"Today the fountain's welcoming column of water once again soars high above Point State Park, highlighting the unique confluence of the three rivers at this historic place," Corbett said during a public ceremony at the park. "Our investment in Point State Park is a gift from the commonwealth to the City of Pittsburgh and its visitors so they can reflect on history, enjoy nature and be reminded of the city's strength and vitality."

The fountain was turned off in April 2009. The rehabilitation adds a disappearing edge waterfall feature, new lighting, including colors for special events, all new surfaces, pumping equipment and controls, and public restroom renovations.

The central water column of the fountain continues to operate at around 150 feet. The fountain contains about 500,000 gallons of water that is recirculated.

The $11.6 million fountain project, the first major overhaul in almost 40 years, was supported by a combination of state funds, as well as business and private donations. The state committed a total of $32 million in capital budget money to renovations throughout the park.

"It's been great to have outstanding partners for financial, technical and planning support, including Riverlife and the Allegheny Conference, the City of Pittsburgh, foundations and many private donors," Corbett said.

"Pittsburgh is a river city. The Point State Park fountain symbolizes our quality of life and highlights the beautiful setting of three rivers coming together," Lisa Schroeder, president and CEO of Riverlife said. "We congratulate the commonwealth on this investment and are proud to have been part of this historic public-private partnership."SET, Inc. of Lowellville, Ohio, was the general contractor for the fountain project. Right Electric, Inc. of Butler provided electrical construction; Wayne Crouse, Inc. of Pittsburgh did the mechanical construction which includes the new fountain pumps and piping; and AMB, Inc. of Pittsburgh did the plumbing.

"This renovated fountain is the crown jewel of many improvements within the park, and is in fact, the largest renovation project in our 120-park system," Corbett said. "We make these investments to protect natural areas and historic places, but also because state parks are economic engines that generate more than a billion dollars annually in nearby communities."

The fountain was first dedicated by the state on Aug. 30, 1974, at the completion of the park's construction. In 2007, an extensive renovation project began with improvements including:

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has added a full-time park manager and staff; an environmental educator; a concessionaire for food at the park; and coordinates programming at the park with the Fort Pitt Museum and Block House.

Point State Park, a National Historic Landmark, commemorates the strategic and historic heritage of the area during the French and Indian War. It's situated where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River, an area highly contested between British and French armies in the 1700s.

By the 1950s, the area had deteriorated into a commercial slum. The construction of Point State Park was one of the key accomplishments of Pittsburgh's first Renaissance urban renewal initiative.

For more information about the park and its programs, visitand choose Point State Park under "Find a Park."

Media contact: Christina Novak, 717-772-9101

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Lawyers for "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius demanded answers from South African police and prosecutors on Friday after pictures of the bathroom and toilet where he shot dead his girlfriend were leaked to a British television station.

Sky News obtained a series of images of the crime scene in Pistorius' luxury Pretoria home where the double amputee track star shot his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day on February 14.

Pistorius was one of the stars of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London and the case shocked millions across the world as he was seen as a symbol of truimph over adversity.

In South Africa, he was a hero for both blacks and whites, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

Pistorius has admitted to shooting four times through the locked door but says he was acting in self-defense at what he thought was an intruder.

Prosecutors accuse him of premeditated murder for firing into the door hitting Steenkamp, 29, in the head, hip and arm.

The pictures showed a pool of blood in the bathroom, spattered walls, and a trail from dragging the body.

Lawyer Brian Webber said he had sent a letter to the prosecution team demanding answers for the appearance of the pictures the week before Pistorius is due back in court.

"I have requested an explanation and I am confident I will get one," he told Reuters.

A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority said it was unclear how Sky had obtained the pictures. Police declined to say whether they were part of the formal investigation but said they would make no difference to the trial.

South Africa does not have trial by jury so pre-trial media coverage is seldom deemed to be prejudicial.

Tuesday's court appearance by Pistorius is expected to be a 10-minute formality.

(Reporting by Peroshni Govender; Editing by Ed Cropley and Angus MacSwan)

June 3 (Reuters) - International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential hopeful Denis Oswald distanced himself from the body's current leadership on Monday, saying wrestling's 2020 Olympics exit could have been handled better and that more sports could join the Games.

