic is growing among travelers. Many

are saying their upcoming trips are in jeopardy because they can't get their passports. If you need a new

passport, you are urged to apply as soon as possible because this is a nightmare situation.

They're saying passport services say to expect things to get even worse before they get better.

So Preston, we had talked about the online renewal,

right? Yes. Did you do that? I did, and I did it in December, and I still have not received mine

yet, and I got an update from them just the other day that I should be receiving it by the end of

next week. So I did mine a couple weeks ago. But that was months ago. And I did mine. I went down to the post office and did the deal and had the picture and all that stuff. And they said, I'm never getting it. Did you get it? No, there's just a couple weeks ago. But I also paid for the accelerated. Yeah, yeah. It's like 180. So they're saying even that is backed up. And Preston, they're saying what you did. So the online renewal program has been put on pause. And they're saying the Department of State is calling the customers who renewed online, volunteers who helped out test the system. So they've taken that down. You can't even do that anymore. No kidding. I mean, I'm lucky. I'm not traveling anytime soon. I don't need it. It was just time to

renew it. So I'm not an agent. You're a secret agent. And that's the problem. I need to get to other countries. But there are some people who, you know, plan this travel and then I'll get to the passport thing and then they don't. And then, uh-oh, then you're in a lot of trouble. So I'm in the July range, so when I'm going to need it.

Or I can just forge one.

I assume that's pretty easy. You can do that too. It's a secret agent. You can do that. This is a drawn picture of you, sir. It says a full online rollout with improvements is expected later this year. That's for the online program, the one that Preston did. So meantime, when passports are being

so backed up, they say that they have over 1,000 phone lines with hundreds of customer service

representatives who are taking calls. What we're seeing now is just a higher number of people

applying for passports earlier in the year, said Andre Rodriguez of the U.S. Office of Passport Services.

The Department of State's website says processing time is 8 to 11 weeks with routine service

and then 5 to 7 weeks with expedited service, but a lot of people who applied for or are trying

to get these passports say that is not correct and it's much longer than that.

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