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| Good morning, Daily Briefing readers. America's public health system is at breaking point as the coronavirus pandemic enters a third year. President Joe Biden is pushing back against a narrative that his presidency has not met expectations, as he marks one year in office. And the first flights carrying aid to eruption and tsunami-stricken Tonga have finally arrived. |
| It's Jane and Steve, with Thursday's news. |
| 🔵 Democrats came up short on a last-ditch effort to advance a voting rights bill and ending, for now, their push to beat back a myriad of GOP-sponsored state laws that civil rights advocates say would suppress turnout by minority voters. |
| 🚔 British police say they have arrested two people in connection with the hostage-taking Saturday at a synagogue in Texas. |
| ⚖️ The Supreme Court refused to block the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack from getting former President Donald Trump's administration documents. |
| 😨 Pandemic worries are higher now than before vaccines, a poll says. The Gallup poll found a steep rise in the percentage of Americans who said the pandemic is "getting worse," as compared to late fall 2021 data. |
| ⛷ As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games approach and COVID-19 concerns mount, NBC Sports will not send any of its announcing teams to China, a spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports. For the latest COVID updates, tap here. |
| 🌏 Is our planet becoming "inactive"? Earth's interior is cooling faster than we previously estimated, according to a recent study, prompting questions about how long people can live here. |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, we look back at Biden's first year in office. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| Here's what's happening today: |
Biden under siege as he ends first year of his presidency |
| One year ago, on Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden entered the White House promising victory over COVID-19 and a return to competence and normalcy following the chaotic Trump presidency. But a year later, the president is facing a multitude of problems that he acknowledged Wednesday in a rare news conference that lasted nearly two hours. During the event, Biden spoke of "frustration and fatigue" in the country over the coronavirus pandemic that's lasted two years, his stalled domestic agenda and Russia's threatened invasion of Ukraine. The president, however, repeatedly pushed back at the narrative that his presidency has not met expectations, even as he conceded he would have to pursue a new strategy on key priorities, including his $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill, which will take on climate and social policy. |
| More on President Biden's news conference: |
| 🔵 Attempting a reset: Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page notes that Biden threw out his bipartisan playbook. Will blaming Republicans help him reset his presidency? |
 | | President Joe Biden gestures as he speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. | | Associated Press photo; USA TODAY graphic | |
| 🔵 "It will get better": Biden says the U.S. is headed toward a time when COVID-19 won't be a disruption. |
Winter woes to continue: More snowstorms forecast this week |
| Winter remains in full swing on Thursday as a storm is expected to spread snow from the Ohio Valley into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast . While folks were still cleaning up from a potent storm that walloped much of the central, southern and eastern U.S. with snow and ice over the holiday weekend, forecasters were eyeing additional wintry storms that could affect millions in the days ahead. Cities such as Louisville, Kentucky, Charleston, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C., are all in another storm's path, and each could pick up 1 to 3 inches of snow from the system. "There could be a narrow, sneaky zone of 3 inches of snow from parts of the Tennessee Valley to the lower Mid-Atlantic coast in the Wednesday night to Thursday time frame," AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. |
Just for subscribers: |
| 🏥 "Shame on us": Public health in America is at a breaking point as the pandemic enters a third year. Business as usual won't be enough to combat the next public health crisis, experts say. |
| 🏗 Biden has a new strategy on Build Back Better: What we learned from his long (and feisty) press conference. |
| 🚨 A leaked Oath Keepers list names 20 current military members. The Pentagon knew it had a problem with extremism in its ranks, but leaned on a vague policy that did not outright ban all types of participation with extremist groups. |
| 🌊 Rising seas threaten the culture of a historic Southern community. For the Gullah Geechee people, it could mean a loss of ancestral land and a 300-year-old culture. They have a plan to save it. |
| 🏠 Meet the new mobile home: As an overheated housing market puts the dream of homeownership out of reach of many ordinary Americans, manufactured homes are growing in popularity. |
| These articles are for USA TODAY subscribers. You can sign up here. Here is all of our subscriber content |
House committee to hold hearing on immigration court system |
| The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the possibility of creating an independent immigration court system . The hearing comes as U.S. immigration courts have hit a historic backlog jam not seen in decades, sparking years-long delays for immigrants seeking asylum, according to a new report. Pending cases at the end of December reached 1.6 million — the largest ever in the court's four-decade history, according to the report released Tuesday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Though the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered courtrooms and contributed to the logjam, the most alarming cause is the rate by which the Homeland Security Department, which oversees immigration enforcement, is adding new cases to the pile, according to the report. |
First aid flights arrive in Tonga after volcanic eruption and tsunami |
| The first flights carrying fresh water and other aid to Tonga finally arrived Thursday after the Pacific nation's main airport runway was cleared of ash left by a huge volcanic eruption . New Zealand and Australia each sent military transport planes carrying water containers, various supplies and communications equipment. The deliveries were dropped off without the military personnel coming in contact with people at the airport in Tonga. That's because Tonga is desperate to make sure foreigners don't bring in the coronavirus. It has not had any outbreaks of COVID-19 and has reported just a single case since the pandemic began. U.N. officials report about 84,000 people — more than 80% of Tonga's population — have been impacted by the volcano's eruption, including three deaths, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. |
 | | In this photo provided by the Australian Defence Force, the Tongan Foreign Minister, Fekitamoeloa 'Utoikamanu, right, and the Australian High Commissioner to Tonga, Rachael Moore, watch the arrival of the first Royal Australian Air Force aircraft at Fua'amotu International Airport, Tonga, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. | | HOGP, AP | |
Sundance Film Festival once again goes virtual |
| The Sundance Film Festival, one of the biggest showcases of independent films, kicks off virtually for the second year in a row Thursday after organizers canceled its in-person events due to the spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus. The 11-day festival in Park City, Utah, has been the launching pad for a ton of great indie movies over the years, from Oscar-ready films like "In the Bedroom" and "Precious," to the horror gorefest "Saw". Some highlights this year include the W. Kamau Bell-directed docu-series "We Need to Talk About Cosby" and Amy Poehler's "Luci and Desi," a documentary on the relationship between Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz. |
| 🎥 The best of the best: The 10 greatest movies the Sundance Film Festival gave us, from "Clerks" to "Get Out." |
 | | Amy Poehler's "Lucy and Desi" documentary examines the early life and iconic TV run of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. | | AMAZON STUDIOS | |
ICYMI: Some of our top stories yesterday |
| 🦠 The at-home COVID test website launched early. How to order free testing kits from the government. |
| 😷 Free masks! The Biden administration is to ship free 400 million N95 face coverings across the U.S., starting this week. |
| 🧽 A man was served a cleaning liquid at a Cracker Barrel. Now, the restaurant has to pay millions. |
| 🏈 A costly swipe: The NFL fined Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians $50,000 for hitting Andrew Adams during playoff game vs. Eagles. |
📸 Photo of the day: A big upset at the Australian Open 📸 |
 | | Alize Cornet celebrates after winning her second-round match at the Australian Open against No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. | | Mark Metcalfe, Getty Images | |
| France's Alize Cornet, ranked No. 61 in the world, bounced No. 3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday. Cornet is appearing in her 63rd career Grand Slam tournament, the past 60 in a row. She never has made it past the fourth round at a major. |
| Spain's Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion and the the runner-up in Australia in 2020, became the highest-seeded player to lose a match. |
| Head here to see more of the best photos from the 2022 Australian Open. |
| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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