The artist fell 3,443 signatures short of what he needed to qualify for the November general election ballot, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced Tuesday. Ashcroft’s office released a letter it sent to West outlining its findings.

West, at one point a vocal Donald Trump supporter, has been waging a presidential campaign largely viewed as a publicity stunt to promote a new album. Still, he will appear on the ballot in multiple states.

Republican operatives have been publicly linked to efforts to get West on the ballot in other states, raising concerns that his campaign is part of an effort to help President Trump’s reelection campaign.

West filed for the Missouri ballot as an independent on July 27. Under Missouri law, at least 10,000 valid signatures were required for him to appear on the ballot.

Local election authorities verify petition signatures. Ashcroft’s office said it reviewed the final batch of signature verifications on Tuesday and that West was found to have only obtained 6,557 valid signatures.

“Therefore, you do not qualify to have your name placed on the November 3, 2020 general election ballot,” a letter from Ashcroft’s office to West says.

Illinois Gov. Pritzker requires masks for patrons dealing with bar, restaurant workers

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a new statewide restaurant and bar policy requiring all patrons to wear a mask while interacting with waitstaff and other employees, when food and beverages are brought to the table and when picking up carryout orders.

Pritzker announced the new requirement on Tuesday, as the state prepares to crack down on bars, restaurants and casinos in Will and Kankakee counties, after that region surpassed a threshold for positivity rate that sends it backward in its reopening. When the rules take effect Wednesday, indoor dining and bar service in the two counties will be suspended, along with an 11 p.m. curfew for those establishments. A stricter gathering size of 25 people will also be imposed.

Pritzker imposed a mask mandate on May 1 requiring people over the age of 2 to wear a mask, if they are medically able to do so, in most public settings where they are unable to maintain 6 feet of distance from others.

Will and Kankakee counties will be the second of the state’s 11 regions to see stricter rules aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, following the Metro East region last week. But a pair of lawmakers contend that Pritzker’s administration is using a “double standard” in how it’s putting in place the stricter rules.

Sens. Sue Rezin and John Curran, both Republicans, on Tuesday issued a statement that argued Pritzker is putting “partisan politics above science,” noting that the new rules taking effect Wednesday in Will and Kankakee counties will ban indoor dining and bar service, while Metro East, which includes areas near St. Louis, Missouri, “will be given an extra week to improve their numbers.”

Pritzker’s office has said if the positivity rate continues to rise in the Metro East region, additional, stricter rules will likely be imposed Sept. 2.

The state announced on Tuesday 1,680 newly confirmed cases and 29 more deaths of people with COVID-19, raising statewide totals to 223,470 known cases and 7,917 deaths.

Kushner, O’Brien to travel on first Israel-to-UAE flight

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and national security adviser Robert O’Brien will travel from Israel to the United Arab Emirates next week on the first commercial flight between the two countries, according to a senior White House official.

Brian Hook, Trump’s special representative on Iran, and Mideast envoy Avi Berkowitz will also be part of the U.S. delegation aboard the symbolic flight to Abu Dhabi. The Trump administration brokered a deal to normalize relations between Israel and the UAE earlier this month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that his top national security aide, Meir Ben-Shabbat, would lead Israel’s delegation aboard the flight. Netanyahu said officials would engage in talks “to advance the peace and normalization” with the UAE.

The discussions will focus on tourism, trade, energy, health and security, Netanyahu said in a statement. Other Israeli officials also plan to participate.

CNN and The Associated Press earlier reported the planned flight and its Trump administration passengers.

Delayed by pandemic, trial for Parkland school shooter won’t happen in 2020

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz won’t be going to trial this year, even on the off chance that courts reopen for felony jury trials.

Lawyers for the gunman who shot and killed 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018 told Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that there’s no way they can be ready in time to start picking a jury within the next four months.

Scherer, who has continually expressed a desire to bring the case in front of a jury, held out a glimmer of hope in even raising the question during a scheduling hearing Tuesday morning, “assuming we have juries back.”

But defense lawyer Melisa McNeill shut down the possibility, informing the judge that the COVID-19 pandemic has crippled their ability to send mental health examiners to the jail to evaluate Cruz, 21, who faces the death penalty if convicted.

Cruz has admitted to the shootings and, through his lawyers, has offered to plead guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in exchange for a life sentence. But prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and a mental health evaluation is crucial to the defense plans to craft an argument that could convince a jury to spare Cruz’s life.

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