INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indiana Supreme Court agreed Thursday to step into a dispute between backers and opponents of a proposed $2.8 billion coal-gasification plant in southwestern Indiana.

The justices said they will hear Indiana Gasification LLC's appeal of a lower court ruling invalidating a section of the company's contract with the Indiana Finance Authority. The contract required the state to buy the plant's synthetic gas at a fixed rate and resell it on the open market for a 30-year period, with Indiana utility customers receiving the profits or shouldering the losses.

"This is just what I expected it to do. And then the next step will be taken, whatever that is," said Senate Utility Committee Chairman Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis.

Legislation approved in April requires the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to consider new ratepayer protections that were not initially in place when regulators first approved the deal. Opponents of the Rockport plant, including natural gas utility Vectren Corp, said the contract would cost Indiana utility customers as much as $1.1 billion in higher rates. The 30-year deal would tie 17 percent of Hoosier gas users' bills to the Rockport plant's rate.

Developers suspended work on the plant days after the bill's passage and said that the project was effectively dead. A spokesman for the developers did not return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

Vectren spokesman Mike Roeder said both sides had asked the high court to step into the dispute.

"I guess I view it as another step in the process," he said.

The plant about 30 miles east of Evansville, which is also run by New York-based Leucadia National Corp, would turn coal into synthetic natural gas.

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Follow Charles Wilson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharlesDWilson

Trong 23 ci tn c HLV Zaccheroni la chn, c ti 14 cu th ang thi u chu u vi nhng gng mt sng gi gm Sakai (Stuttgart), Hasebe (Wolfsburg). Shinji Kagawa (Man Utd), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan) v Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow).Nht Bn l i u tin ginh v d VCK World Cup 2014. Ti Confed Cup 2013 ln ny, Nht nm bng A vi i ch nh Brazil,; Italia - qun EURO 2012 v Mexico - KV CONCACAF.

* Rangers hope to name new coach before June 30 (Adds quotes and details)

By Larry Fine

May 29 (Reuters) - The New York Rangers have fired head coach John Tortorella after another disappointing early exit from the playoffs, the National Hockey League (NHL) team said on Wednesday.

The decision to release Tortorella, an outspoken coach who has been fined several times by the NHL for his often brusque style with the media, comes four days after the Rangers were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

It marked a disappointing end to a season that started with high expectations after Tortorella led the team to their second most wins all-time with 51 during the 2011-12 campaign before falling in the conference finals.

"Every coach has a shelf life," Rangers General Manager Glen Sather told reporters on a conference call. "I've told every guy that I've hired that at some point in time it's going to change.

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

Sather made no other staff changes, saying further decisions would wait for the team's organizational meetings next month. He also said he hoped to have a new head coach in place before the NHL Draft on June 30.

Tortorella, 54, compiled a 171-115-29 record with New York since being named the 34th coach in Rangers franchise history in February 2009. He was also an assistant coach for the Rangers for the 1999-2000 campaign, where he served as head coach for the final four games of the season.

Prior to rejoining the Rangers, Tortorella coached the Tampa Bay Lightning for seven seasons and, in 2004, led them to a Stanley Cup championship and was named coach of the year.

For his career, Tortorella has compiled a 410-330-37-67 record and ranks first on the NHL's all-time wins list among U.S.-born head coaches.

During his tenure with the Rangers, the team missed the playoffs once, suffered two opening-round exits and lost in the conference semi-finals and finals once each.

"It wasn't one thing," said Sather, who told also reporters that Tortorella was shocked when told he was fired.

"After the analytical work that we do every year at the end of the season, trying to decide how we are going to improve the team and how we are going to move forward, this is the decision that I made." (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Real estate data provider CoreLogic says prices rose in April from the previous April in 48 states. Prices also rose 3.2 percent in April from March, much better than the previous month-to-month gain of 1.9 percent.

Prices in Nevada jumped 24.6 percent from a year earlier, the most among the states. California's gain was next at 19.4 percent, followed by Arizona's 17.3 percent, Hawaii's 17 percent and Oregon's 15.5 percent.

More people are looking to purchase homes. But the number of homes for sale is 14 percent lower than it was a year ago. The supply shortage has contributed to the price increases.

