Verified brief — 30 October 2026

A Boston judge strikes CMS’s tighter ‘medically frail’ test for Medicaid work-requirement exemptions. Ofcom sets out ID-based age checks for the UK’s under-16 social media ban. Sturgeon County clears piling and grading at Meta’s Alberta data-centre site. DOJ charges 18 more noncitizens with voting in North Carolina, and a special master is appointed in the California ballot case.

Published Oct 30, 2026, 7:12 a.m. EDT

Item 1
Medicaid: a federal judge in Boston struck CMS’s extra test that would have made people who are disabled, seriously ill or have a substance-use disorder also prove they can’t meet the 80-hour work rule to be exempt. CMS’s 12-month records limit and one-self-attestation rule survive. The work requirement still starts 1 January 2027.
Read the article →D. Mass. Dkt. 147
Item 2
UK: Ofcom says four checks can confirm a user is 16 or over for the coming under-16 social media ban: photo ID, digital ID, bank data or face scans. Most depend on photo ID, and about 150,000 16–17-year-olds have neither a passport nor a licence. Many adults will be asked too. Regulations are due by year-end.
Read the article →Ofcom, 29 Oct
Item 3
Alberta data centres: Sturgeon County approved piling for Meta’s first building and mechanical yard (effective 10 Nov) and site grading (12 Nov). As permitted uses, they can be appealed only by the applicant unless the bylaw was bent.
Read the article →DP-26-0293, DP-26-0241
Item 4
North Carolina: DOJ charged 18 more noncitizens (9 Eastern, 5 Middle, 4 Western District) with voting in 2024, making 30 in the state this year. All are presumed innocent.
Read the article →DOJ release 26-1279
Item 5
U.S. v. California: Judge Carter appointed a technical special master and set a 13 November evidentiary hearing on the reliability of DOJ’s list. Santa Clara County refused DOJ’s parallel 902-name demand.
Read the article →C.D. Cal. Dkt. 159; county letter
Item 6
Trade: the reshuffled 50% Section 338 duty list on Canadian goods (22 lines out, 96 in) is in force from 12:01 a.m. ET today, now published as Proclamation 11076.
Read the article →91 FR 68861
Item 7
DHS’s suspension of visa-free travel to the Northern Mariana Islands for Chinese nationals takes effect at 2 p.m. EDT today.
Read the article →91 FR 67595
Item 8
Washington: Secretary of State Hobbs has refused DOJ’s request to hold ballots from 400-plus listed voters. We found no federal suit as of this morning.
Read the article →WA SOS letter, 28 Oct
Item 9
Bank of Canada: the policy rate is 2.5% after Wednesday’s quarter-point hike, the first since July 2023. Next decision 9 December.
Read the article →Bank of Canada, 28 Oct
Item 10
Methane: EPA’s proposal to scrap Super Emitter alerts and ease 2024 rules for marginal wells has a virtual hearing on 13 November; comments are due 16 December.
Read the article →91 FR 68234
Item 11
Alberta: Bill 33, which would end diversity-preference hiring at provincial bodies and create an intimate-deepfake offence, is at first reading.
Read the article →Bill 33
Item 12
ACA subsidies: comments on CMS’s plan to withhold advance premium tax credits until citizenship and income checks clear are due 27 November.
Read the article →CMS-9873-P
Item 13
The federal Budget is tabled 5 November at 4 p.m. ET; the PBO’s October outlook is the latest independent baseline.
Read the article →PBO EFO; Order Paper