How to Save Newspapers

If on-the-fly sidebar creativity seems too scary, consider recurring boxes and briefs. Here are some possibilities that are amusing, useful or both:

How to Save 50 Bucks (At Least). Your daily reminder that “Hey, this paper is such a bargain!” Advice could be anything from bike maintenance to anger management to websites with free stuff.
Offbeat / Oddball News. Websites like fark.com and hits on philly.com and nbc10.com prove oddball news is extremely popular. Revive to liven up the A section. Include fun art.
Highlights and Lowlifes. A daily attitude-laced gossipy column about the private lives of sports stars. Have fun sidebar boxes like “Who Am I?” or “Who Said it?” or a trivia quiz. (At least, a weekly look back.)
Quips and Rips. A daily freewheeling Internet-style message board. Shares all sorts of anonymous reader remarks. Page 2 of features. A second one in sports?
To Your Health. Daily dose of practical news and advice.
Biz Quiz. Picture or multiple-choice quiz about mind-boggling business trivia.
Everybody’s a Comedian. Funny bits from late-night monologues, local comedians, staff guest-shots and amusing readers.
My Room … My Fridge … My Shopping Cart … My Handbag. Take your pick from these ideas for informative voyeurism. Satisfy curiosity about local notables, regular people and all sorts of recommended products.
Another Side of … Local notables talk about their lesser known sides, such as hobbies, charities, families, unknown parts of their histories. Or: 3 Questions. You ask celebs 5 questions and print only the 3 best.
Parallel Universes. An offbeat chart that compares coincidentally similar people or popular things. 
What’s Up With That? Regular short reaction piece to anything dubious in the culture. By different staffers every day. 
Games, polls and tests. The more readers get up and do something because of us, the more we’re a part of their lives. Go beyond puzzles and crosswords to social activities, like board games, group quizzes and tests, like the SAT Word of the Day, which preps college-bound kid while challenging the rest of us.
Reader Challenge. Or do a TV-style in-newspaper quiz show, We pick contests, run their pics & factoids, string out eliminations day by day to build suspense.