The tension here got thicker with every tick of the clock Tuesday night. But in the end, Ferguson was spared the kind of damage inflicted on it a day earlier.
There were fewer arrests and fewer instances of vandalism. And while there was plenty of anger among its residents, it was channeled in chants and not chaos.
"We were perhaps not optimistic but we were at least hopeful we would have a better night than we had," said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar.
To be sure, there were some ugly incidents.
All eyes and ears were on St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch late Monday when he announced there would be no indictment in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
But that wasn't all he talked about.
In his nearly 45-minute statement, including questions, McCulloch touched on a variety of topics: the role of the 24-hour news cycle, the relative unreliability of eyewitnesses and the evidence and testimony in the case.
If you're heading to the airport to fly to the East Coast for Thanksgiving, expect delays of three to six hours.
A nor'easter is expected to dump heavy rain and snow on the eastern United States late Tuesday into Wednesday and cause severe delays on what's traditionally the busiest travel day of the year, CNN meteorologists say. About 30 million people from the mountains of North Carolina to Maine could be affected.
Need to get today's top stories on-the-go? Watch Michaela Pereira's morning minute now!