You can *already* pick what you want in the sidebar. Click on "Topics" in the upper right, and click on something you want in your sidebar (like "Breaking News). Once you are in there, you will see a little link on the left (right under the "United We Stand" picture), where it says "Click here to subscribe."
That way you can have just what you want over there. I now have Breaking News, US: Oregon, and US: Washington over there. I like it better than the old sidebar.
Your a little late on this. I got the sidebar working. I just don't like that there is only 5 articles on it.