I just created a workaround by creating a blank page (not title, no content) and then under Settings > Reading selecting Front Page Displays a Static Page. By choosing the Front Page: (blank page) and Posts Page: -Select-, I was able to eliminate the unwanted content and the only penalty is a little bit of extra white space.
I still think that there is a problem with the Homepage/Frontpage Settings > Enable latest posts in v1.0 that needs to be looked at though.