How does one eliminate the "No News" Block in the middle and the message "There are no news stories to display. There may be no news for this topic or your user preferences may be too restrictive" when there are no stories to view ?? I would just like to have a blank box in this space if for no other reason. Thanks. Geek-on....

try either modify index.php, and comment the else block for if ($nrows > 0). It's toward the bottom of the page. The other way is modify the message in your language directory, e.g. language/english.php. Modify $LANG05 to whatever suits you.