diff --git a/content/static/style/default.css b/content/static/style/default.css
index 1b326e46e..b21c6d9ce 100644
--- a/content/static/style/default.css
+++ b/content/static/style/default.css
@@ -476,10 +476,17 @@ abbr.dtstart, abbr.dtend {
   font-weight: bold;
   letter-spacing: 0;
   color: #111;
-  text-shadow: -1.5px 0 1.5px white, 0 1.5px 1.5px white, 1.5px 0 1.5px white, 0 -1.5px 1.5px white;
+  text-shadow:
+    -1px 0 1px white, 0 1px 1px white,
+    1px 0 1px white, 0 -1px 1px white;
+  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);
+  transition: all 0.3s ease-out;
 }
-#portal article:hover h4 {
-  color: black;
+#portal article.news:hover h4 {
+  color: white;
+  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
+  text-shadow: none;
+  transition: all 0.1s ease-in;
 }
 #portal .wiki h4 {
   text-align: justify;
diff --git a/xsl/portal2items.xsl b/xsl/portal2items.xsl
index ceabff677..28450a5c2 100644
--- a/xsl/portal2items.xsl
+++ b/xsl/portal2items.xsl
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@
 <xsl:template match="item" mode="news">
   <xsl:param name="link"/>
 
-  <item date="{@date}">
+  <item date="{@date}" class="news">
     <header>News</header>
     <footer>by <xsl:value-of select="@author"/></footer>
     <content-text><xsl:value-of select="@title"/></content-text>