Giveaways help prepare students for school

North Carolina’s Supreme Court opened the door Friday to nullifying a voter ID mandate approved by citizens in 2018. The court's 4-3 majority said lawmakers who put it on the ballot were elected from districts tainted by illegal racial bias. But since nullifying a voter approved amendment is a serious move, it wants a trial judge to gather more evidence first. It's a victory for the state NAACP, which said it shows that “rigging elections by trampling on the rights of Black voters has consequences.” Republican state House Speaker Tim Moore calls it “blatant judicial activism.”

Bank of America says the revenue it gets from overdrafts has dropped 90% from a year ago, after the bank reduced overdraft fees to $10 from $35 and eliminated fees for bounced checks. The nation’s largest banks are moving away from the practice of charging exorbitant fees on what are mostly small-dollar purchases after years of public pressure. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told The Associated Press that he expects whatever residual income the bank earns from overdraft fees will come from small businesses using overdraft fees as a convenience.  .

Texas has executed a man who fatally stabbed a suburban Dallas real estate agent more than 16 years ago. Kosoul Chanthakoummane was given a lethal injection Wednesday at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for fatally stabbing 40-year-old Sarah Walker in July 2006. She was found stabbed more than 30 times in a model home in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas. Prosecutors say the 41-year-old beat and stabbed Walker before stealing her Rolex watch and a silver ring. The U.S. Supreme Court had declined to delay Chanthakoummane’s execution over claims by his attorneys that challenged the DNA evidence in his case. Chanthakoummane was the second inmate executed in Texas in 2022.

Kobe Bryant's widow Vanessa testified she was only beginning to grieve the loss of her husband and their 13-year-old daughter in a helicopter crash when she was faced with the fresh horror of learning that deputies and firefighters had shared photos of their remains. Bryant cried frequently during the three hours she spent on the witness stand in Los Angeles federal court Friday. She's suing LA County for invasion-of-privacy over the photos. She testified that they have left her living in fear that they may surface publicly and her daughters may see them on social media.

Technology stocks led Wall Street lower, leaving major indexes in the red for the week. The benchmark S&P 500 index gave back 1.3% Friday, breaking a four-week winning streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell even more. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell. Meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond plunged after the high-profile activist investor Ryan Cohen confirmed that he’s sold his stake in the struggling retailer. General Motors rose after reinstating its dividend, and Foot Locker soared after replacing its CEO and reporting better-than-expected earnings. Treasury yields rose.