I downloaded the News module, installed it and it works okay. The only thing is, I'd like my home page to look like the news page when you click on the news link in the menu. I've tried all the news blocks(top news, big story, recent news), played with their configs, but I can't get them to look the same as the news page. I want authors, posting date, a topic link followed by a title link, and the read more bar (yes, I do have text in both the scoop and extended boxes) with size and comments count on my home page. Any suggestions?

You can set your homepage to the news module
In the XOOPS System Prefs, there an option in General Settings called "Module for your start page"
Set that to the news module.