leading the u.s. delegation to the ceremony. president obama is preparing to head to the middle east. he'll make his first trip to israel since taking office on tuesday. the president will also visit the west bank and jordan. the white house says the purpose of the trip is to express u.s. support for israel security and jump start israeli/palestinian peace talks. you're looking now at live pictures of the courthouse in ohio where two steubenville, ohio, high school players are on trial for rape and will soon learn their fate. a judge is expected to hand down his vurnerdict in the next hour. trent mays and malik richmond. cnn will have coverage of the verdict. thank you so much for watching "state of the union." head to cnn.com/sotu for web extras, including our very popular online segment called getting to know.