Hi dfreeman,
Please go to ‘Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS’ and paste the below Custom CSS code.
.post-img-wrap .entry-meta .cat-links a,
.post-img-wrap + .entry-header .entry-meta .cat-links a {
background-color: transparent !important;
color: #333333 !important;
padding: 0;
text-shadow: 0 0 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
}
For the 3 Column Banner without Slider. you can use the 3 column layout with only 3 Slide number. Please go to ‘Appearance > Customize > Banner > Featured Slider’ and set the Slide Number to 3 and ‘Slider Style’ to ‘Three Column’.
Thanks