I'll start off by saying I am not worried about the $ factor - I'm certainly willing to pay for an upgrade if it is truly useful.
That said... I run the online side of a monthly college newspaper. From the research I did on WP themes, I went with Magazine Basic as a starting point. So far I am relatively happy with how it looks and functions - although it does seem a bit rigid in some areas. And, it does seem like one must be fairly versed in php coding to do any significant customization. I have experience with basic xhtml and css coding, but that doesn't seem to take me very far.
So here are the basic things I need to do with my site:
- reset the content each month to roughly mirror the print version of the newspaper (including, for example, at least one prominent front-page photograph)
- have several sections (categories) to add stories (posts) to
- add textual sidebar content on front page only to be changed frequently as needed
- have flexibility so my most-current posts don't necessarily automatically become the top posts on the front page.
- possibly have the flexibility to have a unique layout/design for each of the inner category pages.

Would Magazine Premium or Flow make these things possible for me?
Should I even be using Magazine Basic/Premium/Flow for what I'm trying to do? If not, any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone could provide here.
Much obliged.