Activists, authorities and the family of Michael Brown called for calm Friday as a grand jury drew closer to an announcement in the Ferguson police shooting. But a spokesman for St. Louis County’s top prosecutor said the panel is still in session. …

Antonio Henley, owner of Prime Time Beauty and Barber Shop in Ferguson, said concern about the pending announcement is hurting business.

“It’s been rough, especially these past few weeks leading up to the decision,” Henley said. “Our business has been cut in half because the people in the community are afraid to come around.”

Attorney General Eric Holder privately expressed frustration to Missouri’s governor over declaring a state of emergency ahead of a grand jury decision in last summer’s police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, a Justice Department official told CBS News.

The official said Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon didn’t give the department advance notice of the state of emergency and activation of the National Guard, CBS News reporter Paula Reid reports. Nixon took the actions Monday while a grand jury is deciding whether to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, for the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

President Obama could go to Ferguson on Sunday, the day the announcement is expected, and by his presence, his outreach and perhaps his eloquent words, he and he alone might be able to prevent an eruption of polarizing race riots. …

If Obama is on a golf course in Las Vegas while the country is burning he may never be forgiven by his most ardent constituents. What’s more, he will have missed the defining hour of his presidency, the moment he was meant for, the moment he might have truly helped reconcile the country’s still-divided soul.

Obama has a chance to show us what politics is capable of. The life of this world — more than ever — still needs someone to make it gentle.

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JUST IN: The FBI has sent around 100 agents to the St. Louis area ahead of the Darren Wilson grand jury decision, CBS News has learned.

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 21, 2014

Hundreds of civil rights lawyers from across America are descending on Ferguson, Missouri as police and protesters prepare for a grand jury decision on whether to charge the officer who killed an unarmed black teenager in August.

The attorneys are arriving in Ferguson as talks between protest groups and police have stalled over a refusal by officials to rule out the use of riot gear, tear gas and militarized equipment if demonstrations turn violent should a grand jury decide not to indict police officer Darren Wilson, protest leaders say. …

“We will be using the sword as well as the shield,” said Justin Hansford, a St. Louis University law professor who is part of the legal team. “We have lawyers from Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. They won’t just be observing. They will be filing lawsuits.”

Some schools in the city of Ferguson will close next week in anticipation of a decision by the grand jury on whether to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. …

“With the heightened anxiety and activity, we thought it would be better for students and staff to extend the holiday at this point,” Jennings superintendent Tiffany Anderson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She said she wanted to give parents as much time as possible to figure out child-care arrangements next week.

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Boston’s top cop says his officers won’t be in riot gear and they’ll respect peaceful protesters’ rights if they hit the streets today in response to a grand-jury decision on the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo.

“We practice community policing here. We have no intentions of wearing helmets and carrying sticks,” Police Commissioner William B. Evans told the Herald. “We have no intentions of interfering with people expressing their First Amendment Rights. … Unless people start getting hurt or get a little rowdy, you won’t see us in riot gear. Our message is that everybody does it peacefully and respectfully.”

A federal judge has issued court orders that prevent Missouri police from stopping media and others from recording officers.

The court order follows a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union that said police tried to stop journalists from recording in Ferguson, where protests have been ongoing since 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer in August.

St. Louis County officials said on Friday they would honor some, though not all, of the Ferguson protesters’ proposed “rules of engagement” for police interactions during demonstrations that may come with the impending grand jury decision there.

Among the rules the two sides are in agreement on: The first priority will be to preserve human life, police will wear minimally required attire for their safety and police will establish channels of communication with protesters for deescalation during tense situations.

The rule they didn’t agree on: That police would limit use of crowd control tactics, like rubber bullets and tear gas. …

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said officials agreed to have the conversation “because in similar situations in other cities, things ended up very, very badly.”