Day's Highlights: A Serial Killer Tied to an Unsolved Case, Leading Halloween Costume Fads, and Effortless Aging Detection Methods.
👋 Hey there! Welcome to 5 PM Things! There's an easy way to assess your overall health: try standing on one leg and see how long you can last. As we age, our physical abilities like grip strength decline, but it's the balance on one leg that deteriorates at the fastest rate.
Here’s what you might have missed during your busy day:
5 things
1️⃣ Cold case cracked: Kathy Halle vanished in 1979 while going to pick up her sister in North Aurora, Illinois. Her body was discovered weeks later. Now, authorities have connected her death to a suspected serial killer.
2️⃣ Shrinking lake: The Caspian Sea is rapidly shrinking, its water level dropping five feet since 2005. Some experts fear the Caspian — the world’s largest saltwater lake — may be pushed to the brink.
3️⃣ Halloween costume ideas: Haven’t decided on your Halloween costume yet? Google has released its top 25 trending costumes, including a famous Olympic athlete and characters from “Beetlejuice” and “Poppy Playtime.” Check out the full list.
4️⃣ Space flight delay: A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts is returning to Earth, expected to splash down before dawn on Friday. But it won’t be carrying two Boeing Starliner test pilots who thought their assignment, which started in June, would only last a week — and who will need to find a ride back with SpaceX.
5️⃣ AI newsreaders: A radio station in Poland is experimenting with AI-generated hosts instead of human presenters to appeal to younger audiences. A journalist and former employee called it a “dangerous precedent.”
Watch this
🤖 Robot cellist: If AI-generated newsreaders aren’t enough, a robot recently played cello alongside a live orchestra. Listen to its performance. The composer said he expects robot performances to become an art form but won’t replace human musicians.
Top headlines
• House GOP committee in charge of elections hires two former Trump officials involved in 2020 fake elector scheme• Los Angeles district attorney plans to recommend resentencing in decades-old Menendez brothers’ murder case• $478 million Powerball winning ticket sold in Georgia
Check this out
🐛 Big bug: It’s hard to imagine a nearly 9-foot-long millipede-like creature roaming the earth. The enormous Arthropleura lived nearly 300 million years ago and has puzzled researchers. A recent fossil find has solved a long-standing mystery about this creepy prehistoric creature.
Quotable
💍 High standards: The rapper quoted his BFF Martha Stewart explaining why she won’t appear on “The Golden Bachelorette” TV series anytime soon.
Quiz time
A CNN reporting team was recently held hostage by an armed militia while attempting to report on one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Where were they?A. VenezuelaB. SudanC. Papua New GuineaD. Ukraine⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.
Positive vibes
😎 We like to end on a hopeful note: Learning you have cancer can be devastating, and the only ones who truly understand are close friends and family. When Jenna Fischer (from “The Office”) learned she had breast cancer, she contacted her friend, fellow actress Christina Applegate. Applegate’s salty language and wise cancer survivor advice helped Fischer prepare for her recovery journey. Fischer has completed chemotherapy and said the best advice she received was to "live your life during this process."
Thanks for reading
🧠 Quiz answer: B. CNN’s Clarissa Ward, Scott McWhinnie, and Brent Swails were held hostage in Darfur, Sudan, as they worked to highlight the underreported conflict and humanitarian crisis there. Test your knowledge with CNN’s weekly news quiz in the following day’s 5 PM Things newsletter.📧 Discover all of CNN’s newsletters.
5 PM Things is compiled by CNN’s Kimberly Richardson, Chris Good, Meghan Pryce, and Dan Wine.
- Upon hearing about Kathy Halle's case being connected to a suspected serial killer, I wondered if this could potentially affect us or our community in any way.
- The Caspian Sea's rapid shrinkage is concerning as it might influence the climate and ecosystems surrounding us.
