LAWYER BLOG – Problema com Últimas Notícias

Bom dia, amigos.

Instalei o Lawyer Blog e não estou conseguindo descobrir o comando para disponibilizar as últimas notícias (as que ficam em destaque).
Acredito que não haja bug, mas somente, inexperiência de minha parte, em não saber como adicionar o post à este local de destaque.

Também gostaria de saber se há a possibilidade de programar para que as notícias fiquem automatizadas (passando entre as 4).

Segue o código fonte abaixo:
featured_box.php

<?php
	global $am_option;
?>
<?php query_posts('post_type=post&meta_key=_slider&meta_value=yes&showposts='.$am_option['main']['number_posts']); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<div id="featured_box">
	<a href="#" id="prev_slide"></a>
	<a href="#" id="next_slide"></a>
	<div class="top"></div>
	<div class="content">
		<div id="slides">
			<?php $i=0; while (have_posts()) : the_post(); $i++; ?>
			<div class="item">
				<?php
					$thumbnail_id = get_post_thumbnail_id();
					$thumbnail = wp_get_attachment_image_src($thumbnail_id,'full');
					if(isset($thumbnail[0])) :
						$thumbnail = $thumbnail[0];
						$thumbnail = am_image_resize($thumbnail, 314, 254);
						?><div class="pic"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $thumbnail; ?>" alt="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>" /></a></div><?php
					endif;
				?>
				<div class="text<?php if(empty($thumbnail)) echo ' text_full'; ?>">
					<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
					<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
					<p><a class="btn_more" href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><span>Read more</span></a></p>
				</div><!-- /text -->
			</div><!-- /item -->
			<?php endwhile;  ?>
		</div><!-- /slides -->
		<div id="nav"></div>
	</div><!-- /content -->
	<div class="bot"></div>
</div><!-- /featured_box -->
<?php endif; wp_reset_query(); ?>

Arquivo index.php (único local onde deve aparecer a janela):

<?php global $am_option; get_header(); ?>
	<div id="main_content">
		<div class="col_page">

		<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

			<?php $count = 0; while (have_posts()) : the_post(); $count++; ?>
				<div class="post_item<?php if($count%2==0) echo ' post_item_last'; ?>" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
					<div class="title">
						<div class="title_top"></div>
						<div class="title_content">
							<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
						<p class="posted"><?php the_time('j \d\e F \d\e Y') ?></p>
						</div>
						<div class="title_bot"></div>
					</div>
					<div class="entry">
						<?php
							$thumbnail_id = get_post_thumbnail_id();
							$thumbnail = wp_get_attachment_image_src($thumbnail_id,'full');
							if(isset($thumbnail[0])) :
								$thumbnail = $thumbnail[0];
								$thumbnail = am_image_resize($thumbnail, 98, 98);
								?><div class="left_image"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $thumbnail; ?>" alt="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>" width="98" height="98" /></a></div><?php
							endif;
						?>
						<p><?php echo am_get_limited_string(get_the_excerpt(), 290, '...'); ?></p>
					</div><!-- /entry -->
					<div class="metadata">
						<span class="by"><?php the_author() ?></span>
						<span class="comments"><?php comments_popup_link('0', '1', '%'); ?></span>
						<p><a class="btn_more" href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><span>more</span></a></p>
					</div><!-- /metadata -->
				</div><!-- /post -->
				<?php if($count%2==0) echo '<div class="clear"></div>'; ?>
			<?php endwhile; ?>

			<?php
			$next_page = get_next_posts_link(__('Previous', 'am'));
			$prev_pages = get_previous_posts_link(__('Next', 'am'));
			if(!empty($next_page) || !empty($prev_pages)) :
			?>
			<div class="pagination">
				<?php if(!function_exists('wp_pagenavi')) : ?>
	            <div class="al"><?php echo $next_page; ?></div>
				<div class="ar"><?php echo $prev_pages; ?></div>
	            <?php else : wp_pagenavi(); endif; ?>
			</div><!-- /pagination -->
			<?php endif; ?>

		<?php else : ?>
			<div class="nopost">
	        	<p><?php _e('Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn\'t here.', 'am') ?></p>
	         </div><!-- /nopost -->
		<?php endif; ?>

		</div><!-- /col_left -->
	</div><!-- /main_content -->

	<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Desde já, obrigado.