Do you mean extra escaping of & ?
eg)
in news: <title>You & me</title>
in xhld: You & amp; me
If so, try this pattern of template.
original:
<{$items[i].title|escape}>
modified:
<{$items[i].title|escape|regex_replace:'/\& amp\;([0-9a-zA-Z]{2,10}\;)/':'&\\1'}>
note: remove space between "&" and "amp"