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.

Updated at 6:10 p.m., May 29 with comment from Planned Parenthood officials

The last clinic providing abortions in Missouri can remain open, a state commissioner ruled Friday.

Missouri Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi said in a 97-page decision that Gov. Mike Parson's administration was wrong to not renew the license of a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis in spring 2019. The clinic has remained open while the commission considered its appeal.

On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, St. Louis County Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway talks with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about how the county is spending federal coronavirus money.

She also addressed how county police should respond to protests over George Floyd’s death.

Dunaway is a Chesterfield Democrat who represents the council’s 2nd District. That takes in cities like Creve Coeur, St. Ann, Maryland Heights and Chesterfield. She was elected to her post in 2019, filling out the rest of Sam Page’s term on the council after he became county executive.

Bike retailers around the St. Louis region have reduced capacity for in-person visits due to the COVID-19 crisis. But even with less foot traffic, some shops are seeing an uptick in sales. 

According to Big Shark Bicycle Company owner Mike Weiss, the Richmond Heights location has gone from an average of 60 sales per week to nearly 140 a week since about mid-March. 

Longtime St. Louisan Eric Strand has worked in the hospitality industry for nearly 40 years, doing many different jobs before becoming the chief operating officer for Drury Hotels. And when the COVID-19 crisis left many frontline hospitality workers in the lurch, Strand wanted to do something to help them out.

Church bells will be ringing on Sunday more than usual in communities throughout Missouri.

Several faith groups have called on churches to ring their bells for two minutes at noon to recognize essential workers and memorialize those who have died of COVID-19.

The Rev. Deon Johnson, bishop-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, said that in addition to prayer, ringing bells is one way he hopes people can show their support for people in their own communities.