Today is Monday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2025. There are two days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 29,2021, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in New York of helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein; the verdict capped a monthlong trial featuring accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14. (Maxwell would be sentenced to 20 years in prison.)

Also on this date:

In 1170, Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, was killed in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II.

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In 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as more than 250 Lakota people were killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.

In 1940, during World War II, the German Luftwaffe dropped incendiary bombs on London, setting off what came to be known as “The Second Great Fire of London.”

In 1978, during the Gator Bowl, Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson player Charlie Bauman, who had intercepted an Ohio State pass. (Hayes was fired the next day.)

In 1989, dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel (VAHTS’-lahv HAH’-vel) assumed the presidency of Czechoslovakia. In 1993, he would become the first president of the newly independent Czech Republic after Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved.

In 2024, Jimmy Carter, a Georgia peanut farmer who was elected president in the years after the Watergate scandal and served one tumultuous term starting in 1977, died at age 100. After his presidency, Carter worked tirelessly as a global humanitarian, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Jon Voight is 87.
Actor Ted Danson is 78.
Actor Patricia Clarkson is 66.
Filmmaker Lilly Wachowski is 58.
Actor Jennifer Ehle is 56.
Actor Jude Law is 53.
Actor Mekhi Phifer (mih-KY’ FY’-fuhr) is 51.
Actor Diego Luna is 46.
Actor and producer Alison Brie is 43.
Actor Jane Levy is 36.
Actor Dylan Minnette is 29.

By all accounts, David Brom has made the transition from prison to work release without a hitch, setting the stage that the Rochester ax killer could be granted parole as early as January.

“David Brom is doing well, as expected,” said Aaron Swanum, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Here’s David Brom today. (Courtesy of Minnesota Department of Corrections)

In an email, Swanum said Brom is set to go before the Supervised Release Board on Jan. 13, where a decision to put Brom on supervised release, a form of probation, could be approved. The meeting is public and can be viewed through live-streaming.

Earlier this year, the 54-year-old man who killed his parents, brother and sister with an ax when he was 16 in February 1988 was the beneficiary of a change in state law that repealed life sentences for juveniles. Sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, Brom had served 37 years of what was supposed to be, at a minimum, a 52.5-year sentence.

The change in law made Brom eligible for supervised release after serving 30 years in prison, which he had already done. But instead of granting Brom supervised release, members of the Minnesota Department of Corrections Supervised Release Board opted to grant him work release. Brom went from life in a medium-security prison to one in a halfway house — but not in Olmsted County. That was a stipulation of his release.

Supervised release is an intermediate state that comes after an offender is released from prison but before the person is restored to full liberty. If granted supervised release, Brom would no longer be required to reside in a Department of Corrections facility — a halfway house. He might have an opportunity to rent or buy a home. People on supervised release generally have to check in with a corrections agent, abstain from drugs and alcohol, and abide by a curfew.

For many offenders, the next step is freedom. You have paid your debt to society and are free to go. However, for some — and this may include Brom — a person sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of release may be on supervised release for the rest of his life.

Even though officials describe work release as a form of custody, the fact that Brom was getting a measure of freedom outraged and dumbfounded many legislators, law enforcement officials and members of the community with knowledge and memories of the horrific crime.

Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson issued a statement revealing how he struggled with the concept of leniency in the Brom case. Torgerson had been among the first law enforcement to arrive at the murder scene on Feb. 18, 1988, and he had never been able to forget the “sights and smells of what I saw that Thursday evening.”

“Diane and little Ricky could be parents and very productive members of our society, but we were never given the chance due to Mr. Brom’s selfish, immature, 16-year-old actions,” Torgerson said.

Yet as horrific as Brom’s actions were, the parole board was required under the new law to operate within new public policy parameters. It was duty-bound to weigh the factors in the Brom case through a correctional lens — and not through the horror of the crime, which no one was disputing.

And another factor in Brom’s favor, prison officials said, was that he had been an “utterly model prisoner” during his 37 years of incarceration. He had continued his education and worked toward becoming an inmate chaplain. When Brom was moved to the correctional facility in St. Cloud, it was so that he could serve as a mentor to other prisoners.

And those who dealt with Brom, including prison staff who had interacted with him for years, didn’t see the murderer.

“You talk to many of those staff, and those staff were saying stuff like, ‘If he were my neighbor, based on my experience with him, so be it,’” said Paul Schnell, the state’s commissioner of corrections.

