diff --git a/app/static/index.html b/app/static/index.html
index 0e05168..e3f987b 100644
--- a/app/static/index.html
+++ b/app/static/index.html
@@ -539,11 +539,14 @@
         .tick-item .dom { font-family: 'Share Tech Mono', monospace; font-size: 0.64rem; color: var(--cyan); background: rgba(53,224,255,0.08); border: 1px solid rgba(53,224,255,0.22); border-radius: 3px; padding: 0.05rem 0.4rem; }
         .tick-item .tt { font-family: 'Share Tech Mono', monospace; font-size: 0.66rem; color: var(--muted); }
         .tick-item .sep { color: var(--line-hi); }
+        button.tick-item { cursor: pointer; background: transparent; border: 0; font: inherit; color: inherit; }
         .tick-item.brief {
             cursor: pointer; background: linear-gradient(90deg, rgba(255,46,151,0.12), transparent 70%);
             border-left: 2px solid var(--magenta); font-weight: 600;
         }
-        .tick-item.brief .b-tag { font-family: 'Share Tech Mono', monospace; font-size: 0.6rem; color: #1c0311; background: var(--magenta); border-radius: 2px; padding: 0.08rem 0.4rem; letter-spacing: 0.1em; }
+        .tick-item .b-tag { font-family: 'Share Tech Mono', monospace; font-size: 0.6rem; color: #1c0311; background: var(--magenta); border-radius: 2px; padding: 0.08rem 0.4rem; letter-spacing: 0.1em; }
+        .tick-item .b-tag.critical { background: var(--red); }
+        .tick-item .b-tag.high { background: var(--amber); }
         .tick-item.brief:hover { color: var(--magenta); }
         .tick-item.standby { color: var(--muted); opacity: 0.75; }
         .tick-item.standby .price { color: var(--muted); }
@@ -827,7 +830,7 @@
                     <div class="ns-kicker">Executive Summary <span class="ns-badge" id="ns-badge">WAITING</span></div>
                     <div class="ns-time" id="ns-time">—</div>
                     <div class="ns-body" id="ns-body">
-                        <div class="ns-empty">No executive summary yet — the Gemini summarizer is idle until <code>GEMINI_API_KEY</code> is set on the Pi.</div>
+                        <div class="ns-empty">No executive summary yet — the Nous summarizer is idle until <code>NOUS_API_KEY</code> is set on the Pi and a model is chosen in Settings.</div>
                     </div>
                 </div>
 
@@ -1323,13 +1326,16 @@ async function loadNews(force) {
     if (upd) upd.textContent = 'updating…';
     let articles = [];
     let summaries = [];
+    let tickerItems = [];
     try {
-        const [rArticles, rSumm] = await Promise.all([
+        const [rArticles, rSumm, rTick] = await Promise.all([
             fetch(`${API}/api/news?limit=100`),
-            fetch(`${API}/api/news/summaries?limit=1`)
+            fetch(`${API}/api/news/summaries?limit=1`),
+            fetch(`${API}/api/news/ticker?limit=20`),
         ]);
         if (rArticles.ok) articles = await rArticles.json();
         if (rSumm.ok) summaries = await rSumm.json();
+        if (rTick.ok) tickerItems = await rTick.json();
     } catch (e) {
         const list = document.getElementById('news-list');
         const body = document.getElementById('ns-body');
@@ -1341,7 +1347,7 @@ async function loadNews(force) {
     }
     renderNewsSummary(summaries);
     renderNewsList(articles);
-    renderNewsTicker(articles, summaries);
+    renderNewsTicker(articles, summaries, tickerItems);
     if (upd) upd.textContent = 'updated ' + new Date().toLocaleTimeString();
     if (!newsInterval) {
         newsInterval = setInterval(() => loadNews(false), NEWS_REFRESH_MS);
@@ -1353,7 +1359,7 @@ function renderNewsSummary(summaries) {
     const badgeEl = document.getElementById('ns-badge');
     if (!bodyEl) return;
     if (!summaries || !summaries.length) {
-        bodyEl.innerHTML = '<div class="ns-empty">No executive summary yet — the Gemini summarizer is idle until <code>GEMINI_API_KEY</code> is set on the Pi.</div>';
