New York office head says he’s retired after being ordered to do so

WASHINGTON>> The head of the FBI’s New York field office who was reported to have resisted Justice Department efforts to scrutinize agents who participated in politically sensitive investigations told coworkers on Monday that he has retired from the bureau after being directed to do so.

James Dennehy said in a message to colleagues obtained by The Associated Press that he was told late Friday to put in his retirement papers but was not given a reason. The move comes in a period of upheaval at the bureau as new FBI Director Kash Patel took office last month and as conservative podcast host and Trump loyalist Dan Bongino has been named to serve as deputy director.

The bureau also remains in turmoil over a highly unusual demand by the Justice Department for the FBI to turn over a list of the thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The January directive was seen by some in the bureau as a possible precursor to mass firings. Dennehy, a retired Marine, was among those who resisted the order, vowing in a message he wrote to colleagues that he was prepared to “dig in,” according to news reports at the time.

Senate confirms Linda McMahon as education chief

WASHINGTON>> The Senate voted Monday to confirm former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as the nation’s education chief, a role that places her atop a department that President Donald Trump has vilified and vowed to dismantle.

McMahon will face the competing tasks of winding down the Education Department while also escalating efforts to achieve Trump’s agenda. Already the Republican president has signed sweeping orders to rid America’s schools of diversity programs and accommodations for transgender students while also calling for expanded school choice programs.

At the same time, Trump has promised to shut down the department and said he wants McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”

The Senate voted to confirm McMahon 51-45.

Army base name back to Fort Benning, dumping Fort Moore

WASHINGTON>> Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has, for the second time, reversed the renaming of a U.S. military base, saying that Fort Moore in Georgia should revert back to being called Fort Benning.

The move reflects an ongoing effort by the Pentagon to overturn the Biden administration’s 2023 decision to remove names that honored Confederate leaders, including for nine Army bases. But the drive to revert to the former names means finding service members with the same name as the Confederate leaders.

Previously, Fort Benning was named for Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning, a Confederate officer during the American Civil War who stridently opposed the abolition of slavery.

Now, Hegseth said, Fort Benning will be named in honor of Cpl. Fred G. Benning, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross who served in France during World War I.

Clemency granted to fired sergeant who killed unarmed man

RICHMOND, Va.>> Days after a judge sentenced a Virginia police officer to prison in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man accused of stealing sunglasses, the state’s Republican governor granted the fired officer clemency, meaning he won’t have to serve further time behind bars.

Wesley Shifflett, 36, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after he was convicted of recklessly handling a firearm during the Feb. 22, 2023, shooting of Timothy McCree Johnson. The jury acquitted him of involuntary manslaughter.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin granted Shifflett clemency on Sunday, removing his prison requirement but keeping intact his felony conviction.

“I am convinced that the court’s sentence of incarceration is unjust and violates the cornerstone of our justice system — that similarly situated individuals receive proportionate sentences,” Youngkin, a Republican, said Sunday.

Owner gets 45 years after toddler fatally ingested fentanyl

NEW YORK>> A woman who owned a New York City day care center where a toddler died after ingesting fentanyl has been sentenced to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal drug charges.

Grei Mendez, 37, dropped her head into her crossed arms in anguish as Judge Jed S. Rakoff announced the sentence that triggered sobs among Mendez’s family and the mother whose 22-month-old child, Nicholas Feliz-Dominici, died in September 2023.

Rakoff had previously given the same sentence to Mendez’s husband, Felix Herrera-Garcia, after he pleaded guilty to drug charges and causing bodily harm related to the death.

Lighter winds help crews fighting fires

Lighter winds Monday helped crews in South Carolina and North Carolina battle wildfires that caused evacuations and threatened hundreds of homes over the weekend.

Hundreds of firefighters from across the state managed to keep the massive blaze in Horry County near Myrtle Beach from destroying any homes despite social media videos of orange skies at night and flames engulfing pine trees just yards away.

The fire burned 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers). It was the biggest fire in the area since a 2009 wildfire nearby caused $42 million in damage.

At least 130 patients at hospital abducted, according to U.N.

DAKAR, Senegal>> Rwanda-backed M23 rebels abducted at least 130 sick and wounded men from two hospitals in a major city in eastern Congo, the United Nations said Monday.

On Feb. 28, M23 fighters raided the CBCA Ndosho Hospital and Heal Africa Hospital in Goma, a strategic city they seized earlier this year, the U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said in a statement.

The rebels took 116 patients from CBCA and 15 others from Heal Africa they suspected of being Congolese army soldiers or members of the pro-government Wazalendo militia.

— Denver Post wire serivces