Today's news

--> Pennsylvania: Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are wrapping up their push in Pennsylvania with sharp attacks a day before the state's crucial primary.

Both candidates have been launching waves of robocalls, tough mailers and matching attack ads, spending an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.

Obama has outspent his rival in Pennsylvania, thanks in part to his hefty fundraising. He raised $41 million in March, compared with Clinton's $20 million, according to the latest campaign finance reports.In March, Obama spent about $31 million on his presidential campaign, compared with Clinton's $22 million.

Tuesday's contest brings an end to a six-week primary hiatus. With 158 delegates at stake, the Pennsylvania primary is the largest remaining Democratic contest.

--> St. Angelo, TX: Lab workers began taking DNA samples today from the more than 400 children in state custody since a raid on a polygamist compound more than two weeks ago.

Officials hope the samples, to be taken by cheek swabs from the children and their parents, will help sort out the confusing family relationships in a convoluted custody case that has strained the resources of the child welfare system and the courts.

Judge Barbara Walther ordered the tests at the request of state officials, who have complained that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have continually changed their names, possibly lied about their ages and sometimes had difficulty naming their relatives.

--> Jerusalem: Jimmy Carter, the former American president, said today that he had obtained a significant concession from the Palestinian group Hamas regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace and also found the Syrian leadership eager for a full peace treaty with Israel.

Mr. Carter, who spoke in Jerusalem after several days of talks in the Syrian capital, Damascus, said he had extracted from Hamas a promise to respect the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if it were ratified by a referendum of the Palestinian people.

He said further that Syria believed “about 85 percent” of the issues between it and Israel had been resolved in prior negotiations and it wanted a peace deal “as soon as possible.”

--> Boston, MA: Robert Cheruiyot won his fourth Boston Marathon today, and Dire Tune outkicked Alevtina Biktimirova by 2 seconds in the closest finish in the history of the women's race.

Cheruiyot ran away from the pack to finish in a blistering 2 hours, 7 minutes, 46 seconds. He missed the course record he set two years ago by 32 seconds, but became the fourth man to win the world's oldest annual marathon four times.

Cheruiyot and Tune, who finished in 2:25:25, each earned an enhanced prize of $150,000 -- the biggest in major marathon history.