Rising home prices can help sustain the housing recovery. They encourage more homeowners to sell. And they spur would-be homeowners to buy before prices increase further.

Home sales and prices began to recover last year, six years after the housing bust. They have been buoyed by steady job gains and low mortgage rates.

Sales of previously occupied homes ticked up to a 3 year high in April, according to the National Association of Realtors. And they are likely to keep growing: A measure of signed contracts to buy homes rose to its highest level in three years in April. There is generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.

The limited supply of homes has also made builders more willing to ramp up construction. That's creating more construction jobs. Applications for building permits rose in April to the highest level in nearly five years.

Prices rose in April from the previous year in 94 out of the 100 largest U.S. cities, CoreLogic said. That's up from 88 in the previous month.

Los Angeles and Phoenix reported the biggest price gains among the cities, CoreLogic said. Prices in both cities leapt 19.2 percent compared with a year earlier.

They were followed by Atlanta and Riverside-San Bernardino, which both posted 16.5 percent gains. Dallas rounded out the top five, with a 10.2 percent increase.

Despite the large gains, home prices are more than 22 percent below their April 2006 peak, the CoreLogic survey found.

In Nevada, they are still 47.3 percent below their peak, and in Florida, prices are 40.5 percent below their peak.

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Follow Chris Rugaber on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber

The jumbo jewel and other treasures confiscated by the U.S. Marshals Service are up for auction in Las Vegas this weekend.

Buyers can preview the gold and silver bullion, coins, jewelry and watches from federal crime cases between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Friday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The auction itself starts at 10 a.m. Saturday and will be simulcast on the Internet.

Among the other items are 6.6 pounds of gold pellets from a Southern California resident caught up in a $100 million Medicare fraud scheme. The starting bid for that collection is $120,000.

The Marshals Service auctions items from cases a few times a year. Proceeds benefit victims of crimes and supplement law enforcement programs.

So even though the Los Angeles captain is playing in his first Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday night, he's acutely aware of the stakes when the Kings host the Sharks in the grand finale to a grueling all-California series.

"You don't know what you're playing for until you've won it," Brown said Monday after the Kings returned from a 2-1 loss in Game 6.

"So my perspective on the playoffs this year has been completely different from my perspectives the previous years, because I don't think I fully understood what exactly I was playing for until we put ourselves over the top. It's kind of the same way with losing. It's hard to understand what it takes until you lose."

For the first time in two years, the Kings are one game away from playoff elimination. They never even faced a potential elimination game during their 16-4 rampage to the Cup last year, but the Sharks have pushed them to the brink while moving one win away from their third trip to the Western Conference finals in four years.

The home team has won every game in the series, although home ice meant little to the Kings last season while winning the title as an eighth seed.

They're hoping the Staples Center ice means everything in Game 7 and it has been awfully friendly lately, with 13 consecutive home victories over the past two months and seven straight home playoff wins dating to last year's Cup clincher.

Although the Kings and Sharks are separated by just a 45-minute flight, the home team has dominated this series lately, winning all four regular-season meetings as well.

In fact, the home team has won 15 of the clubs' past 16 meetings in the past two seasons.

"I guess the odds are on our side, but we know anything can happen," Kings center Anze Kopitar said. "Everyone wants to win these types of games, and you want to be the hero."

After three wins apiece, the series has ended up just as both teams expected before it began two weeks ago. Neither team can pull away, with goaltending and special teams largely deciding each matchup.

Although the series has been tight throughout, it hasn't been disproportionately dramatic. The team scoring the first goal has won every game of the series, and only one major comeback has been made: Los Angeles scored two power-play goals in the final minutes to steal Game 2 after blowing an early two-goal lead.

The Sharks forced Game 7 by winning three of the series' past four games, all by a 2-1 margin. While the Kings can rely on their championship pedigree, San Jose has momentum and plenty of veteran experience.

"It's definitely a stressful situation, but it's the most fun I've had playing hockey," said Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle, who has won a Game 7 three times in his career, including a Stanley Cup win with Tampa Bay in 2004.

"I've got to do it three times now. It's the best time to play. I just try not to make it a bigger deal than what it actually is. Go out and enjoy it. Just don't overthink it, or it can get the best of you."

