Newsmakers

Desired Former NFL receiver Plaxico Burress wants another chance to play in the NFL. The former New York Giants wide receiver told The Wall Street Journal Friday that spending nearly two years in prison on a gun charge took “an emotional toll.” Burress was released Monday from Oneida Correctional Facility in New York.

Nixed San Diego Chargers owner Alex Spanos is no longer looking to sell part of his stake in the NFL franchise, a team official said. The Spanos family nixed a deal with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in March to find a buyer for some or all of Alex Spanos’ 36 percent stake in the team, Chargers spokesman Mark Fabiani said.

Replaced West Virginia football coach Bill Stewart has resigned and a spokesman says coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen will take over.

Renewed Auburn’s Gene Chizik has received a new contract, nearly doubling his salary and making him one of college football’s highest paid coaches. Auburn announced the deal is worth $3.5 million a year through 2015, with incentives that could tack on another $1 million per season.

Planned Outgoing athletics director Mike Hamilton, former basketball coach Bruce Pearl and former football coach Lane Kiffin are part of a Tennessee contingent that will meet with NCAA officials this weekend. The group will meet with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions today in Indianapolis to defend themselves and the university against 12 charges of major violations after two years of being scrutinized by investigators.

Rejuvenated Swimmer Janet Evans is back in the pool and hoping to swim at the 2010 Olympics in London. The 39-year-old Evans says said she has been training hard for the past six months with an eye on qualifying for next year’s U.S. Olympic trials.

Awarded An arbitrator awarded a little more than $13 million to former Los Angeles Clippers general manager and coach Mike Dunleavy, whom the team stopped paying when he was fired as general manager in March of last year.