The Swiss head of the international rowing federation, who as a long-time IOC Executive Board member was part of the decision-making process until 2012, said the IOC's February exclusion of wrestling from the 2020 Games was not well handled.

The ancient sport, part of all Games since 1896 apart from the 1900 Olympics, would no doubt win back its Games spot after make a three-sport shortlist for inclusion in 2020, Oswald said.

Baseball/softball and squash are the other two shortlisted sports and the IOC will elect one winning sport at its session in Buenos Aires in September. IOC President Rogge said last week the organisation had made no mistake in the controversial affair.

"I am no longer on the Executive Board...but I must say I was very surprised that wrestling was eliminated," Oswald, bidding against five other candidates for the presidency, told reporters on a telephone conference call from Lausanne.

"The (wrestling) federation maybe did not make the effort but I think there were other ways to warn them because wrestling is a basic sport (of the Games) and I am convinced they will come back."

"We should consider that (the Olympic programme) with a more creative approach. We could have solved the problems if we had this more creative approach."

MORE SPORTS

Oswald said that despite an IOC cap of 28 sports he could see more sports joining in the future if existing ones reduced events that were not "universally" popular or the number of athletes.

The IOC started the process of revamping the Games to keep up with a younger audience but could now end up voting back in the same sport it excluded months ago and making no change to the Games programme from the 2020 Olympics onwards.

"What I propose is not to limit strictly at 28 sports but reduce the representation of some sports' disciplines. Even in major sports there are some disciplines that are not universal," he said without naming specific sports.

"A review in such a way can reduce events and athletes and make room for other sports," he said.

He rejected an idea for a united world championships of both Olympic and non-Olympic sports as announced by the new head of umbrella body SportAccord.

"I don't think these proposals are realistic or can be implemented. It is no danger to the Games but it lessens the significance of the Games and we have to defend the position of Games being unique and special."

Oswald said he did not believe violent demonstrations in Turkey were hampering Istanbul's bid to stage the 2020 Olympics, with Tokyo and Madrid also bidding.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Turkey's biggest cities over the weekend and clashed with riot police firing tear gas, leaving hundreds of people injured.

The unrest was sparked by protests against government plans to redevelop Istanbul's Taksim Square, long a rallying point for mass demonstrations, but widened into a broad show of defiance against the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

"It is a protest that can happen in any democratic country. We will see how it develops, how important it is. We are still three months away but for the time being I don't think it is a threat for the candidature," he said. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann)

At the December meeting of the school's Athletics Council, Gordon Gee took shots at schools in the Southeastern Conference and the University of Louisville, according to the recording, obtained by The Associated Press under a public records request.

The university called the statements inappropriate and said Gee is undergoing a "remediation plan" because of the remarks.

Gee apologized in a statement released to the AP.

"The comments I made were just plain wrong, and in no way do they reflect what the university stands for," he said. "They were a poor attempt at humour and entirely inappropriate."

Gee, who has taken heat previously for uncouth remarks, told members of the council that he negotiated with Notre Dame officials during his first term at Ohio State, which began more than two decades ago.

"The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they're holy hell on the rest of the week," Gee said to laughter at the Dec. 5 meeting attended by Athletic Director Gene Smith and several other athletic department members, along with professors and students.

"You just can't trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that," said Gee, a Mormon.

The Big Ten had for years courted Notre Dame, but the school resisted, seeking to retain its independent status in college football. The school announced in September that it would join the Athletic Coast Conference in all sports except football. It also agreed to play five football games each year against ACC teams.

In the recording, Gee referred specifically to dealing with the Rev. Ned Joyce, Notre Dame's longtime chief financial officer, who died in 2004.

"Father Joyce was one of those people who ran the university for many, many years," Gee said.

Gee said the Athletic Coast Conference added Notre Dame at a time when it was feeling vulnerable.

"Notre Dame wanted to have its cake and eat it, too," Gee said, according to the recording and a copy of the meeting's minutes.

Gee was introduced by Athletic Council then-chairman Charlie Wilson, and Gee's name and introduction are included in written minutes of the meeting. Gee's comments drew laughter, at times loud, occasionally nervous, but no rebukes, according to the audio.

The Athletic Council meets monthly during the fall, winter and spring and makes recommendations on athletic policy including ticket prices. December's meeting was at Ohio Stadium.

