In brief: Benghazi suspect killed, U.S. says

WASHINGTON – An Islamic State operative suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, has been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday.

Ali Awni al-Harzi “operated closely with multiple ISIL-associated extremists throughout North Africa and the Middle East,” Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren said in a statement, using one acronym for the militant group. “His death degrades ISIL’s ability to integrate North African jihadists into the Syrian and Iraqi fight and removes a jihadist with long ties to international terrorism.”

Warren said al-Harzi, a Tunisian national, was killed last week in Mosul, which fell to Islamic State forces a year ago.

Maryland governor has lymphatic cancer

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday he has “very advanced” and “very aggressive” cancer of the lymph nodes, but he said he will fight for a full recovery and continue to work as the state’s chief elected official.

Hogan spoke candidly, choking up at times while also managing to keep a sense of humor, as family, friends and his staff filled the governor’s reception room for the announcement. The governor, who has been in office for five months, said the cancer is B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The Republican, who won an upset victory in November in a heavily Democratic state, said he had noticed a painless lump along his jaw earlier this month. He also felt some back pain, which he said was caused by a tumor pressing on his spinal column.

Hogan said his doctors have told him he has a good chance of beating the disease.

Body found that of ex-White House chef

TAOS, N.M. – From spending more than a decade preparing food for some of the world’s most influential people as the White House executive chef to appearing on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” show in 2006, Walter Scheib is being remembered for his culinary creations and charity work.

Scheib’s body was found Sunday night after a weeklong search. Scheib, 61, failed to return from a June 13 hike in the mountains near the Taos Ski Valley.

Authorities have not determined the cause of his death. Investigators were combing the area for clues Monday while waiting for a preliminary autopsy report.

He led the White House kitchen for 11 years under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.