That's a very kind offer.

That said, I think that the news.yc domain name is very intentional- It emphasizes the connection the site has with the Y Combinator application and submission process.

When PG et all review yc applications, they look over the posts that people have made to the forum, and use that as an element in their judgement. Knowing that this is the case encourages people to make thoughtful and relevant posts, rather than just posting LOLcats, and the like.. Essentially, it's reddit, but your conduct matters, if you want to join the YC club.

For that reason and others, I suspect that the YC crew probably prefer the name being predominately tied with the Y Combinator brand.