Gee has gotten in trouble for his offhand remarks, most recently during a memorabilia-for-cash and tattoos scandal that cost football coach Jim Tressel his job. Tressel had known about allegations that players were trading game paraphernalia for money and tattoos but didn't tell the university in violation of his contract and NCAA regulations.

Gee was asked in March 2011 whether he had considered firing Tressel. He responded: "No, are you kidding? Let me just be very clear: I'm just hopeful the coach doesn't dismiss me." Tressel stepped down three months later.

In November 2010, Gee boasted that Ohio State's football schedule didn't include teams on par with the "Little Sisters of the Poor." An apologetic Gee later sent a personal check to the real Little Sisters of the Poor in northwest Ohio and followed up with a visit to the nuns months later.

Last year, Gee apologized for comparing the problem of co-ordinating the school's many divisions to the Polish army, an off-the-cuff remark that a Polish-American group called a "slanderous" display of bigotry and ignorance.

Gee has one of the highest-profile resumes of any college president in recent history. He has held the top job at West Virginia University, the University of Colorado, Brown University and Vanderbilt University. He was Ohio State president from 1990 to 1997, and returned in 2007. He earns about $1.9 million annually in base pay, deferred and performance compensation and retirement benefits.

He is a prolific fundraiser and is leading a $2.5 billion campaign at Ohio State. He is omnipresent on campus, attending everything from faculty awards events to dormitory pizza parties. He is known for his bow ties he has hundreds and his horn-rimmed glasses.

During his comments to the Athletic Council, Gee also questioned the academic integrity of schools in the Southeastern Conference, and the University of Louisville.

The top goal of Big Ten presidents is to "make certain that we have institutions of like-minded academic integrity," Gee said. "So you won't see us adding Louisville," a member of the Big East conference that is also joining the ACC.

After a pause followed by laughter from the audience, Gee added that the Big Ten wouldn't add the University of Kentucky, either.

During the meeting, Gee also said he thought it was a mistake not to include Missouri and Kansas in earlier Big Ten expansion plans. Missouri has since joined the SEC.

"You tell the SEC when they can learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we're doing," Gee said, when asked by a questioner how to respond to SEC fans who say the Big Ten can't count because it now has 14 members.

Gee noted he was chairman of the SEC during his time as Vanderbilt University chancellor. He also told his audience that speculation about the SEC "remains right here," according to the recording.

Gee took a swipe at Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney, one of the most powerful leaders in college athletics, when he answered a question about preserving Ohio State's financial interests in light of Big Ten revenue-sharing plans.

"No one admires Jim Delaney more than I do I chaired the committee that brought him here," Gee said. "Jim is very aggressive, and we need to make certain he keeps his hands out of our pockets while we support him."

___

Associated Press writer John Seewer in Toledo contributed to this report.

The Dow Jones industrial average is on track to advance for a sixth straight month. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is set to gain for a seventh straight month, its longest winning streak since 2009.

On Friday, there was both encouraging and disappointing news on the economy.

Stock indexes started the day lower after the government reported that Americans cut back on spending. They were moving between small gains and losses in afternoon trading Friday.

Consumer spending fell 0.2 percent in April, the first decline since last May, the Commerce Department said early Friday. That news was offset by a report released later showing that a measure of U.S. consumer confidence jumped to the highest level in almost six years in May, lifted by rising home prices and record-high stock prices.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 84.5 in May, up from 76.4 in April and the highest since July 2007. Investors are hoping that increasingly confident consumers will step up their spending, which would contribute to U.S. economic growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down six points, or 0.04 percent, to 15,318 as of 2:09 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down three at 1,651, or 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq composite lost less than a point to 3,491.

In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.19 percent from 2.12 percent late Thursday. The yield has risen by half a percentage point since the start of the month and is the highest it's been since April 2012.

Rates have risen on concern that the Federal Reserve is considering easing back on its purchases of $85 billion in bonds every month.

The sharp rise in Treasury yields could be trouble for the market if it continues unabated, said David Bianco, chief U.S. equity strategist at Deutsche Bank. The yields on Treasury notes are benchmarks for setting interest rates on many kinds of loans to consumers and businesses. If they rise quickly, lending rates would rise too, holding back the economy by discouraging borrowing and spending.

