Brittney Griner is free, Iran's end to 'morality police' questioned: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Brittney Griner is free

Plus, USA TODAY Sports Reporter Chris Bumbaca takes a closer look at how the WNBA star returned home, USA TODAY World Affairs Correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard explains whether Iran's 'morality police' is actually disbanding, former President Donald Trump does not plan to appeal a court order ending a special master review of seized documents, the House Oversight Committee slams the Washington Commanders' owner after an investigation into the team's toxic work culture, and Housing and Economy Correspondent Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy looks at what to expect in next year's housing market.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Friday, the 9th of December 2022. Today...

President Joe Biden:

She's safe. She's on a plane. She's on her way home.

Taylor Wilson:

Brittney Griner has been released from Russian custody. Plus, did Iran really disband its so-called morality police, and we check in with the US housing market.

♦

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from a Russian penal colony and is headed home to the United States. The move comes after a prisoner exchange with the US sending Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout back to Russia. Griner has been in Russian custody since February after police said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. So how did the US bring Brittney home? For more on that, I'm now joined by USA TODAY Sports reporter Chris Bumbaca. Chris, thanks for being here.

Chris Bumbaca:

Thanks so much for having me on.

Taylor Wilson:

So Chris, how did Brittney's release happen?

Chris Bumbaca:

So Brittney Griner came home via a prisoner swap with Russia. The US exchanged notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was scheduled to be in US custody through 2029. He's going back now and has received clemency. And that's how Griner's coming home. It was always going to be a prisoner swap pretty much from the time she was detained back in February.

Taylor Wilson:

Cherelle Griner, Brittney's wife, has been a huge part of efforts all year to bring her love home. Can you talk about Cherelle's role in all of this, Chris?

Chris Bumbaca:

It was certainly an impressive effort that you touched on. Today from the White House she said, "Today, my family is whole." And I think that was her goal all along, was to put her family back together and she did it the only way she knew how. She has a law degree and used those resources and skills to leverage relationship, gain an audience with President Biden and senior administration officials who were able to ultimately negotiate this deal to bring her wife home.

Taylor Wilson:

So Chris, what does this mean for Paul Whelan? This is the American who's been detained in Russia since 2018 and his name has often been linked with Brittney's as part of a possible prisoner swap. So what's next for him now?

Chris Bumbaca:

Part of what Cherelle said from the White House today was that she and Brittney would remain committed to bringing home wrongfully detained Americans who suffer the same plight that their family endures every single day. I've had a chance with some of these families through my coverage of this story, and they are normal Americans just like you and me who have to confront this nightmare every single day that someone that they love is abroad for reasons that are illegitimate. So what's next for Paul Whelan is that he remains in jail and senior administration officials told him yesterday about the exchange. Today, to CNN, he expressed bewilderment as to why he still remains there. But it's pretty clear that the Russians value him more because he has an espionage charge that is part of his 16-year sentence. Paul Whelan is going on four years detained in Russia. And today on CNN, his brother David, who I've gotten to know pretty well, says that he's happy for Brittney Griner and wants to experience that same joy one day for his family.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, USA TODAY Sports reporter, Chris Bumbaca. Thanks for making the time.

Chris Bumbaca:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

You can read more about Brittney Griner's release in the USA TODAY'S sports section online and in print.

♦

Protests in Iran have persisted for nearly three months, and there were reports this week that the country's so-called morality police would be dismantled. That's after some confusing comments by a senior Iranian official. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with USA TODAY World Affairs correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard to find out more.

PJ Elliott:

Well first off, who are the morality police in Iran and what exactly do they do?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Yeah, so the morality police is kind of like slang that we hear in the West use to refer to a program that is run through the police in Iran. They essentially kind of monitor social behavior, in particular the way men and women dress and interact with one another in accordance with Iran's interpretation of Islamic law. As these things do, it mostly affects women and particular head and neck covering.

PJ Elliott:

Why was there this confusion about possibly disbanding them?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

I think it was a combination of a confused statement out of the mouth of an Iranian official and then people looking at this statement in light of what's been happening there the last few months, and then sort of drawing a conclusion about that statement. But the other thing to bear in mind here, the deeper context is that the morality police, they issue... When I was in Iran, you see them, they drive around town in distinctive green and white vans. They issue fines, they give warnings, they can detain people, but they have not actually been involved in policing these protests at all.

