Brain dump!
I can see how such a strong blue might be too prevalent, especially for furtive on-the-job sneaks (remember the commotion over the first blue rep lights?
). Is changing it to grey (a softer color and a tie-in with the old site) on the nav bar an option, leaving the new insignia that same blue (and further offsetting it)?
I also prefer my site nav tools on the right side, though you might want to keep it on the left for the same reason I want it on the right: my eye goes to it more naturally, maybe b/c of the scroll bar, and the news layout is no stranger to scrolling.
I assume you want a prominent place for the latest, "featured" article, and so you put the RSS Feeds + forum + H.tv box right next to it as an easy complement (size-wise, anyway)? Can you offset the article more by placing it in a colored box? You might even want to swap the blue in the nav bar for that feature article box, as the latter's more important, anyway.
I think news items are going to be lined up L-R, then top-bottom, which is a lot better for page flow. Still, I really think you need to shrink title sizes and bump main text size up a point or two. Have you considered going to a three-column news bit format--perhaps allowing for three articles to be highlighted, too--by replacing the leftmost "Latest [Item]" with mouse-over drop-downs on the nav bar? It's prominent enough already, and doesn't seem too hidden for our interweb-savvy audience.
Should that RSS button (the orange wave) line up in the nav bar or next to the honkin' "RSS Feeds" non-link?
I've got more suggestions--yeah, I'm the "helpful" type--but a .png might be more concise. Still, it's not bad, and at least it's got people talking about the front page again.
Seriously, I'm sure you're still tweaking, and if it's reducing overhead, then it's a good move.
And a note for the good DR: I don't always see all the ad spots populated (latest Firefox), though I'm guessing you expect some initial bubbles.