Giveaways help prepare students for school

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.

A federal judge has ruled that abortions are no longer legal after 20 weeks of pregnancy in North Carolina. U.S. District Judge William Osteen reinstated the abortion ban Wednesday after he said the June U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade erased the legal foundation for his 2019 ruling that placed an injunction on the 1973 state law. The ruling erodes protections in one of the South’s few remaining safe havens for reproductive freedom. His decision defies the recommendations of all named parties in the 2019 case, including doctors, district attorneys and the attorney general’s office, who earlier this week filed briefs requesting he let the injunction stand.

An anti-vaccine group that has harassed doctors and public officials in Italy and France is still active on platforms like Facebook despite efforts to rein in their abuse and misinformation. The organization, known as V_V, bombards its victims with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of abusive posts. V_V has also put up bounties for anti-vaccine graffiti, and tried to disrupt vaccine clinics. Facebook took action against the network last year but V_V remains active on that platform and others, showing just how difficult it can be for tech companies to stop coordinated harassment or potentially dangerous claims about vaccines.