PJ Elliott:

Is there a sense that Iran is starting to become a little more progressive than what they've then been known for?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

I mean, I think we need to draw distinction between the government and the people. My experience of Iranians is that they are progressive. The Iranian people that you meet. And certainly the diaspora that you find in the US and Europe is a whole different kettle of fish. But inside Iran, people are far more modern and you use all the social media apps that we do, are interested in popular music and popular culture. The government, that's a whole other scenario. It wasn't too long ago that they elected a new president who's in the grand scheme of things, kind of viewed as somewhat more hard line than the previous one. One of the misconceptions about Iran is that there's quite a thriving political scene domestically, and they do have debate with different shades of gray in terms of political opinions. That doesn't mean that it necessarily goes anywhere, but the country is still old, domestic, and foreign policy is still more or less determined by the supreme leader. But nevertheless, once you go underneath that, there is some limited scope for discussion about topics. And I think that surprises many people.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Former President Donald Trump does not plan to appeal a court order that put an end to the special master review of documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to CNN. That comes after a federal appeals court ruled last week that a lower court should not have appointed a third party to review classified documents found at his home in August. Trump's legal team had previously argued that they needed an outside expert to decide whether any of the documents could be privileged. The appeals court went at the idea that Trump deserves special treatment because he's a former president. The court wrote, "It is indeed extraordinary for a warrant to be executed at the home of a former president, but not in a way that affects our legal analysis or otherwise gives the judiciary license to interfere in an ongoing investigation."

The end to the special master's review comes as more classified material was found at a storage unit linked to former President Trump and as the Justice Department has asked a federal judge to hold Trump's office in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a subpoena to return all classified documents in his possession.

♦

The House Oversight Committee slammed the NFL and the Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder after an investigation into the football team's toxic work culture. The Democrat-led committee found that the team and league withheld thousands of requested documents, and that Snyder gave misleading testimony during a deposition with committee staff, claiming more than a hundred times that he did not recall answers to investigators' questions. The committee also found that the NFL buried the findings of its own investigation and negotiated Washington's punishment directly with Snyder. Several former employees have said they were sexually assaulted while working for the Commanders and there are allegations of sexual assault against Snyder specifically as well.

In its investigation, the House Oversight Committee also found evidence of financial impropriety and passed that along to multiple state and federal authorities. As a result, DC's attorney general filed two civil lawsuits against Snyder and the team. One alleges that the team and league deceived DC consumers, the other centers on an alleged scheme to cheat ticket holders out of their deposits for season tickets. You can read more on USATODAY.com.

♦

After a sudden slowdown in many housing markets this year, will markets that are slow and steady shine in 2023? Producer PJ Elliott spoke with USA TODAY National Housing and Economy correspondent Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy to find out the answer.

PJ Elliott:

Swapna, thanks so much for joining me.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy:

Thank you for having me.

PJ Elliott:

So let's get into real estate. What exactly is a mid-sized market, and what makes them attractive to buyers right now.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy:

Mid-sized markets are markets that saw lower price increases and less affordability crunch during the pandemic. And they're also expected to see the strongest growth in home sales and listing prices in the coming year. Generally speaking, these are markets where home prices are below the U.S. median of $415,000, and so they did see some amount of price growth and sales growth, but not the wild housing frenzy in places like Boise or Phoenix, for instance. What makes it attractive now is that they still have room to grow. So home sales in these markets are expected to grow by about 5%, whereas in other places, nationally, it's supposed to decline.

PJ Elliott:

So as you said, we saw housing prices go through the roof during the pandemic, but these markets didn't. Why is that?

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy:

That's an interesting question. Experts think it's because some of these places that were pricier markets suddenly became more affordable when the market rates came down. These markets were not quite as top of mind for buyers back then, so they didn't experience the same level of booming activity as some of the other markets then.

PJ Elliott:

Looking ahead, what are some of the predictions for the housing market in 2023?

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy:

Looking ahead, I feel the mortgage rates should fall a little more in 2023, but they wouldn't be falling as fast as they went up. Housing market activity will continue to be relatively sluggish, even if mortgage rates do tend to come down a bit. Since so many existing home owners are locked into below 3% or 3% loans, and are not really eager to move into a higher rate, so you'll continue to see relatively low inventory next year.

PJ Elliott:

Swapna, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy:

Thank you so much, I had a really good time talking to you, PJ.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find more from Swapna in the Money section on USATODAY.com.

And before we go today, a look at a couple of other stories making headlines. The FDA has authorized a new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine shot for young kids. Like with adults and older kids, children aged six months to six years will have the third dose of their Pfizer or Moderna vaccine target both the original virus and against Omicron variants. And the House passed historic legislation yesterday that would federally protect same-sex and interracial marriage rights. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the measure into law.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every morning right here wherever you're listening right now. If you have a chance, please drop us a rating and review, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brittney Griner back home, House slams Commanders owner: 5 Things podcadt