Multiple social media reports indicating it was felt from Maryland to Massachusetts. #Earthquake #Philadelphia

Additional reporting:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/breaking-4-8-magnitude-earthquake-rattles-new-jersey-new-york-connecticut/1638080

https://6abc.com/northeast-earthquake-philadelphia-shaking-felt-philly-was-an-in/14622010/

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/PhillyNews/t/820498

Mayor Cherelle Parker's new citywide communications policy hit a speed bump this week following public outcry over a clampdown on libraries' social media postings.

In an unusually coordinated show, dozens of branches called out the Parker administration on social media, warning of anticipated announcement slowdowns.

Parker spokesperson Joe Grace tells Axios the city's communication policy had been misread.

"We're not going to be involved in reviewing or approving regular, daily issues" at libraries, he says. "Our policy hasn't changed. I think it was a misinterpretation."

Pennsylvania’s highest court on Monday recognized for the first time that access to abortion is a right guaranteed by the state’s constitution, a significant finding in the wake of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning nationwide abortion rights.

The finding came in a case focused on a much narrower issue — whether Medicaid should cover the cost of abortions in the state. But the justices, in deciding to overturn a lower court decision on that question, concluded for the first time that the state constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment — for which there is no equivalent in the U.S. Constitution — protected citizens’ rights to make their own reproductive choices.

“The fundamental right of a woman to decide whether to give birth is not subordinate to policy considerations favored by transient legislatures,” Justice Christine L. Donohue wrote for the majority in her 219-page opinion. “We conclude that the Pennsylvania Constitution secures the fundamental right to reproductive autonomy, which includes a right to decide whether to have an abortion or carry a pregnancy to term.”

The decision comes nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — the 1973 court decision that for decades had protected abortion access at a national level — in a ruling that held the U.S. Constitution did not confer such rights and that individual states could make their own laws governing abortion access.

Pennsylvania law currently allows abortion through the 23rd week of pregnancy.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Cherelle Parker will be inaugurated as Philadelphia’s first female mayor a ceremony at The Met Philadelphia on Tuesday. Parker is scheduled to speak at about 11:50 a.m.

Parker is already officially the mayor — she privately took the oath of office on Monday.

Kevin J. Bethel will be sworn in as Philly’s new police commissioner at Russell Conwell Middle School in Kensington at 1 p.m. Parker is scheduled to attend.

Familiar faces and an unusual structure: All of Parker’s 17 appointees named so far are from Philly or have worked in politics or government here.

Parker has worked with a trio of informal advisers who have mostly flown under the radar since her history-making victory.