2
I'm assuming you are using News 1.3. If it's a different version, ignore the following comments
The only way I can see to turn off the dates is by editing the news_block_top.html template.
At the bottom of the template find:
<{elseif $block.sort=='published'}>
[<{$news.date}>]
<{else}>
Change that to this:
<{elseif $block.sort=='published'}>
<{else}>
Then update the template.