I was surprised when I revisited the News web part and realized I can't set a limit on the number of items to show--e.g., 1 or 2. I have a scenario where I just want to show the one latest item in a news digest. Can't do it. Please enable this, and also a shout-out to this one:

https://sharepoint.uservoice.com/forums/329214-sites-and-collaboration/suggestions/36001141-modern-news-posts-modal