Newsmakers

Sentenced Former New York Yankees World Series hero Jim Leyritz was sentenced Thursday to one year’s probation and fined $500 for a drunk driving conviction, a far lesser penalty than he had faced before a jury decided he wasn’t responsible for a woman’s death in a 2007 traffic crash. Fort Lauderdale, Fla., judge Marc Gold imposed the sentence for the misdemeanor on the 47-year-old former ballplayer, who was acquitted last month of DUI manslaughter in the death of 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch.

Sidelined Alabama coach Nick Saban said safety Mark Barron will miss the Crimson Tide’s bowl game after having surgery to repair a torn right pectoral muscle. Barron leads the team with 75 tackles and also has three interceptions.

Decided New Mexico head football coach Mike Locksley will return next season to coach the team. Athletic director Paul Krebs made the announcement, saying he’s not happy after two straight 1-11 seasons but that scholarship reductions resulting from NCAA sanctions, a rash of injuries and a demanding schedule have established mitigating factors.

Denied University of Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn said he hopes to hire a football coach in the next few days and denied he had already offered the job to Washington Redskins assistant Jon Embree. Former Buffaloes coach Bill McCartney had said that Colorado was awaiting an answer from Embree, but Bohn said the search committee still hasn’t completed its work.

Fined The Southland Conference fined Texas State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio $250,000 each for not giving sufficient notice of their withdrawals from the league. The universities disclosed plans last month to leave the conference to join the Western Athletic Conference, effective in June 2012. Aside from the fines, both schools were stripped of voting privileges in all league matters, effective immediately.

Awarded For the eighth consecutive year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won NASCAR’s most popular driver award at the annual NMPA Myers Brothers Awards luncheon in Las Vegas.