With the Kings' brand-new Stanley Cup banner hanging over the Staples Center ice, it's easy to forget the Sharks have been in countless pressure-packed playoff situations, even if they've never won the Cup.

San Jose is hoping to extend its ninth straight playoff appearance into another conference final run, while the Kings had won just one playoff round in 17 seasons before last summer's phenomenal championship run.

The Sharks played a Game 7 two years ago, beating Detroit at home in the second round, and their veteran newcomers have been there, too: San Jose's Scott Gomez is about to play in the 10th Game 7 of his career.

"The main thing is that you can't change your game," Gomez said. "Do what got you here. Obviously, emotions are going to be running high. Family, friends, everyone all eyes are on it. The team that can control (emotions) the most, and it sounds easier than it is, usually that's the team that has success."

The Kings have home-ice advantage in a playoff series for the first time in 21 years against the Sharks, who have made the playoffs 14 times in the past 15 seasons. Los Angeles hasn't played a Game 7 on home ice since 1989, when Wayne Gretzky's Kings knocked the Edmonton Oilers out of the first round.

After an optional skate Monday, the Kings uniformly downplayed the importance of home ice in Game 7 beyond their crowd's support, yet they've been awfully tough to beat at Staples during their title defense. They lost just four times in regulation during the regular season.

Many of the Kings' top players will be in their first Game 7 in the NHL including Kopitar, Brown and goalie Jonathan Quick although most have played in similarly crucial games in junior hockey and international competition.

"The worst thing going into a Game 7 is being uptight and stressed about it," Brown said. "You should be excited to play in a game like tomorrow night. That's where heroes are made."

Kopitar's favorite Game 7 memory comes from watching his father, Matjaz, who scored two goals and added another in a shootout to claim a national title back home in Slovenia.

"I've got blood under my skin just like a Canadian," Kopitar said. "I don't think it's any different over in Europe, either. Everybody wants to be in these types of games, and you want to raise the level of play, and eventually you want to be the hero in these types of games."

The Blackhawks, who took the Presidents' Trophy for scoring the most points in the regular season, have avoided elimination in two straight games after falling behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

The series will be decided in Chicago on Wednesday with the winner advancing to the Conference final to face either the Los Angeles Kings or San Jose Sharks.

Detroit surrendered a first-period goal to Marian Hossa on Monday but got back on level terms before the intermission through Patrick Eaves, then went 2-1 up midway through the second on Joakim Andersson's wrist shot.

But the home crowd were silenced when things fell apart for the Red Wings in the third period as Chicago blitzed goaltender Jimmy Howard to seize a 4-2 lead.

Michal Handzus tied the score in the first minute of the third before Bryan Bickell and Michael Frolik gave the visitors a two-goal cushion.

Damien Brunner gave Detroit hope of a late fight back with a goal in the final minute but it was too little too late.

Chicago netminder Corey Crawford finished with 35 saves.

Detroit will be facing their second consecutive Game Seven, after their first round series against second seeds Anaheim also went the distance. (Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

The 2014 Spark EV, which goes on sale next month in California and Oregon, will sell for as low as $19,995 after accounting for the full federal tax credit of $7,500, GM said. The larger Chevy Volt, which was introduced in the fall of 2010, sells for about $32,500 after the tax credit.

"The Chevrolet Spark EV is the most efficient - and now one of the most affordable - EVs you can buy," Chris Perry, GM's vice president of Chevrolet marketing, said in a statement.

GM has made rolling out cars with electrical technology -- including its eAssist system that boosts fuel efficiency in gasoline-powered cars -- as a central part of its global strategy.

The U.S. automaker is aiming by 2017 to build up to 500,000 vehicles a year that include some form of electric engine power, including cars like the Spark EV, the Volt and those with eAssist. GM will begin building the Cadillac ELR plug-in electric coupe late this year.

The rollout of the Spark EV continues GM's push to seize the mantle of "greenest automaker in the world" from Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the popular Prius hybrid car. Toyota also sells a plug-in version of the Prius.

California Spark EV owners also could qualify for an additional $2,500 in state tax credits and incentives, GM said. The car will lease for as low as $199 a month for 36 months with $999 due at signing.

