Sass maps to the rescue

SassMeister-input-HTML.html

<div class="news">
  <div class="module-header">news</div>
</div>

<div class="sport">
  <div class="module-header">sport</div>
</div>

<div class="business">
  <div class="module-header">business</div>
</div>

SassMeister-input.scss

// ----
// Sass (v3.3.0.rc.1)
// Compass (v0.13.alpha.10)
// ----

// define a list of verticals
$verticals: (
  news       : blue,
  sport      : green,
  business   : grey
);
// define a overrides
$verticals: map-merge($verticals, (
    news: green,
    sport: yellow
));
@each $vertical, $color in $verticals {
  
    .#{$vertical} .module-header {
        background: $color;
    }

}

SassMeister-output.css

.news .module-header {
  background: green;
}

.sport .module-header {
  background: yellow;
}

.business .module-header {
  background: grey;
}

SassMeister-rendered.html

<div class="news">
  <div class="module-header">news</div>
</div>

<div class="sport">
  <div class="module-header">sport</div>
</div>

<div class="business">
  <div class="module-header">business</div>
</div>