Let’s unpack the Postal Service changes | Morning Newsletter

Good morning. Weather-wise, it’s gonna be a cloudy one.

Let’s check in on how the USPS is doing now. We’re also bringing you a portrait of Tammy Murphy, a major force in the administration of her husband, Gov. Phil Murphy.

And in case you missed it, you can get all of the top sports stories in your inbox by signing up for the Inquirer Sports Daily newsletter.

— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

It looks as if the mail is running pretty smoothly ... for now.

Last year at this time, the mail pileup was already overwhelming the USPS. The agency was very short on staff, not to mention there were record volumes of packages.

But now, employees are back, and the machines are upgraded. The mail is flowing. And to endure as a business, the agency is making some changes — though some mail will take longer to arrive.

You know the drill. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night keeps reporter Ellie Rushing from the swift delivery of the mail news. Keep reading for the whole story on the USPS plans.

When voters elected Gov. Phil Murphy, they weren’t picking just him, they were picking a team. Since then, New Jersey‘s first lady, Tammy Murphy, has emerged as an influential professional spouse.

The former Goldman Sachs analyst not only supports her husband’s Democratic agenda, but she also has her own: focusing on efforts to improve health care for women and children and make Jersey the first state to teach climate change in schools.

But being a major player in her husband’s campaigns and administration also means she’s been adjacent to the scandals, including over the allegations of abuse and misogyny by male campaign staffers. Keep reading for reporter Allison Steele’s story on her influential role.

🧑‍⚕️ There’s renewed interest in an old idea from a German Jewish scientist spared by the Nazis: Prevent and treat cancer by cutting out sugar.

🍴Love “streeteries”? There’s a chance that our architecturally diverse massive alfresco dining experiment could keep going.

⚾ Can the Phillies make a comeback? That’s what Phillies beat writer Matt Breen is wondering as he contemplates the team’s most somber image in recent history.

🦅 And columnist Mike Sielski writes about why so much of the Eagles’ future hangs on Jalen Hurts.

🎻 Get a look at the Philadelphia Orchestra’s new look.

🎉 Philly is crazy about roller skating (still). Columnist Elizabeth Wellington’s fancy footwork video is up.

“I challenge our government officials to consider a change in the jury duty form, to give the AAPI community a space to literally exist on their forms and, hopefully, to remind Philadelphia that we have been and will continue to be here,” clinical social worker Noel B. Ramirez writes that jury duty forms are a reminder from the City of Philadelphia that his citizenship as an Asian American in this city, is othered.