Also . . .

San Diego-based Chart House Enterprises Inc. said that Harry F. Roberts has resigned as president and chief executive and that the company has hired Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. to help it explore several financial proposals and “other strategic alternatives.” Steven J. McGillin, currently senior vice president of operations, and William R. Kuntz Jr., chief financial officer, will assume Roberts’ duties. . . . Western Resources Inc. and Kansas City Power & Light Co. said they began merger talks, ending a seven-month standoff in which KCPL resisted Western’s $1.9-billion hostile takeover offer. . . . Garden State Newspapers Inc. paid $130 million in cash for the previously announced purchase of several papers from Thomson Newspapers Inc. that include the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Whittier Daily News and others. . . . America Online Inc. said regulators from a dozen unspecified states are scrutinizing the company’s plan to revamp the pricing for its online information services.