A judge blocks President Trump's sweeping federal assistance freeze.

Plus, the White House offers government workers a buyout deal.

And with Americans now carrying bigger credit card balances, we'll look at what that says about the economic picture.

On average, the consumer is healthy.

But sometimes when you speak on averages,

you miss some parts of the story.

There are pockets of consumers that are just feeling the effects of inflation

and high rates more than others.

It's Wednesday, January 29th.

I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal,

and here is the AM edition of What's News.

The top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

We begin in Washington, where a federal judge blocked federal agencies yesterday from

implementing a White House effort to pause, potentially trillions of dollars in federal assistance programs just minutes

before the order was set to take effect. The stay in the order's implementation is set to last

until Monday when oral arguments in the case can be held. Journal reporter Ken Thomas says the

ruling capped a chaotic day as government officials nationwide struggled to understand which programs might be halted.

The White House said the order wouldn't affect individual assistance programs such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, food stamps, and welfare benefits.

But despite the White House assurances, several states said they had difficulty accessing

funding portals from the federal government for Medicaid and other services. Connecticut Senator

Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said his home state's Medicaid payment system had been turned off,

and as a result, doctors and hospitals couldn't get paid. In Massachusetts,

...