WASHINGTON — President Obama and his wife, Michelle, millionaires from his best-selling books, made $2.7 million last year and paid just under one-third of their adjusted income in federal taxes.

The reported income — mostly his — was a decrease from the $4.2 million the Obamas made in 2007.

Both years, nearly all of the earnings came from Obama's best-selling books. "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope" brought in about $2.5 million in royalties last year, according to copies of the returns released by the White House yesterday, the federal filing deadline.

Obama earned $139,204 as a Democratic senator from Illinois last year before leaving his seat after winning the November election. Michelle Obama received a salary of $62,709 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she was an executive.

SPAIN WON'T PURSUE U.S. TORTURE INQUIRY

MADRID — Spanish prosecutors will recommend against opening an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, the country's attorney general said today.

Candido Conde-Pumpido said the case against the high-ranking U.S. officials — including former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — was without merit because the men were not present when the torture took place.

"If one is dealing with a crime of mistreatment of prisoners of war, the complaint should go against those who physically carried it out," Conde-Pumpido said. He said a trial of the men would turn Spain's National Court "into a plaything."

Conde-Pumpido is the country's top law-enforcement official and has the ultimate say over prosecutions.

EPILEPSY DRUG LINKED TO TOTS' LOWER IQS

ATLANTA — Toddlers of moms who took the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy had lower IQs than the children of women who used other anti-seizure medicines, according to a new study.

The valproate children had IQ scores six to nine points lower by age 3, said the study's lead author, Dr. Kimford Meador of Emory University. The drug, also sold in the U.S. under the brand name Depakote, previously had been linked to birth defects, particularly spina bifida. Women of childbearing age have long been advised to avoid it.

The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is important because it's the largest to show a connection between valproate and diminished IQ.

WASHINGTON TO EXPAND PARTNERSHIP RIGHTS

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington Legislature has passed an "everything but marriage" bill that grants same-sex couples all the rights and benefits the state offers married couples.

The House passed the measure on a 62-35 vote yesterday. It now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law. The bill expands on previous domestic partnership laws by adding reference to partnerships alongside all remaining areas of state law where currently only married couples are mentioned. The statutes range from labor and employment rights to pensions and other public employee benefits.

CALIFORNIA TO GET $260M IN WATER AID

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urged California yesterday to modernize its antiquated water system, while pledging $260 million in federal stimulus money to help finance projects aimed at relieving the state's water woes.

California's massive system of reservoirs, pumps and canals, built a half century ago, was designed for a population half the size of the state's 37.7 million, Salazar said after a tour of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The delta, which provides water to nearly two-thirds of all Californians, is a highly troubled resource. Three years of drier weather have wreaked havoc on its water supply. Pollution also is a problem.

WOMAN MISTAKEN FOR MURDER SUSPECT

MANTECA, Calif. — A California woman who has the same name as the Sunday school teacher charged with murdering an 8-year-old girl says she is getting death threats from people who mistake her for the suspect.

Like the Tracy resident who is accused of killing Sandra Cantu and putting her body in a suitcase, the Melissa Huckaby who lives 14 miles away in Manteca is 28 years old, has a 5-year-old daughter and volunteers at church.

She is speaking out in hopes of clearing her name.