No comment on the big yellow star, but I definitely like the type on the new flag better than the old one.
As for the rest of the page, at first I thought it was too busy, but then remembered a quote from an interview I did last week with someone who designed newspapers in the 1950s and 60s. He thinks that, overall, we're doing a MUCH better job now, but laments that modular layout pushed out one of the most popular and, in his opinion, attractive elements of design circa 1960 - the one or two-sentence filler. He said readers liked them because it spared them from plunging right into the sea of grey in the longer stories.
I guess all of these breakout elements we use these days are something of a return to that.
Back to that old page: is my eyesight failing or are there two different point sizes in the All-Star Fest head?

Do newspapers have a redesign "season?" The Louisville Courier-Journal rolled out their redesign today.

http://courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/07/13ky/A1-publishernote-0713-2293.html

Thanks for the tip, Chuck!

Thanks for the side-by-side comparison. More on the redesign at Typographica, (who has a new temporary URL).

As a full time subscriber to the Chronicle I find
1) The new layout is awful and hard to follow. I always enjoyed reading the paper . Now most of it is just tossed out and a waste of my money.
2) The new print change has not only been hard to read (I had my eyesight checked to make sure it wasn't me) but, it is an unattractive point size both for topic headlines and body type. Seven people I know have complained of the same problem. And as I meet others that number only increases.
3) We are all considering the cancellation of our full time subscriptions and just picking up a Sunday paper only, for the coupons and ad inserts
4) The TV Guide section is absolutely unreadable. The blue backgroud highlighting on articles and movies makes it impossible to read these selections. Not to mention the smaller type the whole book section is printed in. Another toss in the wastebasket.
I have no idea who or what group talked you into these changes but, I would bet my last penny the Chronicle has lost a huge readership and subcription base in the up coming year.
Thanks for your time.
Yours truly,
E.M.Gilbert
Houston, TX