Magnolia branches out with Shakespeare comedy ‘The Taming of the Shrew'

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.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Transgender girls in Utah will be given the opportunity to participate in girls' sports as the school year begins, after a judge on Friday reversed a ban pending legal challenges from parents.

A woman who says she was sexually abused hundreds of times by R. Kelly before she turned 18 has testified that she agonized several years ago about whether to cooperate with federal investigators who were looking into child abuse allegations involving the singer. The woman, who is now 37 and going by the pseudonym “Jane” at Kelly's Chicago trial, told the court Friday that she ultimately did cooperate with the investigation because she didn't want to “carry his lies.” During cross-examination, she conceded that she lied at one point when she told federal agents that she wasn’t sure if Kelly had abused minors other than her. She said she lied because she didn’t want to get others in trouble.

A large fire at a Massachusetts marina has destroyed several boats, buildings and vehicles. Aerial video taken by WCVB-TV on Friday showed much of the boatyard in Mattapoisett engulfed in flames. The fire generated a plume of black smoke so thick it was picked up by weather radar. Tim Price, a mechanic at the boatyard, told WJAR-TV that a vessel caught fire in one of the sheds, and the fire spread quickly. He said he knew of one person who was injured, but did not elaborate. The cause of blaze is under investigation. Fire and police officials said no one was available to comment.