Add this into your theme's theme.php.
function theme_display_cat_list($breadcrumb, &$cat_data, $statistics)
{
global $template_cat_list, $lang_cat_list;
if (count($cat_data) > 0) {
echo '<table width="100%"><tr><td valign="top">';
starttable("100%");
echo <<< EOT
<tr>
<td class="tableh1"><b>News</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableb">
Your content here
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableh1"> </td>
</tr>
EOT;
endtable();
echo '</td><td>';
starttable('100%');
$template = template_extract_block($template_cat_list, 'header');
$params = array('{CATEGORY}' => $lang_cat_list['category'],
'{ALBUMS}' => $lang_cat_list['albums'],
'{PICTURES}' => $lang_cat_list['pictures'],
);
echo template_eval($template, $params);
}
$template_noabl = template_extract_block($template_cat_list, 'catrow_noalb');
$template = template_extract_block($template_cat_list, 'catrow');
foreach($cat_data as $category) {
if (count($category) == 3) {
$params = array('{CAT_TITLE}' => $category[0],
'{CAT_THUMB}' => $category['cat_thumb'],
'{CAT_DESC}' => $category[1]
);
echo template_eval($template_noabl, $params);
} elseif (isset($category['cat_albums']) && ($category['cat_albums'] != '')) {
$params = array('{CAT_TITLE}' => $category[0],
'{CAT_THUMB}' => $category['cat_thumb'],
'{CAT_DESC}' => $category[1],
'{CAT_ALBUMS}' => $category['cat_albums'],
'{ALB_COUNT}' => $category[2],
'{PIC_COUNT}' => $category[3],
);
echo template_eval($template, $params);
} else {
$params = array('{CAT_TITLE}' => $category[0],
'{CAT_THUMB}' => $category['cat_thumb'],
'{CAT_DESC}' => $category[1],
'{CAT_ALBUMS}' => '',
'{ALB_COUNT}' => $category[2],
'{PIC_COUNT}' => $category[3],
);
echo template_eval($template, $params);
}
}
if ($statistics && count($cat_data) > 0) {
$template = template_extract_block($template_cat_list, 'footer');
$params = array('{STATISTICS}' => $statistics);
echo template_eval($template, $params);
}
if (count($cat_data) > 0){
endtable();
echo '</td></tr></table>';
}
echo template_extract_block($template_cat_list, 'spacer');
}
That should get you most of the way there.