Returned value from stored procedure - where is it coming from?

Hi

I'm updating a website and I'm looking at code that I didn't write :)

I see code that inserts data into a table in a database.
It's fairly straightforward.
The table 'news' has a primary key which is an identity - 'news_rid'

In the Visual Basic.Net website I see this line.

_newsid = Convert.ToInt32(SqlHelper.ExecuteScalar(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("ConnectionString"), "usp_News_Add", contentid, _homepageflag, UserName))
               
I assumed that this inserted a row and assigned the newly created 'news_rid' into _newsid

Is it right to think that?

If so how does the stored procedure return the news_rid?
I don't see an output parameter in the stored procedure (below)

Thanks!

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_News_Add]
(
	@contentid int,
	@homepageflag bit,
	@updatedby nvarchar(55)
)
AS
 
	DECLARE @Error int
	DECLARE @lineID int
	DECLARE @ptrval binary(16)	
 
	declare @updatedid int
	select @updatedid= users_rid from users where users_login = @updatedby
	SET @Error = @@ERROR
 
            IF @Error != 0 GOTO ERROR_HANDLER
 
             BEGIN TRANSACTION 
 
	Insert INTO news
		(
		content_rid,
		news_homepage,
		UpdatedBy,
		deleted_flag
	)
	Values(
		@contentid,
		@homepageflag,
		@updatedid,
		0
	)
	
            COMMIT TRANSACTION           
 
SELECT @@identity AS ID  
 
ERROR_HANDLER:
 
            IF @@TRANCOUNT != 0 ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
 
            RETURN @Error

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