WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been in prison in Russia for the last 10 months, was released Thursday, December 8, 2022! Griner was set free after the U.S. closed a deal to a prisoner swap of a Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death.”

President Biden confirmed the American basketball stars released, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, with Cherelle Griner, Griner’s wife, by his side. The POTUS announced Griner would touchdown in the U.S. in roughly 24 hours.

Griner’s release is bittersweet as, despite tireless negotiations, the Russian government is still refusing to swap Paul Whelan. U.S. secretary of state Antony J. Blinken said they had been pushing for Whelan to be part of the swap from the beginning. Blinken added, “Despite our ceaseless efforts, the Russian government has not yet been willing to bring a long overdue end to his wrongful detention.”

On December 28, 2018, Russia convicted Whelan wrongfully, accusing him of being a spy. He was then sentenced to 16 years in prison, and the U.S. government has been trying to get him released ever since. So, this is a devastating blow to him and his family. However, Biden vowed the U.S. will never give up on him or negotiate to have him released.

Meanwhile, Paul Whelan's family was extremely relieved that Brittany was released Thursday. His brother released a statement on how their family is dealing with the news.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.