• Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, announced Tuesday in a frank and personal letter that she has been diagnosed with "the beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer's disease." The 88-year-old said doctors diagnosed her some time ago and that as her condition has progressed she is "no longer able to participate in public life." O'Connor was a state court judge before being nominated to the Supreme Court in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, who fulfilled a campaign promise by nominating a woman to the high court. During her more than two decades on the court O'Connor was often the deciding vote in important cases, providing the crucial fifth vote when the court divided 5-4. On the Supreme Court, her votes were key in cases about abortion, affirmative action and campaign finance as well as the Bush v. Gore decision effectively settling the 2000 election in George W. Bush's favor. After her 2006 retirement from the high court O'Connor had appeared around the country championing an educational organization she founded and serving as a visiting appeals court judge, among other activities. But she stopped speaking publicly more than two years ago. "While the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings in my life," she wrote. She added: "As a young cowgirl from the Arizona desert, I never could have imagined that one day I would become the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court."
• Twitter has removed some accounts thought to be used to circumvent a ban on conspiracy-theorist Alex Jones and Infowars, the company said Tuesday. A Twitter spokesman confirmed that the accounts had been removed but provided no additional comment. The company says it usually does not discuss specific accounts. In early September, Twitter permanently suspended realalexjones and Infowars from Twitter and Periscope, based on reports of tweets and videos that violated its policy against abusive behavior. The company said it would monitor other accounts potentially associated with realalexjones or Infowars and would act if it finds content that violates its rules or other accounts trying to circumvent the ban. Infowars has said the moves are intended to sabotage the site just weeks before the midterm elections. On Twitter and elsewhere, Jones has done such things as describe survivors of a shooting in Parkland, Fla., as "crisis actors" and saying the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 was fake. He had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. Infowars had about 430,000.
A Section on 10/24/2018