"I'm not bearish, but I'm a little bit cautious," Bianco said.

The Dow is up 3.3 percent this month and is on track to record its first gain in May since 2009. The S&P 500 index has risen by 3.5 percent.

The S&P 500 has only fallen in one month, October, over the last year.

The "Sell in May" tactic is part of the Stock Trader's Almanac's "Best Six Months" strategy, which recommends investing in the Dow between Nov. 1 and April 30 each year and then switching into fixed income for the remainder of the year.

The Dow rose an average of 7.5 percent between November and April between 1950 and 2011, according to this year's Almanac. The average gain over the six-month period from May 1 to Oct. 31 was only 0.3 percent.

In commodities trading, oil fell 77 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $92.84 a barrel, close to its lowest in a month, after OPEC oil ministers said they would keep their output targets steady. Gold fell $17.30 to $1,395 an ounce, a decline of 1.2 percent.

Among stocks making big moves:

Lions Gate Entertainment rose $1.51, or 5.3 percent, to $19.52. The company reported net income that topped Wall Street's expectations as it benefited from home video sales of the finale to its hit franchise "Twilight."

Palo Alto Networks fell $5.38, or 10 percent, to $48.97 after the network security company posted a quarterly loss and predicted lower profit and revenue in the current quarter than analysts were expecting.

OmniVision Technologies, a maker of mobile camera sensors, jumped $3.22, or 21 percent, to $18.72. The company reported that its net income doubled in its fourth fiscal quarter as revenue rose sharply.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Father Andrew M. Greeley, an outspoken Roman Catholic priest who wrote more than 50 novels and publicly feuded with his superior John Cardinal Cody, died at the age of 85 in his Chicago home, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

"Father Andrew Greeley was the most influential American Catholic sociologist of the 20th century," said Father Tom Reese, a senior analyst at the National Catholic Reporter. "He was the first to show how Humanae Vitae, the encyclical on birth control by Pope Paul VI, split the church and made the laity question church authority."

Greeley had been silenced in 2008, when he suffered a fall after his clothing got caught in the door of a taxi as it pulled away. A resulting brain injury left him unable to write or make public appearances, according to his niece, Laura Durkin.

He died in his sleep early Thursday morning, his spokeswoman, June Rosner, said.

A proponent of reform within the Catholic Church, Greeley also wrote more than 100 works of non-fiction, including "Priests: A Calling in Crisis" and "The Catholic Revolution: New Wine in Old Wineskins and the Second Vatican Council."

"He was first and foremost a parish priest ... his parish were the people who read his columns and his books," said Durkin. "He was a priest and he loved the church."

Greeley's sometimes racy fiction dealt with some of the challenges facing the church. "The Priestly Sins," published in 2004 during the height of the sex abuse scandal, focused on an idealistic priest after he reported child abuse by a fellow priest.

Greeley, who recently celebrated his 59th anniversary as a priest, criticized church leadership over its position on birth control and the handling of the sexual abuse crisis.

"He served the church all those years with a prophetic voice and with unfailing dedication, and the church he and our parents taught us to love is a better place because of him," read a family statement, supplied by Rosner.

Greeley - who had a person website, http://www.agreeley.com/ - had masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, and was a research associate with the university's National Opinion Research Center and a professor of sociology at the University of Arizona.

Greeley is survived by a sister, five nieces, two nephews and 18 grand nieces and nephews.

'WEAKNESS FOR WORDS'

Many of Greeley's novels were best sellers. "The Cardinal Sins" in 1981 sold more than 3 million copies, according to a statement from the University of Chicago. It is the story of an archbishop who fathers a child.

Greeley famously feuded with Cardinal Cody of Chicago - whom he called a monster, crazy and "one of the most truly evil men I have ever known" - but denied Cody was the basis for the "Cardinal Sins" archbishop.

"People like stories. We are all story tellers," Greeley once told Reuters. "I'm convinced that people followed Jesus because he was a good storyteller."

His writings also covered education, sex, ethnicity, euthanasia, politics, war and other topics, and his engaging manner made him a sought-after interview subject on television.

"I suppose I have the Irish weakness for words gone wild," Greeley told the New York Times. "Besides, if you're celibate you have to do something."

