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Basketball star Brittney Griner has come home to the U.S. after a prisoner swap with Russia, and DNA technology has helped identify the "Boy in the Box" found dead 65 years ago in one of the country's oldest cold cases. Plus, Al Roker shares his gratitude after returning home from a second stint in the hospital. |
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WNBA star Brittney Griner arrived back in the U.S. early this morning after being freed from a Russian prison. She could be seen climbing down the steps of a plane shortly after it arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas before 6 a.m. In a nearly yearlong ordeal, Griner, 32, had been locked up in a Russian penal colony after she was sentenced to nine years for allegedly carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage. Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, expressed her joy at the news yesterday, saying she was "overwhelmed with emotions." President Biden arranged Griner's release in a prisoner swap with Russia. Here's the latest.
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Since 1957, an unidentified 4-year-old child found dead in Philadelphia has been known as the "Boy in the Box" in one of America's oldest cold case investigations. Thanks to recent DNA technology breakthroughs and the assistance of volunteer sleuths, police have now identified him as Joseph Augustus Zarelli. The body of the boy was found wrapped in a blanket inside a cardboard box in Philadelphia's Fox Chase neighborhood in February 1957, and his name was never known until now. Police now say proving who killed him will be "an uphill battle." Read the full story of the case here.
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TODAY's beloved weatherman shared the news yesterday that he is back home with his family after a second recent stint in the hospital. Al shared smiling photos with his wife and daughter Leila and expressed his gratitude for everyone's well wishes. Al went to the hospital last month for blood clots, returned home on Thanksgiving, and then had to go back to the hospital and missed the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree last week. “Home! So incredibly grateful to family, friends, medical folks, @todayshow family and all your thoughts and prayers,” Al wrote on Instagram.
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If you've been searching far and wide for a gift for that person who says they have everything they need, lifestyle expert Chassie Post is here to help. She has 28 gift ideas for anyone on your list, from soap for teachers to kids' slippers, all of them just a few clicks away. See the full list here.
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Achieve your life goals with easy tips. |
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If you struggle to sleep through the night due to congestion, coughing, sneezing and other allergy-like symptoms, your sheets and pillows may be harboring the culprits: dust mites. People who wake up with a stuffy nose or a sore throat have been found to have dust mite allergies, but there are things to know before you revamp your sleep setup. We have tips on how to get rid of dust mites from your bed and how a dust mite cover can help. But, one allergist tells us, "Follow your symptoms and then see an allergist and really get it confirmed before going crazy trying to make your bed safer (from mites)."
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Allow us to do the meal-planning for you. |
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It's holiday cake season, and cookbook author Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby Cakes stopped by the TODAY kitchen to show us how to make a gingerbread bundt cake so good that Santa might skip the cookies. If you want something smaller and snackable, Jocelyn has maple cheesecake bars made with graham crackers, cream cheese, sour cream and buttery maple syrup for a decadent bite covered in pomegranate compote.
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A little pick-me-up before you go. |
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They started off as strangers, and nearly 700 miles later, they ended up as friends with a shared story they won't forget. A motley crew of 13 people stranded in Orlando, Florida, by a flight cancellation decided to all hop into a rental van together and drive 10 hours north to their final destination of Knoxville, Tennessee. They found viral fame along the way thanks to TikTok videos of the trip shared by one passenger, Alanah Story, who was traveling with her mom. "In my video, you can clearly see our differences," Story told us. "I feel like we're so divided right now and to be able to see just a ragtag group of strangers who are totally different from each other come together and just enjoy a crazy situation together. I feel like it resonates." Watch her videos of their trek here.
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See you again tomorrow morning. Written by Scott Stump | Edited by Philip Caulfield
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