Editorial standards
What we know, what we do not know, and how we know it
These are the rules the board runs on. They are published so that a reader can hold us to them, including the parts that cost us items.
Rule 1
The four-tier sourcing rule
Every item names its publisher and that publisher's tier. The tier tells a reader what kind of statement the item rests on, so nothing has to be taken on our word.
Tier 1
US federal and state agencies
Official American public notices, agency dashboards and state-level bulletins.
Used as the standing record for anything happening in the United States. Where an agency notice and a press report disagree, the agency notice leads the item.
Tier 2
Allied and partner governments
Public notices from governments the United States shares intelligence and emergency-warning arrangements with.
Used to describe what another government has put in writing about its own territory. It is never treated as confirming what is happening inside the United States.
Tier 3
International and non-aligned state media
Broadcasters and news agencies funded and directed by a foreign government. Every one of these is labelled wherever it appears.
Used only for events we cannot see any other way, and always as a single named claim. We do not repeat their characterisations, and no item rests on state media alone.
Tier 4
Independent and trade press
Independent wires, specialist and industry publications, and regional reporting.
Used for early signal, industry detail and anything an agency has not yet published. An item sourced here says so, so a reader knows it is reporting rather than an official notice.
Where two tiers disagree about the same event, the item shows both claims side by side and says which tier each came from. We do not average them, and we do not let a lower tier harden a higher tier's uncertainty.
Rule 2
No item publishes without a named source
This is the rule that does the most work, and the one most likely to cost us a story. If we cannot name the publisher, the item does not run — no exceptions for something that would be useful if true.
- No anonymous tips, no unattributed screenshots, no "reports suggest".
- No item may quote a claim whose publisher we are not willing to name on the card.
- Single-source items say they are single-source, on their face.
- Where the only source is state media, the item is labelled state media wherever it appears.
- If a source is degraded or offline, the board states the gap rather than filling it with something else.
- No item is published because it would perform well. It is published because a named publisher put it in writing.
Rule 3
The label, and what it means
Some items carry a standing label: reported abroad, not yet confirmed in US official channels. It appears on the card itself, not in a footnote, and it is not softened.
It means, exactly:
- The report originates outside the United States.
- No US federal or state agency has published an assessment or a statement on it.
- We are carrying someone else's claim as a claim, with the publisher named, rather than asserting it as a fact.
It does not mean:
- That the claim is false.
- That anything in the report is acting on US soil now.
- That there is an emergency. If there were, the national status banner would say so.
The label comes off the item when a US agency publishes its own assessment, or when an independent publisher we can name confirms the substance. It does not come off because the claim spread to more outlets.
Method
How an item gets onto the board
Four steps, applied to every entry. The steps are the reason there are quieter sections on the board — a quiet section is a section where nothing has cleared the bar yet.
01
We read a named publisher
An item starts as something a named publisher put in writing: an agency notice, a partner government bulletin, a wire report or a trade publication. Nothing enters the board from an anonymous tip, a screenshot or a social post.
02
We record the tier
The publisher is tagged with its tier at the moment of entry, so the tier travels with the item wherever it appears — board, digest, or email alert.
03
We write the plain-English line
Every item carries one line answering "what does this mean for me". If we cannot write that line honestly, the item is not ready to publish.
04
We date it and leave it up
Timestamps are Eastern time and visible. Items are corrected in public when they are wrong, and the correction is dated rather than quietly swapped out.
Limits
What we do not do
The promise is only credible if the limits are stated as plainly as the method.
- We do not forecast. A forecast appears on this site only when a named agency has issued one, attributed to that agency.
- We do not present speculation as fact, and we do not dress a scenario up as a report.
- We do not raise a severity level to attract attention. Levels reflect what the named source is saying.
- We do not issue orders or guidance that competes with an official instruction. If your local agency has published something, follow that.
- We do not use state media as the sole basis for a claim about the United States.
- We do not quietly delete. Items are corrected in public and dated.
Standing note on severity
CRITICAL means a named authority is describing an immediate hazard to life or safety in a defined area. HIGH means conditions that are likely to disrupt daily life. WATCH means a condition worth knowing about that requires no action today. If a reader takes nothing else from this page: a WATCH is not a warning, and the level is set by what the source says, not by the size of the news.
Severity
The three tiers, in plain English
Every item on the board carries one of these three tiers, and the same three colour treatments are used on every card and every wire row. The tier is the desk's editorial judgement of what the named publisher has put in writing.
CRITICAL
Immediate danger to life or safety. Act now.
HIGH
Significant and developing. Act today.
WATCH
Situational awareness. No action yet.
Where the tier comes from
Severity reflects the desk's editorial judgement based on the source — what the named publisher published, and at what tier — not a government classification, and never a forecast. A WATCH item is not a non-event: it is on the board because a named publisher put something in writing, but nothing in it needs doing today. A CRITICAL item is not a prediction: it describes danger to life or safety that is in force now, as the source describes it. Where an official agency has issued its own warning for your area, that warning is the authority, not this grade.
Public guidance
Where to get official guidance
Official government resources, listed so a reader can go straight to the agency that owns the warning.
These are official government resources. This desk is independent and is not affiliated with any of them. If an official warning disagrees with anything on this site, always trust the official warning.
Emergency alerts and preparedness
Ready.gov (FEMA)
FEMA’s own preparedness guidance: what to do before, during and after the hazards it covers, and how to build a kit and a plan.
Weather.gov (National Weather Service)
The National Weather Service’s own forecasts, watches and warnings for your location — from the agency that issues them.
Cybersecurity advisories
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog
CISA’s catalogue of vulnerabilities confirmed to be exploited in the wild, which US federal agencies are required to remediate.
IC3.gov (FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center)
The FBI’s own channel for reporting internet crime, and its published warnings on current scams and fraud.
Health emergencies
CDC.gov (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
The CDC’s own outbreak notices, health advisories, and prevention and vaccination guidance.
Travel advisories abroad
Travel.State.gov (US Department of State)
The State Department’s country-by-country travel advisories and its guidance for US citizens travelling or living abroad.
Road and travel conditions in Wyoming
WyoRoad.info
Live road conditions, closures and travel impacts for Wyoming roads, published by the state’s transportation department.
Every link above opens the agency's own page in a new tab. The desk publishes no guidance of its own that competes with an official instruction, and nothing on this page is a substitute for the warning your own county, state or tribal authority has issued.