His books made him wealthy and he owned an apartment in a posh downtown skyscraper. He responded to criticism of his wealth by telling People magazine. "What I do with my money is between me and God and the IRS. I think I'm generous with it. I'm willing to face God on the way I've spent it."

Greeley established a $1 million endowment at the University of Chicago for Catholic studies. He also gave money for scholarships to the Chicago archdiocese.

"Father Greeley could be irritatingly smart and a touch righteous, and some of his romantic novels bordered on the silly, but he dreamed a very special American Catholic democratic dream and we Catholics would have done well to have listened to him more closely," said David O'Brien, a historian of U.S. Catholicism and a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio. "He has been sorely missed since an accident silenced his public voice."

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski, John O'Callaghan and Bill Trott; Editing by Scott Malone and Steve Orlofsky)

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) - Top Rhode Island finance officials on Thursday blasted representatives of the town of Coventry who have sought to avoid making up a $24 million shortfall in one of their pension plans.

The town's position not to offer a way to make up the almost 70 percent shortfall in a plan for non-teacher school employees is "unconscionable," said Richard Licht, director of the Rhode Island Department of Administration, at a meeting of the state's Pension Plans Study Commission.

Many current employees are contributing to the pension plan, but will not receive any benefits, said Mark Dingley, general council to state Treasurer Gina Raimondo.

"One of the injustices here is that people are contributing to the plan now and ... will get a zero benefit," he said.

"I can't accept that," Licht added, as discussion at the meeting frequently turned heated. "That's really wrong."

Coventry, a town of about 35,000, believes it is not legally responsible for the retirement fund for more than 300 active and retired janitors and other non-teacher school employees. The plan is on track to run out of cash in 12 years.

Town officials claimed that overlooked language in a 1977 labor contract absolves it of responsibility.

"It's not a legal responsibility of the town to take total responsibility," town manager Thomas Hoover said at the meeting.

"We feel as though we have no responsibility for the underfunded portion of this plan," said Gary Cote, president of the Coventry town council.

If forced to take responsibility, the town could be forced "down the road to receivership and bankruptcy," he added.

The case, which may end up in court, could cut a new path for other cash-strapped U.S. municipalities as they re-examine contracts to find relief from ballooning public pension costs.

State and local governments face unmet pension fund obligations of as much as $4 trillion according to some studies, possibly jeopardizing their ability to provide essential services and meet their debt service payments. Moves by Coventry and a few other towns around the country have sparked fears in the municipal bond market that the situation could unravel.

The review of Coventry's pension funds was prompted by a 2012 Rhode Island law overhauling the state's retirement system. The law also created the local pension study commission, which set deadlines for cities to review and improve pensions that were in "critical" condition, or under 60 percent funded.

Two dozen other municipalities in Rhode Island with underfunded pension funds have submitted plans to the commission, Licht said.

Coventry's teachers are covered under a separate Rhode Island plan into which the town makes payments. In that case, the town has no choice but to contribute its full share under a state mandate or risk losing state aid.

Rhode Island began aggressively intervening in local government finances when the tiny city of Central Falls was going bankrupt in 2011, largely because of pension obligations.

By the end of that painful case, retirees' pension payments were slashed in half, but bondholders escaped unscathed after state legislators passed a law to protect its reputation in the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market.

Usually, U.S. cities and states attempt to contribute the amount of money an actuary says they should pay each year. But the Coventry school committee's 1977 collective bargaining agreement with support staff only calls for it to pay 12.75 percent of payroll into the pension, which it has been paying. That is where the town believes its responsibility ends.

In 2012, Coventry's school department budgeted for a $600,000 payment into the fund, 29 percent of the nearly $2.4 million that actuaries said it should have paid and less than 1 percent of its revenue. The employees themselves contributed 8 percent of payroll, or about $364,000

(Reporting by Aaron Pressman.; Additional reporting by Hilary Russ in New York. Editing by Andre Grenon)

The feisty and combative coach was fired by the New York Rangers on Wednesday after four-plus seasons behind the bench and four trips to the postseason.

Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather was vague when pressed for reasons why Tortorella was let go.

While no specifics were given, Sather made it clear that it wasn't just one thing or particular incident that led to the somewhat unexpected dismissal.