+        bodyEl.innerHTML = '<div class="ns-empty">No executive summary yet — the Nous summarizer is idle until <code>NOUS_API_KEY</code> is set on the Pi and a model is chosen in Settings.</div>';
         timeEl.textContent = '—';
         badgeEl.textContent = 'WAITING';
         return;
@@ -1381,25 +1387,45 @@ function renderNewsList(articles) {
             '</a>';
     }).join('');
 }
-function renderNewsTicker(articles, summaries) {
+function renderNewsTicker(articles, summaries, tickerItems) {
     const track = document.getElementById('nt-track');
     if (!track) return;
     let items = '';
-    // LLM executive summary flash first (click → News view)
-    const summ = summaries && summaries.length ? summaries[0] : null;
-    if (summ && summ.summary_text) {
-        const brief = summ.summary_text.replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim();
-        items += `<button class="tick-item brief" onclick="showView('news')" title="Open full brief">` +
-            `<span class="b-tag">LLM BRIEF</span><span>${newsEsc(brief.slice(0, 200))}${brief.length > 200 ? '…' : ''}</span>` +
-            `<span class="tt">${newsTimeAgo(summ.batch_timestamp)}</span><span class="sep">▸</span></button>`;
+    const ticks = Array.isArray(tickerItems) ? tickerItems : [];
+    if (ticks.length) {
+        ticks.forEach(t => {
+            const imp = String(t.importance || '').toLowerCase();
+            const tag = imp === 'critical' ? 'CRITICAL' : 'HIGH';
+            const loc = (t.location_name || '').trim();
+            const inner =
+                `<span class="b-tag ${imp === 'critical' ? 'critical' : 'high'}">${tag}</span>` +
+                `<span>${newsEsc((t.headline || '').trim())}</span>` +
+                (loc ? `<span class="dom">${newsEsc(loc)}</span>` : '') +
+                `<span class="tt">${newsTimeAgo(t.created_at)}</span><span class="sep">▸</span>`;
+            const url = (t.url || '').trim();
+            if (url) {
+                items += `<a class="tick-item" href="${newsEsc(url)}" target="_blank" rel="noopener">${inner}</a>`;
+            } else {
+                items += `<button class="tick-item" onclick="showView('news')" title="Open news brief">${inner}</button>`;
+            }
+        });
+    } else {
+        // Quiet hour: brief chip + article titles so the dock is never blank.
+        const summ = summaries && summaries.length ? summaries[0] : null;
+        const briefSrc = summ && (summ.summary_en || summ.summary_text);
+        if (briefSrc) {
+            const brief = String(briefSrc).replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim();
+            items += `<button class="tick-item brief" onclick="showView('news')" title="Open full brief">` +
+                `<span class="b-tag">LLM BRIEF</span><span>${newsEsc(brief.slice(0, 120))}${brief.length > 120 ? '…' : ''}</span>` +
+                `<span class="tt">${newsTimeAgo(summ.batch_timestamp)}</span><span class="sep">▸</span></button>`;
+        }
+        (articles || []).slice(0, 10).forEach(a => {
+            items += `<a class="tick-item" href="${newsEsc(a.url || '#')}" target="_blank" rel="noopener">` +
+                `<span class="dom">${newsEsc(a.domain || '?')}</span>` +
+                `<span>${newsEsc((a.title || '').trim())}</span>` +
+                `<span class="tt">${newsTimeAgo(a.timestamp)}</span><span class="sep">▸</span></a>`;
+        });
     }
-    // Top headlines
-    (articles || []).slice(0, 30).forEach(a => {
-        items += `<a class="tick-item" href="${newsEsc(a.url || '#')}" target="_blank" rel="noopener">` +
-            `<span class="dom">${newsEsc(a.domain || '?')}</span>` +
-            `<span>${newsEsc((a.title || '').trim())}</span>` +
-            `<span class="tt">${newsTimeAgo(a.timestamp)}</span><span class="sep">▸</span></a>`;
-    });
     if (!items) {
         items = `<span class="tick-item standby">No headlines yet — scraper idle</span>`;
     }