To help you figure things out, there is a Scoop Admin Guide which can hopefully answer most of your questions.
Some tips:
Most of the layout is changed in "Blocks", found in the admin tools menu
Features can be turned on and off, and configured, in "Site Controls" in the admin tools menu
Stories have an "edit" link right beside the "Full Story" link on an index page, and right beside the "Post a Comment" link on the full story page. They can also be edited by clicking the story title in the "Story List" admin tool
Boxes are what allow you to write new features for Scoop; they require a knowledge of the perl programming language to work with effectively, although you can often make small changes without knowing much perl. If you would like a feature added but cannot program it yourself, ScoopHost does custom Scoop programming as one of its services.
If you aren't sure where to look for a particular feature or piece of display, try the "Search Admin Tools" link in the admin tools menu.
Let me start by saying that it's not even certain right now whether the Senate vote will or won't be taken today on 2013 House Bill 4111. Yes, the vote is on today's senate schedule (backup copy available here), just as it was yesterday (for which I also have a backup copy). Yet a press statement from Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville plainly stated that there would be no vote this week at all. I translate that as Richardville knowing that he currently doesn't have the votes to pass this thing. If that's true, then it would mean that the coordinated outrage of the liberty movement grassroots, directed both at calling our state senators and also apparently at flooding the phone lines at the Michigan Republican Party Headquarters, had the desired immediate effect.
You would have thought, based on how close the Michigan Republican State Party Chair results were, that the party would've got the message. The liberty movement means business, and they won't be ignored. You'd think, based on that, that the state legislature would be extra careful to not tick off a motivated grassroots network.
Apparently, 29 republicans in the State House didn't get the memo. It's as yet an open question as to whether 13 republicans in the State Senate did.