"I am very appreciative of what Torts has done here," Sather said during a conference call. "We had an evaluation at the end of the year like we always do. Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. I felt that this was the decision that had to be made to go forward.

"I think he was a little bit shocked, but he is a gentleman and he took it very well."

The fiery Tortorella was let go four days after the Rangers' season ended with a Game 5 loss to the Boston Bruins. New York reached the Eastern Conference finals last year and was considered a championship contender in this lockout-shortened season.

Tortorella conducts business on and off the ice with an iron fist, treating players and media members alike. His abrasive style could have been a factor in the decision to make a change.

"Every coach has a shelf life," Sather said. "I've told every guy that I've hired that at some point in time this is going to change.

"Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup and we didn't achieve that goal this year. I had to make a decision, so I did."

Tortorella was dismissed with one year left on his contract.

In 319 regular-season games with New York, including a four-game run at the end of the 1999-2000 season, Tortorella went 171-118-1-29. He was 19-25 in the postseason, and reached the playoffs four times after taking over as coach in February 2009.

"Every time a coach gets fired, it is a surprise for me, because ultimately, we, the players, are responsible for our own play on the ice," Rangers backup goalie Martin Biron told The Associated Press in a text message.

Tortorella, hired to replace Tom Renney with 21 games remaining in the 2008-09 season, achieved some success with the Rangers but couldn't match the Stanley Cup title he earned in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Sather said Tortorella's contract status didn't factor into the decision.

A replacement wasn't named immediately, but Sather hopes to have a new coach in place by the NHL draft on June 30.

Former NHL coaches Lindy Ruff and Alain Vigneault could be candidates. Sather wouldn't speculate on them or whether anyone currently employed by the Rangers would be considered.

The fate of assistant coach Mike Sullivan will be decided during the team's organizational meetings in June.

"Hopefully whoever we hire has a lot of the good things that Torts had and a lot of good things that Tom Renney had," Sather said. "There are a number of good coaches around, and a lot of them have different qualities. It is a little tricky sometimes to find someone who has all those qualities.

"I am certain that we're going to find the right person."

Last season, Tortorella led the Rangers to 51 wins the second-most in franchise history and 109 points before they were beaten in six games by New Jersey. He finished his Rangers tenure in fourth place on the team's coaching wins list.

The 54-year-old Tortorella got the Rangers back into the playoffs, and New York outlasted Washington in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before being knocked out by Boston.

Tortorella made curious comments on Monday when the Rangers packed up for the season, remarks that could have led to his ouster.

In his final meeting with reporters, Tortorella said the Rangers weren't emotionally ready to take on Boston after getting past Washington with back-to-back shutout wins when they faced elimination.

"One of the things, and it falls on my shoulders, is our team's mindset going into another round," Tortorella said. "I don't think our mindset was ready to play another series and to the level you need to be at. It didn't have a playoff atmosphere.

"That's what I struggle with right now. I didn't do a good enough job in correcting and getting their mindset back to not only play at the level of a Game 7 in the first round, but get ready for round 2, which is always going to be tougher."

But Tortorella was defiant in his assessment that this wasn't a down year for the club.

"I know the surrounding feeling here is that it was a negative season, a disappointing season. I don't buy it and I won't," Tortorella said. "There are some good things that happened. I don't think we took a step backward. I think this is a sideways step in our lineup and how things worked out.

"We played really well our last couple of months to get in, found a way to win a big series against Washington, and against Boston I thought we competed right to the end."

Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist disagreed with that assessment. Lundqvist is entering the final year of his contract and would be eligible to be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

"It is a step back," Lundqvist said. "We were in the conference finals last year, we had high expectations on ourselves this year. It didn't go our way, so yeah it is a step back. It's tough to make it there, though. You can't just expect it to happen."

Sather said he hadn't talked to Lundqvist, but added the team's plan is to sign him to a new long-term deal.

The Rangers entered the 48-game season as a prime contender to win the Stanley Cup, especially after the offseason acquisition of top forward Rick Nash in a trade with Columbus.

After a slow start, the Rangers rallied to a 26-18-4 record and the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

New York struggled to score in the postseason, and Nash and Brad Richards were among the biggest offenders. Nash recorded only one goal and five assists in the Rangers' 12 playoff games.

