updated com_news featured news post / module for news section with strpos and strlen checks
<?php foreach ( $list as $item) :
$postLink = $postsLink . '/' . $item->id . '-' . $item->alias;
$fulltext = strip_tags($item->fulltext, '<p><ul><li>');
if ($item->featured == 1 and $featured <= $limitFeatured): ?>
<div class="col-md-4">
<div class="news__item">
<div class="news__wrapper">
<h4 class="news__title"><?php echo $item->title; ?></h4>
<?php
$item->introtext ? $text = '<p>' . $item->introtext . '</p>' : $text = $fulltext;
if (strlen($text) > 300) :
echo substr(($text), 0, strpos($text, ' ', 300));
else :
echo $text;
endif;
?>
</div>
<a href="<?php echo $postLink; ?>" class="btn">READ MORE</a>
</div>
</div>
<?php $featured++; ?>
<?php endif;
endforeach;
?>