Eric - feel free to submit news then e-mail
mailto:webmaster@openacs.org to inform us that you've done so.
One reason for moderating news is that casual visitors are likely to think news is "official" from our community, and therefore inappropriate news posts might reflect poorly on the community.
While "forums" I think are understood by most to be areas where individuals post their own personal questions, opinions etc ...
Anyway ... we do approve anything that's appropriate for the site.