Richards, who has seven years remaining on a nine-year deal, was a bigger disappointment and was a healthy scratch in the final two games against the Bruins. Sather said that move was an organizational decision.

Richards had thrived under Tortorella when they won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay, but he managed only one goal and zero assists in his 10 postseason games. Richards also is likely to be gone from the Rangers, who can buy out the remainder of his lucrative deal and remove him from the salary cap that will go down next season.

Tortorella is the career leader in wins by a U.S.-born coach with 410. He was an assistant coach with the Rangers in the 1999-2000 season and took over for John Muckler as head coach for the final four games.

Tortorella was then hired by the Lightning and he was their coach for seven seasons, going 239-222-36-38 and earning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in the championship season.

Lew told the Senate Banking Committee that he has also asked acting director Daniel Werfel to fix any flaws in management of the IRS to make sure there is no recurrence of the problems.

An inspector general's report released May 15 found that IRS employees had inappropriately targeted conservative political groups.

Lew says he first learned about the inspector general's investigation in March but that he was unaware of the findings until they became public this month.

The ruling late Monday threw into disarray a process that had been hailed as historic for delivering the first guilty verdict for genocide against a former Latin American leader.

Constitutional Court secretary Martin Guzman said the trial needs to go back to where it stood on April 19 to solve several appeal issues.

The ruling came 10 days after a three-judge panel convicted the 86-year-old Rios Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in massacres of Mayans during Guatemala's bloody, 36-year civil war. The panel found after two months of testimony that Rios Montt knew about the slaughter of at least 1,771 Ixil Mayans in the western highlands and didn't stop it.

The tribunal sentenced the 86-year-old former general to 80 years in prison, drawing cheers from many Guatemalans. It was the first time a former Latin American leader was convicted of such crimes in his home country and the first official acknowledgment that genocide occurred during the war something the current president, retired Gen. Otto Perez Molina, has denied.

Rios Montt's lawyers immediately filed an appeal, and he spent three days in prison before he was moved to a military hospital, where he remains.

The top court on Monday said it threw out his conviction because the trial should have been stopped while appeals filed by the defense were resolved.

Defense lawyer Francisco Garcia Gudiel told The Associated Press by telephone that he would seek the former dictator's freedom on Tuesday.

"There is no alternative," Garcia said. "The court has made a legal resolution after many flaws in the process. Tomorrow we will ask that they liberate the general, who is being imprisoned unjustly."

Representatives of the victims who testified against Rios Montt couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

The proceedings, which started in March, had been whipped back and forth ever since April 18, when a Guatemalan judge ordered that the trial should be restarted just as it was nearing closing arguments.

Judge Carol Patricia Flores had been recently reinstated by the Constitutional Court after being recused in February 2012. She ruled that all actions taken in the case since she was first asked to step down were null, sending the trial back to square one.

The next day, April 19, the tribunal hearing the oral part of the trial asked the Constitutional Court to decide if the proceedings should continue.

The trial was suspended for 12 days amid appeals and at times appeared headed for annulment. But it resumed April 30, and on May 10 the three-judge tribunal found Rios Montt guilty after more than 100 witnesses and experts testified about mass rapes and the killings of women and children and other atrocities committed by government troops. Rios Montt ruled Guatemala in 1982-83 following a military coup.

Survivors and relatives of victims had sought for 30 years to bring punishment for Rios Montt. For international observers and Guatemalans on both sides of the war, the trial was seen as a turning point in a nation still wrestling with the trauma of a conflict that killed some 200,000 people.

The defense constantly claimed flaws and miscarriages of justice.

Courts solved more than 100 complaints and injunctions filed by the defense before the trial even started.

Rios Montt's defense team walked out on April 18, arguing that they couldn't continue to be part of such a bad proceeding. When the three-judge tribunal resumed the trial, it ordered two public defenders to represent Rios Montt and his co-defendant, Jose Rodriguez Sanchez.

Rios Montt rejected his public defender and instead brought in Garcia, who was expelled earlier by the tribunal but reinstated by an appeals court.

Garcia had earlier been ordered off the case after he called for the three judges on the tribunal to be removed from the proceedings. He kept trying to have the judges dismissed. And the Constitutional Court ruled Monday that the trial should have been suspended while his appeal was heard.

The trial "was unlawfully reopened," Garcia said at the time.