VOLUME 9 ISSUE 48 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2025
NSJONLINE.COM
SAUL LOEB / AP PHOTO
President Donald Trump takes the oath of office during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Monday in Washington, D.C.
the
Comeback complete: Trump reenters office
BRIEF this week
State Rep. John resigns after terminal diagnosis Raleigh Rep. Joe John (D-Wake) resigned from the North Carolina General Assembly on Sunday after receiving a terminal throat cancer diagnosis. “After a courageous and arduous battle with cancer, I have been informed by my doctors that all treatment options have been exhausted, and I now face a terminal diagnosis,” John said in his resignation letter. John first announced his cancer diagnosis in a Dec. 11 letter to his constituents explaining his excused absence from votes taking place that day. The North Carolina Democratic Party will nominate his replacement. John was in his fifth term in the seat and had been reelected in 2024 by over 62% of the ballots cast in that race.
Taliban says 2 Americans freed in prisoner exchange Islamabad A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, officials said Tuesday. The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul confirmed the swap, saying two unidentified U.S. citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in 2008. The family of Ryan Corbett identified him as one of the Americans released, while anonymous sources told CNN and The New York Times the second American released was William McKenty.
Four years after he refused to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, the returning president was sworn in as the 47th president
Home insurance rates to go up in NC State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey negotiated a 15% increase by mid-2026 The Associated Press RALEIGH — Base rates for North Carolina homeowners’ insurance premiums will increase on average by about 15% by mid-2026 as part of a settlement reached by the state Insurance Department and the industry. The agreement announced Friday by state Insurance
Commissioner Mike Causey contrasts with the January 2024 request by the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which represents insurance companies, seeking a 42.2% overall average increase. Causey, an elected official who began his third term earlier this month, formally rejected the bureau’s request last year. That led to a formal hearing that began in October and included multiple weeks of witnesses, evidence and arguments. The state Insurance
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president Monday, returning to power with a promise to end America’s decline and to “completely and totally reverse” the actions of the man who drove him from office four years ago. Trump overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and a pair of assassination attempts to win another term in the White House, and he planned to act swiftly after the ceremony. Dozens of executive orders have already been prepared for his signature to clamp down on border crossings, increase fossil fuel development and end diversity and inclusion programs across the federal government. The orders from the incoming Republican president will begin the process of unraveling the Democratic agenda of Joe Biden, whose term ended at noon, moments before Trump took the oath of office. Declaring that government faces a “crisis of trust,” Trump said in his inaugural address that under his administration, “our sovereignty
See INSURANCE, page A3
See TRUMP, page A3
NC schools among impacted by PowerSchool breach “Rest assured, we have taken all appropriate steps to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse.” PowerSchool Dec. 28 email to clients
$2.00
The Associated Press
All 115 NC school districts use and are connected to PowerSchool By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — PowerSchool, the data system used in North Carolina to track student information and grades, reported a data breach that occurred near the end of December. PowerSchool is used by 55 million students spanning 90 countries worldwide, including all K-12 students in North Carolina. Schools and districts received an email from PowerSchool on Dec. 28 informing them of a data breach in
the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) that stores and manages student records, grades, attendance, enrollment and personally identifiable information such as names, addresses, medical information and even Social Security numbers. PowerSchool reportedly paid an undisclosed ransom to the hackers to prevent data from being released. “Rest assured, we have taken all appropriate steps to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse,” PowerSchool wrote in the Dec. 28 email to its clients. “We do not anticipate the data being shared or made public, and we believe it has been See SCHOOLS, page A2
“From this moment on, America’s decline is over.” President Donald Trump