ECDI to sell Rochelle Building, lists site for $199.9K

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.

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.

The CEO of Bank of America said the recent debate over whether the U.S. economy is technically in a recession or not is missing the point. What matters is that current economic conditions are negatively impacting those who are most vulnerable. Brian Moynihan told The Associated Press that higher gas prices and rising rents are of particular concern when he looks at the health of the U.S. consumer. While gas prices have come down a bit recently, rents are still going up. But overall, the BofA CEO said he believes the American consumer is in good shape and able to withstand the economic turbulence.

A $100,000 reward is being offered in the case of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy found fatally shot along a dark stretch of road last week. “Horrified” by a string of shootings that have injured and killed several deputies in the state in recent weeks, on Monday the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association announced the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the killing of Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy Ned Byrd. Authorities say they're trying to learn why Byrd stopped there. The sheriff's office says there’s still an active investigation that now includes the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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.

Friends and fellow authors have spoken out on Salman Rushdie's behalf during a rally on the steps of the main branch of the New York Public Library. Friday's rally came a week after Rushdie was attacked onstage in western New York and hospitalized with stab wounds. His literary agent says he has been removed from a ventilator. Jeffrey Eugenides, Tina Brown and Kiran Desai were among those who shared wishes for a full recovery and read passages from his books, essays and speeches. Other readers included Gay Talese, Andrew Solomon and Reginald Dwayne Betts.

A British man nicknamed one of the Beatles by his captives because of his English accent has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the deaths of four U.S. hostages captured by the Islamic State. Prosecutors say El Shafee Elsheikh is the most notorious member of the Islamic State ever to be convicted at trial in a U.S. court. A jury found him guilty of hostage taking resulting in the deaths of Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. All but Mueller were executed in videotaped beheadings circulated online. Elsheikh lawyer said at Friday's sentencing hearing that he is appealing the conviction.

Several boats, buildings and vessels were destroyed by a large fire at a Massachusetts boatyard. Aerial video taken by WCVB-TV on Friday showed several boats and vehicles at the boatyard in Mattapoisett either burned out shells or being consumed by flames. People who picked up the phones at the Mattapoisett fire and police departments said no one was available to comment. It was unclear if anyone was hurt. The area of the fire was part of a National Weather Service warning Friday of elevated fire risk due to drought and high winds. It sent a plume of dense black smoke over southeastern Massachusetts.

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.”

Yellowstone National Park officials say part of a foot found in a hot spring this week is believed to be linked to a July 31 death. Park officials do not believe foul play was involved but did not disclose more details about the death in a statement issued Friday. The park says an employee found part of a human foot in the shoe floating in the Abyss Pool on Tuesday. A man from Maryland reported he and his family last week had spotted a shoe floating sole up in the hot spring. Abyss Pool is a 53-foot-deep hot spring west of the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake.

A Michigan judge has blocked county prosecutors from enforcing a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban that would have allowed providers to be charged with a felony. The preliminary injunction Friday follows a state Court of Appeals ruling this month that a May preliminary injunction applies only to the attorney general’s office, not county prosecutors, who handle most criminal cases. Friday's ruling followed two days of witness testimony. Prosecutors in some of the state’s most populous counties have said they wouldn't charge providers regardless of the decision, but Republican prosecutors in Kent, Jackson and Macomb counties have said they should be able to enforce the 1931 law. David Kallman, an attorney for two Republican county prosecutors, says an appeal is planned.