After quarreling for months, President Barack Obama and the top two Republicans in Congress expressed optimism Wednesday about finding a common jobs and energy agenda, prodded by politics to show results in an election year.

The Pentagon has mothballed a laser-equipped jumbo jet after 15 years and $5 billion worth of research to develop an airborne missile defense system.

With a formal dinner for the few, President Barack Obama on Wednesday paid solemn tribute to the many.

An inmate already saddled with 17 life prison terms told a jury he deserved death for organizing the largest-ever jailbreak from a Texas prison and then killing a suburban Dallas police officer while a fugitive with six others who escaped with him.

Two Baylor students who were finalists in the Feb. 11 Dallas Regional Japanese Speech Contest are now preparing for the next part of the competition, which will take place March 10 at Rice University in Houston.