FLINT, MI -- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she’s expecting “some announcements at the beginning of the year” about a criminal investigation into the Flint water crisis.

Speaking after helping to serve a Christmas lunch at the Hasselbring Community Center in Flint on Tuesday, Dec. 17, Whitmer said she trusts Attorney General Dana Nessel “to do the right thing.”

“I think she has shown she’s taken it very seriously. These timelines we are bumping up against means that she’ll probably be making some announcements at the beginning of the year,” the governor said.

Nessel put Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud in charge of the criminal investigation into the water crisis after she took office this year.

Hammoud dismissed eight pending criminal cases related to the water crisis in June and pledged to start a new probe rather than continue the old one, digging deeper into evidence she said was never properly reviewed by former special prosecutor Todd Flood.

The Department of Attorney General has said little about the investigation since that time, but Nessel has said she supports an extension of the statute of limitations in criminal misconduct cases brought against public officials like those who were initially charged with crimes related to the Flint water crisis.

Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who is helping Hammoud lead the investigation, have said they could run into problems filing charges of misconduct in Flint -- not because crimes related to the water crisis weren’t committed, but because they may need more time to review evidence.

Pending legislation would change the statute of limitations in Michigan for misconduct from six to 10 years.