Daily Briefing: Trump is certified...and set to be sentenced.

President-elect Donald Trump's victory was certified by Congress the same week he faces sentencing in a criminal hush money case. Migration at the southern border swings from record highs to record lows. This winter is turning out to be a particularly bad one for stomach bugs.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Shovel the snow — without injuring yourself.

Judge won't put off sentencing the same week Trump's victory formalized

A New York judge has denied Donald Trump’s request to halt or delay sentencing scheduled for Friday in a hush money criminal case.

What happened: Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Trump's lawyers were repeating arguments they had already made "numerous times in the past" without success in trying to get their client's conviction overturned.

• What Trump's side said: In a filing earlier Monday, Trump's legal team argued the sentencing scheduled for Friday should be postponed while appeals courts consider the case. His lawyers argued that a July Supreme Court’s ruling “automatically” halted all criminal cases against the former president under the doctrine of presidential immunity.
• More on the judge's decision: Merchan rejected Trump’s claim of immunity and refused to dismiss his felony conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to a hide a payment to an adult film actress.
• Two things are true: Trump still faces legal cases. And Congress just certified his victory in the presidential election, when no lawmaker objected during the roughly 30-minute ceremony in the Capitol Building on Monday.

A Louisiana patient has died from bird flu

A Louisiana patient, the first in the U.S. to die from bird flu, also known as H5N1, was over 65 and reported to have underlying medical conditions. The person became ill after contact with a combination of a backyard flock and wild birds, officials said. While the current health risk for the general public remains low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk. To avoid exposure, avoid direct contact with wild birds and other potentially infected animals. Here's what to do if you think you've been exposed to bird flu.

More news to know now

• President Jimmy Carter will lie in state at U.S. Capitol today.
• NYC subway arson suspect Sebastian Zapeta will make a court appearance on Tuesday.
• Biden banned new oil, Trump says he'll "unban" it.
• What it means for the U.S. that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned.
• A judge holds Rudy Giuliani in contempt in a Georgia election worker defamation case.

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

Illegal immigration plummets at US-Mexico border

U.S. Border Patrol logged an average of 1,000 daily migrant encounters in the seven days that ended Jan. 5 along the U.S.-Mexico border, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told Paste BN on Monday. The agency hasn't seen average daily crossings at that level - a five-year low - since April 2020, the official said. At the time, it was the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when global travel and migration slowed dramatically. Here's why migration has shifted from record highs to record lows.

Got snow in your socks? You're not alone.

Americans are rescheduling travel, (potentially) returning to work and reconvening in classrooms on Tuesday after starting the week under winter storm advisories. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were without power late Monday as the storm stretched from Kansas to Virginia and Washington D.C., prompting travel hazards, shutting down schools, and closing federal offices in the nation's capital. And even if snow slows down, accumulated snow could melt from sunshine and refreeze as the week progresses, which may make the roads slippery even after the snow has stopped. Here's what to know about snowfall in your region.

Today's talkers

• The McDonald’s flip on DEI brings another win for conservative critics.
• Here's everything we're looking for at CES − the most significant annual tech event on the planet.
• Zendaya and Tom Holland are engaged!
• Tennessee is still No. 1 as Kansas tumbles in Paste BN Sports men's college basketball poll.
• "Wicked" director Jon M. Chu wants Britney Spears to be "very involved" in an upcoming biopic.

A contagious stomach bug is raging

Americans are at their toilets more than they'd like this season as outbreaks of norovirus have been reported nationwide. There are no antivirals to treat norovirus and the CDC warns against taking antibiotics as the medication won't work. The best way to get through the stomach flu is to rest, stay hydrated and listen to your body — this might mean not eating solid foods for most of the day. Norovirus, typically from contaminated food or water, is a leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea. The only thing bearable about it is that it is typically short-lived, passing through the system in 1 to 3 days. Here's how to prevent the spread.

Photo of the day: A little time to play

Washingtonians took the snow day assignment seriously, launching a highly competitive but mostly hilarious snowball fight in the capital's Meridian Hill Park.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.