Good morning, it's Friday, Oct. 30. A federal judge struck down the Trump administration's narrow test for who counts as too sick to work under Medicaid's new rules, two months before they start.

Also in today's issue: Trump trades rallies for phones, Grand juries, five days out, Growth up, mood down, A letter to Tehran, The clocks fall back anyway.

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Under a Trump administration rule from June, a cancer diagnosis alone would not have excused someone from Medicaid's new work rules. On Thursday, a federal judge in Boston said that rule went beyond what Congress passed. But he left one piece standing, and it may matter most to the people who see doctors least.

Start with who this touches. Beginning Jan. 1, some adults on Medicaid must show they work, volunteer or go to school at least 80 hours a month. The rule covers people aged 19 to 64 who joined through the program's expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Most are lower-income adults without young children. Miss the paperwork, and coverage can end.

Congress built in exceptions. One covers people the law calls "medically frail," such as people who are blind or disabled. It also covers people with an addiction, a disabling mental illness, or a serious or complex medical condition. The administration added a second test, according to the AP. People in those groups also had to prove their condition made it much harder to meet the work rules.

Judge Richard Stearns ruled for 25 states and the District of Columbia. He said that extra test was "contrary to law" and could push eligible, vulnerable people off coverage. He also ordered states to wait at least six months after the rules start before cutting off anyone who claims a medical exemption. That gives them time to fix their systems.

Now the piece he kept. States can still reject proof of frailty, like a diagnosis or a hospital stay, if it's more than 12 months old. The states argued that some very sick patients go longer than a year between major visits. Stearns said the agency had explained its reasoning, and that disagreeing with a policy isn't enough to strike it down.

He also let each state decide whether to accept a patient's own word that they're too sick to work in the first year. Eight states have already said they'll demand paperwork from the start, Politico reports.

Why does the paperwork matter so much? A KFF analysis found that most adults on Medicaid already work or have a reason they can't, such as illness or caregiving. In every scenario it studied, most people who lost coverage would have stayed eligible. They lost it by tripping over reporting rules.

The administration's side deserves a fair hearing. Supporters say work rules encourage independence and keep help focused on people who truly can't work. A tighter definition, they argue, keeps a diagnosis from becoming an automatic pass. Some states also worry that simply taking people's word invites fraud.

Doctors see it differently. Many say they'd be stuck judging who can hold a job. "We're not trained to decide whether someone is able to work," said Eva Shapiro, a physician in Tucson, Arizona.

So where does this leave someone with diabetes, cancer or a serious mental illness? A diagnosis inside those categories should count again. But that proof may need to be recent, and in some states, it will need to be on paper.

Watch whether the administration appeals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that runs the program, declined to say. A separate lawsuit from doctors' groups and the city of Columbus, Ohio, is still pending in Maryland. If an appeal wins, states could be forced to rebuild their systems in the middle of the rollout. If not, Jan. 1 stays on schedule, with a wider door for the chronically ill.

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President Trump canceled his in-person rallies set for Kansas on Saturday and Iowa on Sunday. The Republican National Committee said he'll do a "72-hour sprint" of phone rallies reaching nearly 20 states instead. Was his health the reason? "I feel perfect," Trump snapped. He held 25 rallies in October, short of a goal he once put above 30, and his voice has grown raspy. Phone rallies run about 10 minutes, compared with 90 or more onstage. His team says it still feels good about Kansas, where GOP Sen. Roger Marshall faces a close race. Earlier, in a 1,200-seat arena in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Trump rallied for Sen. Darline Graham against Democrat Annie Andrews. "You know she's leading, but I had to come here," he said (Roll Call).

The Justice Department issued new grand jury subpoenas Thursday in its criminal probe of Alaska's Senate race. A grand jury is a group of citizens that can make people testify or hand over records. The probe follows a report that Mary Peltola's campaign helped recruit a second Dan Sullivan onto the ballot. "I am not interested in tricking voters," Peltola said, denying she knew. Alaska's state police opened their own case. In California, new orders tell Los Angeles County election workers to show up in court Nov. 4, the day after the election. The department rarely calls its targets before a grand jury, so it's unclear whether anyone faces charges. Supporters call it enforcing the law. The county's top election official said threats and intimidation have no place in elections. A judge also named a neutral expert to check the federal list of voters suspected of not being citizens, according to CapRadio.

The U.S. economy grew at a 3.4% yearly pace from July through September, the government reported Thursday. That's up from 2.2% in the spring and better than forecasts. Consumers kept spending, and companies poured money into computers for artificial intelligence. Price growth cooled too. The Federal Reserve's favorite inflation gauge rose at a 2.1% pace, down from 5% in the spring. So why do so many Americans feel worse? Households have been saving less and dipping into savings to keep spending. Gas still averages more than $4 a gallon. Some economists say the AI boom makes the big number look healthier than many paychecks feel. The report landed five days before the vote, with Trump's approval near record lows, Reuters reported.

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Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Iran's top security official proposing direct talks to head off new U.S. strikes, according to U.S. media reports. Qatari go-betweens passed it to Mohsen Rezaei on Sunday. The letter reportedly offers a meeting soon, with Vance leading the U.S. side. Iran's nuclear program would be on the table from the start. Iran had not publicly answered by Thursday. Trump said he approved the outreach but described it as being about medical supplies. That mixed message matters. The U.S. has told Gulf allies to prepare for possible strikes after Tuesday's election. Vance has been the administration's most cautious voice on the war, but analysts note he hasn't changed Trump's mind before. If Iran agrees, talks could start as soon as next week, in Qatar or Turkey.

The Senate is unlikely to pass a House bill making daylight saving time permanent before the year ends, the AP reported Thursday. That means clocks fall back an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, as usual. Trump has pushed hard, even posting Republican Sen. Tom Cotton's cellphone number and telling him to get it done. Cotton isn't budging. He says Congress tried permanent daylight time before and dropped it once people saw "absurdly late sunrises in the winter." South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds put it more simply: "You'd be sending kids to school in the dark." Supporters want more evening light for shopping, sports and safety. The public mostly agrees on one thing: only 12% of adults like the twice-a-year switch, an AP-NORC poll found. The last try, during the 1970s energy shortage, was repealed within a year.

That's how many Americans had already voted by Thursday evening, including nearly 23.6 million in person and 21.3 million by mail. The count comes from the University of Florida Election Lab (CBS News). Election Day is Tuesday.

P.S. Who should decide when someone's too sick to work? Hit Reply — We Read Everyone.