Daily Briefing: The Jan. 6 committee's final act

The Jan. 6 committee meets today in its likely final act as the 18-month investigation of Donald Trump and the Capitol attack ends. Also in the news: A look at upcoming winter weather that could threaten holiday travel and photos from the 2022 World Cup final.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. What's the best Christmas cookie? Your answer may depend on where you live.

Now, here we go with Monday's news.

Jan. 6 committee hearing: Panel to vote on criminal recommendations

The special House committee examining the U.S. Capitol attack is set to take its most defining actions Monday when lawmakers vote on whether key figures in the inquiry should be referred to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution, including former President Donald Trump.

One thing to know: Justice Department criminal investigations of Trump are already underway. Though largely symbolic, the committee's decision Monday would send a message to the public, analysts say.

• There is no shortage of possible targets for committee action. Trump allies Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Mark Meadows have all been in the committee's focus. The Justice Department is not obligated to pursue any criminal referrals the committee may make.

• Charges against Trump: The panel’s criminal recommendations are non-binding and the Justice Department already has a special counsel, Jack Smith, investigating potential charges against Trump and others. But legal experts said the recommendations would lay out a roadmap for where the evidence leads to potential criminal charges.

• The lawmakers will also vote on how to handle Republican members of Congress who defied the committee’s subpoenas.

11 people seriously injured amid turbulence on Hawaii flight

Severe turbulence rocked a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu Sunday, seriously injuring 11 people in what an Hawaiian Airlines official called an isolated and unusual event. Jon Snook, the airline's chief operating officer, said the airline hasn't experienced “an incident of this nature in recent history.” The flight was full, carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew members, he said during an afternoon news conference. Local officials said 20 people were taken to hospitals, including 11 people deemed to be in serious condition. Read more

More news to know now

• 😓Unhappy new year? Poll finds Americans wary ahead of 2023.

• 📱 Musk polled Twitter users about whether he should step down.

• 📈 The CDC has reported 3,500 deaths from long COVID. 

• 🔵 The Colorado Club Q shooting happened despite a judge's warning.

• 📰 The Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone, anti-abortion activist and priest.

• 💦 ''Avatar 2'' made a splash with $134 million its opening weekend.

• 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, USA TODAY World Affairs Correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard explains how the prisoner exchange process typically works. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker.

🌤 What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

'Potential blockbuster' snowstorm brewing in central, eastern states ahead of Christmas

A major snowstorm may be brewing over the central and eastern U.S. in the days before Christmas with the potential to complicate holiday travel. The likelihood of a "potential blockbuster system" hitting before the holiday is increasing, AccuWeather forecasters said, although high-confidence forecasts for Christmas Day are still several days away. The storm is also expected to coincide with an outbreak of Arctic air forecast to drop temperatures to "bone-chilling levels," according to AccuWeather. The National Weather Service forecast below-average temperatures in the days before Christmas throughout most of the country, including the East Coast, South and Midwest, as the Arctic airmass heads toward the Midwest and Ohio. Read more

• From the weekend: Nor'easter in New England after weeklong winter storm system spawned blizzards and tornados.

• Some climate change protesters turned to vandalism in 2022. Why?

El Paso mayor declares state of emergency with Title 42 ending this week

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency Saturday in response to the worsening immigration crisis, which has left scores of migrants sleeping on the streets in recent days. Though Leeser has long resisted issuing a state of emergency declaration, he said Saturday the move would allow the city to tap into much-needed additional resources, which will become necessary with the Dec. 21 end to Title 42 expulsions, the Trump-era policy that permits Customs and Border Protection to expel migrants without the usual legal review. The policy, which was enacted during the coronavirus pandemic, allowed migrants to be sent back to Mexico or their home countries to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in holding facilities. Read more

• Texas governor warns of ''total chaos'' on border when Title 42 ends this week.

• How an appeals court decision on Title 42 set up a Supreme Court review.

Just for subscribers:

• 🟡 Christmas in Ukraine: Retired military couple helps remove bombs in war-torn country.

• 🏳‍🌈 ''I just hope that he's always confident'': Raising LBGTQ+ kids to be strong and successful.

• 👉 She was wrongfully convicted of killing her toddler daughter. Now, she wants the state to pay her.

• 🐤 It was once the largest wood stork nursery in North America. Today, it's nearly bereft of birds.

These articles are for USA TODAY subscribers. You can sign up here. Already a subscriber and want premium content texted to you every day? We can do that! Sign up for our subscriber-only texting campaign.

2022 World Cup final recap: Argentina defeats France in penalty kicks

After four weeks of soccer in Qatar, Argentina has been crowned the 2022 World Cup champion, beating France on penalty kicks Sunday in what will be remembered as one of the great finals of all time. Lionel Messi is a world champion for the first time, finally capturing just about the only trophy missing from his cabinet. Messi scored twice in the final and converted his penalty kick, finishing the tournament with seven goals in seven matches. France's Kylian Mbappe finished as the top scorer with eight goals – including three in the final – but his team fell short in the penalty shootout with the chance to win a second consecutive World Cup. Read more

• Analysis: Lionel Messi's brilliant resume now includes World Cup title.

• Argentina gets record $42 million for winning World Cup. See every team's prize money.

• Croatia beats Morocco 2-1 to finish in third place at World Cup.

📷 Photo of the day: The World Cup's best goal celebrations 📷

The World Cup matches may now be over, but there's still time to appreciate players' incredible reactions to scoring during the tournament in Qatar. Click here to see more photos of the excitement. 

One more thing

• 🕎 In one city, non-Jews are encouraged to display menorahs this Hanukkah. Here's why.

• 🍴 The top 100 US restaurants of 2022 based on 13 million OpenTable reviews.

• 👽 The Pentagon has received ''several hundreds'' of new UFO reports.

• 📺 Here's how a national reckoning on abortion transformed TV shows in 2022.

• 🏈 32 things we learned from Week 15 of 2022 NFL season: Laterals gone wrong and so much more madness.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jan. 6 committee, World Cup, winter weather, Title 42: Daily Briefing