For his part, Brom told the board that he had been in the grip of a depression that clouded his thoughts and emotions and that he felt he never would escape from.

“I had grown to a short-sighted view that I thought these things were going to last forever. In the cloud of depression, I started to believe that other people were at fault for how I felt.”

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings with 2:15 left, and the San Francisco 49ers forced an incomplete pass on the final play from the 2 to beat the Chicago Bears 42-38 on Sunday night and set up a Week 18 showdown for the top seed in the NFC.

Caleb Williams drove the Bears (11-5) down the field in the closing seconds and had one last shot for the win. But Bryce Huff forced him out of the pocket and his throw short-hopped Jahdae Walker in the end zone to seal a sixth straight victory for the 49ers (12-4).

Purdy followed up his career-high five TD-pass performance last week against Indianapolis by throwing for three scores and running for two to become the sixth player since the AFL-NFL merger with back-to-back games with at least five touchdowns.

That gave the 49ers a chance to win the NFC West and get a bye by beating Seattle (13-3) in the season finale on Saturday night. A win would give San Francisco home-field advantage and a chance to stay home all postseason, with the Super Bowl set to be played at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 8.

The loss ends the Bears’ hopes of earning the top seed. Chicago has already clinched the NFC North and can earn the No. 2 seed by beating Detroit next Sunday.

Purdy finished 24 for 33 for 303 yards, while Christian McCaffrey ran for 140 yards and a score and added 41 more receiving.

Williams went 25 for 42 for 330 yards and two TDs but couldn’t deliver at the end after already leading the Bears to an NFL-record six comeback wins after trailing in the final two minutes of regulation.

Neither defense could slow down the opposing offense for most of the night after a pick-6 by Chicago’s T.J. Edwards on the first play. The Niners led 28-21 at halftime.

The teams then traded touchdowns on the first three drives of the second half, with D’Andre Swift scoring on two runs for Chicago and Purdy delivering a highlight-reel play for San Francisco. He rolled to his right on a play from the 6, eluded two pass rushers and then flipped an easy TD pass to Kyle Juszczyk on a play that lasted longer than 8 seconds.

The Bears finally forced a punt and went ahead 38-35 on a short field goal by Cairo Santos with 5:22 to play when they couldn’t convert on third down in the red zone.

The Bears’ opportunistic defense struck on the first play when Edwards caught a deflected pass and returned it 34 yards for Chicago’s first defensive score on the opening play in at least 45 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Purdy answered his big mistake to start the game with a 65-yard touchdown drive capped by a 1-yard pass to Jake Tonges, and San Francisco moved the ball with ease all half.

Purdy added two touchdown runs and McCaffrey also scored on the ground to give the 49ers a 28-21 lead at the break despite allowing two deep TD passes by Williams.

Injuries

Bears: LB Noah Sewell left in the third quarter with an ankle injury. … DE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (concussion) left the game. … WR Olamide Zaccheaus was a late scratch with an illness.

49ers: LT Trent Williams (hamstring) left after getting hurt on the opening play and never returned. … CB Upton Stout (concussion) left in the second half. … TE George Kittle (ankle) was inactive.

Up next

Bears: Host Detroit on Sunday.

49ers: Host Seattle on Saturday night.

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The Grand Hand Gallery, which has showcased fine art and craft on the corner of Grand Avenue and Dale Street for some two decades, is moving next month to the spot formerly home to another longtime creative stop, Treadle Yard Goods.

The gallery is set to close in its current location on Jan. 12. An opening date in the new location, on the corner of Grand and Hamline avenues, has not been announced but the gallery’s owners expect the move will take about a week, they announced on social media.

Ann Ruhr Pifer opened the gallery in 2004 in a cozy storefront four doors down from the larger space she moved into in 2007. She sold the gallery to Mary Whitney and Cathy Weyerhaeuser in 2018, and current owners Jim Jacobson and Rachael Hartzler — who formerly ran the Grand Micro Gallery on Selby Avenue — took over in late 2022.

Jacobson and Hartzler were not available for comment but said on social media that one benefit of the new location is additional parking availability.

Treadle Yard Goods, known for its wide fabric selection and knowledgeable employees, closed over the summer as owner Michele Hoaglund underwent cancer treatment.

Grand Hand Gallery: Reopening early 2026 at 1338 Grand Ave.; 651-312-1122; thegrandhandgallery.com.

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