If I understood your problem properly
you can do this by setting the top post to a sticky then simply edit the css
.sticky {
background: #c0d1f1;
}
This would give the stickied post a light blue background.
So it kinda works as a featured post
you can work on your local host.
That is offline
here is a tutorial to get it working
http://hv-designs.co.uk/2009/04/27/xampp-wordpress/
i have been having the exact same problem and had to close my site because it kept happening