GM previously said the Spark EV will be able to travel twice as far on an electric charge as the plug-in hybrid Volt can go before its gas engine kicks in.

The Spark EV has a combined city/highway range of 82 miles when fully charged as estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Volt gets about 40 miles on an electric charge. The Spark EV's fuel economy is equivalent to 119 miles per gallon on an EPA-estimated combined city/highway basis.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Yet on a variety of policy fronts, pressing financial and other needs are forcing Republicans to concede more publicly than usual that minimalist government isn't necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution.

Natural disasters batter states. Security threats highlight the need for a robust defense apparatus. Offers of federal dollars for health coverage are tough to reject.

Most conservatives see Obama's presidency as epitomizing overreaching and bloated government. They point to his health law, various bailouts, stimulus spending, universal pre-kindergarten and tough environmental rules as prime examples.

The perception of an out-of-control government has gained steam in the early months of Obama's second term, with his foes citing the Justice Department's snooping on reporters in leak investigations and an admission by the Internal Revenue Service that agents unfairly targeted conservative groups.

"You've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems," Obama recently told graduates at Ohio State University. "You should reject these voices," he added.

In recent days, some Republicans have done just that.

This past week saw the president play arcade games and trade jokes on a Jersey Shore tour with GOP Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. Christie is a fiscal conservative who has shown no patience for massive government spending, except when it comes to billions in federal aid for his state after Superstorm Sandy.

While Congress stalled on storm aid, it was Christie and other Northeast Republicans who criticized members of their own party for insisting that Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.

"Republicans, Democrats, independents we all came together, because New Jersey is more important and our citizens are more important than any kind of politics at all," Christie said on Tuesday.

Two days earlier, it was Mary Fallin, another Republican governor with a distaste for over-the-top government spending, who welcomed Obama and the post-tornado aid his administration brought.

In Arizona, GOP Gov. Jan Brewer is in a fight to force lawmakers in her conservative-leaning state to embrace a dramatic expansion of Medicaid made possible by an infusion of federal dollars under Obama's health care law.

Although she joined other Republican governors in suing the Obama administration over the law, she's now told the Republican-controlled Legislature that she'll veto every bill sent to her until lawmakers approve the expansion.

Brewer's administration in recent years installed a Medicaid eligibility freeze to help balance the state budget. But rejecting the Medicaid dollars under the new law, with Washington offering to pay 100 percent of the cost for the first three years, meant telling about 300,000 poor Arizonans they're out of luck while their counterparts in other states get coverage.

"I never liked the Affordable (Care) Act," Brewer said this year. "But, we don't cut off our nose to spite our face."

So Brewer joined eight other Republican governors, including Christie, in calling for the expansion to go forward. Six of those governors have received legislative approval or appear on track to do so.

"I think governors who take that are being expedient," said Chris Chocola, the president of the fiscal conservative group Club for Growth. "They're certainly not limiting the size of government."

White House officials say it's consistent with a Republican pattern of railing against the government until something happens in their state or district that merits assistance or rescue.

"It's reverse NIMBY politics in a way," said Dan Pfeiffer, a senior White House adviser. "Instead of not in my backyard, the GOP philosophy is only in my backyard, not anyone else's."

Republicans say that while there are some exceptions among their ranks, the differences are generally small and the overarching philosophy remains intact and widely embraced. On disaster aid, for instance, they say Republicans have consistently supported it as a concept; the key question is how to pay for it.

"The conservative movement and the Republican Party is not arguing for a government the size of zero. It's arguing for a government that acts responsibly and makes decisions about priorities," said Dan Hazelwood, a Republican strategist whose clients have included President George W. Bush. "The binding of the coalition is generally, we want the trajectory down."

He contrasted that to the position of Democrats, who he said "want to just increase everything."

Other fractures in the opposition to a strong central government have been highlighted by the renewed look at how the U.S. protects itself against security threats abroad.

Obama recently proposed closing the costly Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba and allowing greater oversight and limitations on when and how the U.S. can assert itself militarily overseas.

Those ideas were met with doubts from some prominent Republicans, who suggested the military needs broad latitude to fight terrorism threats. Other conservative Republicans supported making some of those changes.

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Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.

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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP