Results released in girl’s request for DNA evidence of Santa

CUMBERLAND, R.I. (AP) — The Rhode Island Department of Health says it was not able to definitively confirm or refute the presence of Santa in a young girl’s home after she requested to have a partially eaten cookie and a couple of gnawed-on carrot sticks tested for DNA to see if Santa Claus is real. The department tweeted on Monday that it found no complete matches to anyone in a database but that there was a partial DNA match “to a 1947 case centered around 34th Street in New York City.” It said it would need more DNA samples “from other known Santa encounters to make a definitive match.” The department said the lab did find the presence of DNA closely matching reindeer when testing the carrots.