Freed: Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, an Australian who spent 400 days in an Egyptian prison, was allowed to leave the country and go home today. Greste and colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were arrested while interviewing a leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and convicted of cooperating with a terrorist organization. There’s no word on whether Fahmy and Mohamed might also be let go.

World: The Islamic State has released a video appearing to show the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto. The executioner was the same British-accented man from other videos known as Jihadi John. Goto was a respected freelance journalist who covered wars and humanitarian crises.

ISIS had been demanding $200 million ransom for Goto and another Japanese citizen similarly murdered last week. The killing of Goto has increased the concern for a Jordanian pilot shot down and captured by ISIS. Jordan has been trying to negotiate a prisoner swap.

Fame: Junior Seau, the 16-year veteran NFL linebacker who killed himself and became a focus of the effects of brain injuries in football, has been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A hero in San Diego where he played for 13 years, Seau shot himself in the chest two years after retiring. Analysis of his brain showed he had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, which has been linked to depression. Concussions damaged his brain.

Nation: Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of the late singer Whitney

Houston, was found unconscious in a bathtub in her Atlanta home yesterday in a scenario similar to her mother’s death three years ago. Brown is reported to be in a medically induced coma. She’s had trouble with drug use.

Winter: A blizzard warning is out for Chicago and northeast Illinois as a slow-moving winter storm passes through on its way to western New York. A foot to a foot and a half of snow is predicted from Chicago to Buffalo. Boston is likely to get hit again with as much as two feet falling in parts of Maine.

The Obit Page: Carl Djerassi, the chemist who created a critical artificial hormone for the oral contraceptive commonly called “The Pill,” has died at age 91. Djerassi also wrote books, plays, and scientific articles. He obtained a patent on the first antihistamine, but his work on The Pill changed human life and possibilities. Sex, families, and the role of women were altered forever.

XLIX: After two weeks of focus on under-inflated footballs, the Super Bowl kicks off sometime after 6:30 EST tonight in Glendale, Ariz. But first, six hours of pre-game shows, the National Anthem, and the coin toss.

The Seattle Seahawks and their quarterback Russell Wilson are gunning for their second straight Super Bowl win. The New England Patriots are out for their fourth title under the hand of quarterback Tom Brady, who may go down as one of the best who ever played the game. It promises to be a good contest.

In the nearly 3 ½ hour broadcast viewers can expect to see the ball in play for only about 17 minutes, according to a study by the Media Education Foundation. That’s only five minutes more than the Katy Perry halftime show. Advertisements featuring near-naked women, lovable dogs, cars, cellphones, hamburgers, and the Kardashians will take up about 48 and a half minutes. But the real time suck is players milling around and re-setting between plays … 72 minutes.

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