Whenever you have a checklist item to a primary checklist that doesn't have a due date, the status of the item is considered: Blank; however, whenever you set the date to a checklist item the item remains as status: Blank.
It would be best to change the Status from Blank to Open whenever a checklist item's due date is set from none to a date, so there is less need for people to remember to change the status after setting the due date, and will automatically populate in Needles today when refreshed.