diff --git a/backend/app/api/dashboard.py b/backend/app/api/dashboard.py
index 35cb9ff..00c8c99 100644
--- a/backend/app/api/dashboard.py
+++ b/backend/app/api/dashboard.py
@@ -16,16 +16,20 @@ router = APIRouter()
 
 
 async def _get_trending(db: AsyncSession) -> list[dict]:
-    trending_result = await db.execute(
-        select(Bill)
-        .options(selectinload(Bill.sponsor), selectinload(Bill.briefs), selectinload(Bill.trend_scores))
-        .join(TrendScore, Bill.bill_id == TrendScore.bill_id)
-        .where(TrendScore.score_date >= date.today() - timedelta(days=1))
-        .order_by(desc(TrendScore.composite_score))
-        .limit(10)
-    )
-    trending_bills = trending_result.scalars().unique().all()
-    return [_serialize_bill(b) for b in trending_bills]
+    # Try progressively wider windows so stale scores still surface results
+    for days_back in (1, 3, 7, 30):
+        trending_result = await db.execute(
+            select(Bill)
+            .options(selectinload(Bill.sponsor), selectinload(Bill.briefs), selectinload(Bill.trend_scores))
+            .join(TrendScore, Bill.bill_id == TrendScore.bill_id)
+            .where(TrendScore.score_date >= date.today() - timedelta(days=days_back))
+            .order_by(desc(TrendScore.composite_score))
+            .limit(10)
+        )
+        trending_bills = trending_result.scalars().unique().all()
+        if trending_bills:
+            return [_serialize_bill(b) for b in trending_bills]
+    return []
 
 
 def _serialize_bill(bill: Bill) -> dict:
diff --git a/backend/app/workers/trend_scorer.py b/backend/app/workers/trend_scorer.py
index 0abfdc4..a005718 100644
--- a/backend/app/workers/trend_scorer.py
+++ b/backend/app/workers/trend_scorer.py
@@ -91,24 +91,27 @@ def calculate_all_trend_scores(self):
             gtrends_scores = trends_service.get_trends_scores_batch(keyword_groups)
 
             for i, bill in enumerate(batch):
-                query = bill_queries[i]
-                # NewsAPI + Google News counts (gnews served from 2-hour cache)
-                newsapi_articles = news_service.fetch_newsapi_articles(query, days=30)
-                newsapi_count = len(newsapi_articles)
-                gnews_count = news_service.fetch_gnews_count(query, days=30)
-                gtrends_score = gtrends_scores[i]
+                try:
+                    query = bill_queries[i]
+                    # NewsAPI + Google News counts (gnews served from 2-hour cache)
+                    newsapi_articles = news_service.fetch_newsapi_articles(query, days=30)
+                    newsapi_count = len(newsapi_articles)
+                    gnews_count = news_service.fetch_gnews_count(query, days=30)
+                    gtrends_score = gtrends_scores[i]
 
-                composite = calculate_composite_score(newsapi_count, gnews_count, gtrends_score)
+                    composite = calculate_composite_score(newsapi_count, gnews_count, gtrends_score)
 
-                db.add(TrendScore(
-                    bill_id=bill.bill_id,
-                    score_date=today,
-                    newsapi_count=newsapi_count,
-                    gnews_count=gnews_count,
-                    gtrends_score=gtrends_score,
-                    composite_score=composite,
-                ))
-                scored += 1
+                    db.add(TrendScore(
+                        bill_id=bill.bill_id,
+                        score_date=today,
+                        newsapi_count=newsapi_count,
+                        gnews_count=gnews_count,
+                        gtrends_score=gtrends_score,
+                        composite_score=composite,
+                    ))
+                    scored += 1
+                except Exception as exc:
+                    logger.warning(f"Trend scoring skipped for {bill.bill_id}: {exc}")
 
             db.commit()