In general once you want a panel with template, and want selection of items etc, its best to use DataView or List. Both of these are in essence a Panel with a Template, but they implement store binding, item selection, special events etc.
I would like to do something like the kiva and geocongress samples, which seem to be extending the Panel. If I use the list, do you have a sample that binds the list using a ajax call vs the static data in the examples?