For some Missourians, this week seemed like a fine time to place a few bets. 

The Missouri Gaming Commission is allowing all 13 casinos in the state to reopen this week, after more than two months of being closed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. 

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Monday he will restrict $209 million in planned spending for June, largely affecting higher and K-12 education. 

Parson has already restricted more than $220 million due to budget constraints during the coronavirus, but he said withholding more now will hopefully allow for fewer cuts in the next fiscal year that begins in July. 

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has announced a plan to distribute $64 million in federal aid intended to bolster the city’s response to the coronavirus. The plan, which Krewson said she’ll submit to the Board of Aldermen for revisions and approval, includes $2.5 million for contact tracing: to hire 25 people and invest in technology.

On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske talked with St. Louis Alderwoman Cara Spencer, D-20th Ward, who chairs the city’s Health and Human Services Committee. Spencer believes 25 people are not nearly enough, pointing to guidance from the National Association of County and City Health Officials that recommends as many as 150 people working in such a capacity for a city of St. Louis' size and demographics.

Universities in the St. Louis region are releasing plans to return students back to campus this fall, but they come with a warning.

School administrators say they are prepared to shift instruction online and send students home like they did this spring if coronavirus cases again spike during the fall semester. Most plan to begin the school year with in-person learning while implementing social distancing measures on campus. 

ROLLA — Missouri University of Science and Technology is expected to announce furloughs and layoffs this week, similar to those at most colleges and universities, but the cuts could include degree programs.

S&T Chancellor Mo Dehghani said financial challenges caused by the pandemic provide a chance for the university to improve the focus on its core, and that could include eliminating majors.

“This is the opportunity for us to see what programs we can integrate. What programs that have been, frankly, lingering for the last several years [that] we can potentially sunset,” Dehghani said during a recent virtual town hall meeting.

St. Louis officials are likely to vote Monday on a new contract to keep geese from the city’s big parks.

Nuisance goose control is nothing new for the city parks department, said director Greg Hayes. But the current contract is expiring, which means the city has to go through the bid process.

Updated 7 a.m. May 31 with police information.

Protesters brought havoc and destruction to Ferguson’s police headquarters and the city’s downtown at the end of a night of protests against police brutality mirrored around the nation Saturday.

The demonstrations and their ensuing vandalism were sparked by the death last week of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer restrained him by kneeling on his neck. Protests began in that city and have since spread across the country.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched in downtown St. Louis on Friday evening as people took to the streets in many major U.S. cities in solidarity with days of protests that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

Protesters blocked both eastbound and westbound traffic on Interstate 70 for nearly three hours beginning around 11:20 p.m. They also started a fire on the highway pavement. Police did not clear protesters off the highway, and those blocking traffic eventually dispersed after 2 a.m. 

Nearly all businesses in Illinois are now able to open more than two months after Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s initial stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

There are still some restrictions and guidelines on how stores should operate, but they’re no longer closed to the public. Generally the state requires workers wear masks, and maintain a six feet social distance when possible.