diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/articles_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/articles_controller.rb
index 5bcd65fef..d22cb9826 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/articles_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/articles_controller.rb
@@ -44,8 +44,9 @@ module Admin
       article.email_digest_eligible = article_params[:email_digest_eligible].to_s == "true"
       article.boosted_additional_articles = article_params[:boosted_additional_articles].to_s == "true"
       article.boosted_dev_digest_email = article_params[:boosted_dev_digest_email].to_s == "true"
-      article.user_id = article_params[:user_id].to_i
-      article.co_author_ids = article_params[:co_author_ids].split(",").map(&:strip)
+      article.user_id = article_params[:user_id].to_i if article_params[:user_id].present?
+      article.update(article_params)
+      article.co_author_ids = article_params[:co_author_ids]&.split(",")&.map(&:strip)
       if article.save
         flash[:success] = "Article saved!"
       else
diff --git a/spec/requests/admin/articles_spec.rb b/spec/requests/admin/articles_spec.rb
index 1a003de62..0cc61e289 100644
--- a/spec/requests/admin/articles_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/admin/articles_spec.rb
@@ -12,20 +12,33 @@ RSpec.describe "/admin/articles", type: :request do
     let(:second_user) { create(:user) }
     let(:third_user) { create(:user) }
 
-    before { sign_in super_admin }
+    before do
+      sign_in super_admin
+    end
 
     it "allows an Admin to add a co-author to an individual article" do
       get request
-
       expect do
         article.update_columns(co_author_ids: [1])
       end.to change(article, :co_author_ids).from([]).to([1])
     end
 
     it "allows an Admin to add co-authors to an individual article" do
-      article.update_columns(co_author_ids: [2, 3])
       get request
+      article.update_columns(co_author_ids: [2, 3])
       expect(article.co_author_ids).to eq([2, 3])
     end
+
+    it "allows an Admin to mark an article as approved" do
+      expect do
+        patch "/admin/articles/#{article.id}", params: { article: { approved: true } }
+      end.to change { article.reload.approved }.to(true)
+    end
+
+    it "allows an Admin to mark an article as featured" do
+      expect do
+        patch "/admin/articles/#{article.id}", params: { article: { featured: true } }
+      end.to change { article.reload.featured }.to(true)
+    end
   end
 end