Modern Communication Site - News WebPart - Page Property filtering

I created a support ticket last week with Microsoft on this issue.  I found that it works correctly for me on a "Team" site, but not a "Communication" site.  I have the same issues you do.  The support technician stated it worked correctly on his test site, so I created a new Out of the Box Communication site and tried it again.  The first web part filters correctly, but any additional news web parts do not.  I don't want to use the highlighted content web part because it involves making my category field a managed property - plus we don't like the display.  The technician is escalating the ticket to the developers, so it will be interesting to see what the answer is.  We are launching our intranet next week and this was a big ask, so will be having to look for some work around for now.