Student charged in Texas college stabbing attack

CYPRESS, Texas - A student who told police he had fantasized for years about stabbing people to death was charged Tuesday with carrying out a building-to-building attack at a Texas community college that wounded at least 14 people, many of whom were stabbed in the face and neck, authorities said.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that 20-year-old Dylan Quick used a razor-type knife, and that he told investigators he had been planning the attack at the suburban Houston campus for some time. Two people remained in critical condition late Tuesday.

Pieces of the blade were found in at least one victim, according to the sheriff's office. Broken blade pieces also were found in the area where the stabbing occurred on the Lone Star Community College campus in Cypress, and the handle was discovered in a backpack that Quick was carrying when he was arrested.

Quick was charged Tuesday night with three counts of aggravated assault. It wasn't immediately clear if additional charges would be filed, though he is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday.

Authorities were seen entering Quick's parents' home in a middle-class neighborhood of Houston late Tuesday. No one answered the door or the phone at the red brick house, where two vehicles were parked in the driveway, including a Honda Accord with a license plate that said "DYLAN." It was not immediately known if Quick had an attorney.

"I can't imagine what would have happened to that young man to make him do something like this. He is very normal," said Magdalena Lopez, 48, who has lived across the street from the Quick family for 15 years.

North Korea's capital calm despite war talk

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Scores of North Koreans of all ages planted trees as part of a forestation campaign - armed with shovels, not guns. In the evening, women in traditional dress danced in the plazas to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the late leader Kim Jong Il's appointment to a key defense post.

Despite more warnings from their leaders of impending nuclear war, people in the capital gave no sense of panic.

Chu Kang Jin, a Pyongyang resident, said everything is calm in the city.

"Everyone, including me, is determined to turn out as one to fight for national reunification ... if the enemies spark a war," he added, using nationalist rhetoric common among many North Koreans when speaking to the media.

The North's latest warning, issued by its Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, urged foreign companies and tourists to leave South Korea.

Budget cuts ground 3rd of Air Force warplanes

NORFOLK, Va. - A third of the U.S. Air Force's active-duty force of combat planes including fighters and bombers will be grounded due to federal budget cuts, and only the units preparing to deploy to major operations, such as the war in Afghanistan, will remain mission-ready, a top general said Tuesday.

Other units would stand down on a rotating basis, said Gen. Mike Hostage, commander of Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia.

"The current situation means we're accepting the risk that combat airpower may not be ready to respond immediately to new contingencies as they occur," Hostage said in a statement.

The Air Force didn't immediately release a list of the specific units and bases that would be affected, but it said it would cover some fighters like F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-22 Raptors, and some airborne warning and control aircraft in the U.S., Europe and the Pacific.

Tentative deal on hang-up toimmigration bill

WASHINGTON - A tentative deal has been reached between agriculture workers and growers, a key senator said Tuesday, smoothing the way for a landmark immigration bill to be released within a week.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who's taken the lead on negotiating a resolution to the agriculture issue, didn't provide details, and said growers had yet to sign off on the agreement. The farm workers union has been at odds with the agriculture industry over worker wages and how many visas should be offered in a new program to bring agriculture workers to the U.S.

But Feinstein said she's hoping for resolution in the next day or two.

"There's a tentative agreement on a number of things, and we're waiting to see if it can get wrapped up," Feinstein said in a brief interview at the Capitol.

"I'm very hopeful. The train is leaving the station. We need a bill."

Kelly wins vote to replace Jesse Jackson Jr.

CHICAGO - Former Illinois state Rep. Robin Kelly, whose campaign received a $2 million boost from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, easily captured Tuesday's special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

The win for the Matteson Democrat was widely expected as the Chicago-area district, which Jackson represented from 1995 until late last year, has been a Democratic stronghold for roughly six decades. Kelly emerged from a crowded field in the February primary by focusing heavily on anti-gun efforts and was helped by ads from Bloomberg's super PAC.

Kelly, 56, vowed to become a leader in the federal fight for gun control legislation and echoed the promise after her win.

She easily won over Republican community activist Paul McKinley, three independent candidates and a Green Party candidate in the district that includes city neighborhoods, suburbs and rural areas.

- The Associated Press