Missouri Governor Lifts Ferguson State of Emergency

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon lifted a state of emergency for the city of Ferguson Wednesday, arguing that weeks of unrest over the shooting of an unarmed teenager had finally subsided.

“Over the past week, we’ve seen students getting back to school, businesses reopening their doors and folks getting back to their normal routines,” Nixon said in a statement. “This progress is a testament to the efforts of community and faith leaders, working alongside state and local law enforcement officers, to bring peace to the streets of Ferguson and much-needed stability to its citizens.”

Nixon declared the state of emergency on August 16 after demonstrators spilled into the streets to protest the shooting of Michael Brown, 18, by police officer Darren Wilson. The governor’s declaration mobilized the National Guard, which set up a unified command center with local police in an attempt to exercise crowd control and enforce nightly curfews. The National Guard was dismissed and the command center closed last week.