The openly gay state representative led the fight to legalize same-sex marriage in what may be the most Catholic state in the nation's most Catholic region.

In early May, Rhode Island became the sixth and final New England state to allow gay couples to marry. The Democratic-dominated Legislature, led by an openly gay House speaker, overcame years of successful lobbying by the Catholic Church.

"They put the fear of God into people," Ferri said, claiming that "the influence of the church" had been the primary stumbling block as every other neighboring state, and many people across the country, started embracing gay marriage.

Ferri's victory marked the Catholic Church's most significant political defeat in an area where more than 40 percent of the population is Catholic.

Perhaps more problematic for the church is that state-by-state setbacks on gay marriage illustrate a widening divide between the church hierarchy and its members that may be undermining Catholic influence in American politics.

The disconnect plays out in polling.

In March, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that a majority of Catholics, 60 percent, felt the church was out of touch with the views of Catholics in America today.

A CBS News/New York Times poll in February found that 78 percent of Catholics said they were more likely to follow their own conscience than the church's teachings on difficult moral questions.

That poll highlighted several areas where most Catholics break with church teachings: 62 percent of American Catholics think same-sex marriages should be legal, 74 percent think abortion ought to be available in at least some instances and 61 percent favor the death penalty.

At Vatican, newly selected Pope Francis, while a bishop in Argentina, angered other church leaders by supporting civil unions for gay couples ahead of that country's vote to legalize gay marriage.

He has taken no such position as pope.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a member of one of the most storied Catholic families in American politics, says she's encouraged by Francis' early leadership. But she says the church's political influence will continue to wane unless it adapts.

"Gay marriage is part of a larger refusal on the part of the church to listen to, and to understand, the people in the pews," said Townsend, who regularly attends church and wrote the book, "Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God With Politics and Losing Their Way."

Church officials in Washington, Boston and Providence declined to be interviewed for this report.

The church for decades has employed aggressive lobbying efforts on a range of political issues, and Catholic leaders have used the power of the pulpit and substantial financial resources to maintain clout. At times they've gone so far as to tell leading Catholic lawmakers they were not welcome to receive Communion if they opposed church teachings on matter such as abortion and gay marriage.

These days, the church remains active in political battles over abortion, President Barack Obama's health care law, poverty and immigration. But the church had little success influencing the gay marriage debate here and elsewhere.

In many statehouses, the church relies on lobbying consortiums made up of lay people, known as Catholic conferences, to influence state policy, aided by donations from dioceses across the country.

In Washington, the church's primary voice is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had an annual budget last year of $26.6 million, according to the Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life.

"They've certainly been players at the national level," said Mark Silk, the director of Trinity College's Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life.

He noted that the church has been most successful in recent years by building alliances with other religious lobbies, including evangelicals, to help shape public policy such as the contraception provision in the president's health care law. Religious leaders have successfully pushed to tighten abortion laws in some states.

Thirty states have adopted constitutional provisions limiting marriage to a man and a woman, although that's mostly in the South and West where there are fewer Catholics.

Silk suggested that some Catholic leaders in the United States may be eroding their influence by "jumping up and down" to fight gay marriage despite strong public support.

As American attitudes rapidly shifted in favor of legalized same-sex marriage in recent months, the archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, likened gay marriage to male breastfeeding and denounced Rhode Island's vote as violating "the very design of nature."

In Minnesota, Catholic leaders spent nearly $1 million last year to support a ballot measure banning gay marriage. The year before, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis produced and distributed 400,000 copies of a DVD in which Archbishop John C. Nienstedt called same-sex marriage, at best, "an untested social experiment."

Thousands of Minnesota Catholics returned the DVDs in protest. Last month, the state Legislature voted to legalize gay marriage, making Minnesota the 12th state to do so.

In Providence, the Rev. Bernard Healey led the lobbying effort to counter legalization attempts. The Catholic priest is well-known at the Rhode Island Capitol.

In late April, before the final gay marriage vote, Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin warned Rhode Island lawmakers: "It is only with grave risk to our spiritual well-being and the common good of our society that we dare to redefine what God himself has created."

The Legislature overwhelmingly voted days later to support same-sex marriage.

That led Tobin to condemn "immoral or destructive behavior" and say that Catholics should "examine their consciences very carefully" before deciding whether to attend gay marriage ceremonies, "realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others."

As for Ferri, he said he's at peace with God, regardless of the warnings of the church. A faithful member of his church choir for decades, he recalled sitting alone at the altar while struggling with his homosexuality years ago.

"I got a message from God: 'You're going to be OK. Be who you are,'" he said during a recent interview in his small office in the Statehouse.

Noting that a church lobbyist would be pushing abortion-related legislation later that day, Ferri said the Catholic Church will always have some political influence in Rhode Island.

"They just picked the wrong battle this time. And I think it hurt them," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in Minnesota and AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.

The rocket is designed to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. Meanwhile, NASA plans to leave travel to low-Earth orbit to commercial space companies, which are developingto take over the job vacated by the retired space shuttle.

"We started working onconcepts 10 years ago," said former astronaut David Leestma, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, who now heads the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We want to take NASA well beyond the space station. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and it will be safe, affordable and sustainable." []

The new super-rocket will be able to boost 143 tons (130 metric tons) to orbit using many existing components in its construction. The main liquid-fueled engines are leftovers from the shuttle program, as are the giant solid rocket boosters that will flank the rocket. Only the core, or central structure, will be completely new.

The shuttle program ended with 14 flyable engines, and there are two more that could be ready to go with minimal work, said Jim Paulsen from rocket engine maker Pratt & Whitney/Rocketdyne. "We are in good shape with the [shuttle main] engines," he added.

The solid rocket boosters are being readied by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) in Utah. They need to be adapted for use on the SLS, and the changes are "right on budget and on schedule for a ," said Don Sauvageau, who works at the engine design firm. "Affordability is a big factor, and these will be 30 percent cheaper than they were for the shuttle," he said.

Atop the giant booster will be NASA's . Orion is slated for a test flight with the Atlas V rocket in 2014, during which the heat shield and re-entry systems will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds similar to a lunar return. NASA hopes to have Orion ready for a crewed flight by 2021.

The lifting ability of the SLS will allow the rocket to deliver payloads to a position called L2 (a stable orbit beyond the moon), perform an asteroid mission, or even fly an unmanned sample return from the moons of Mars. It would also allow NASA to send probes directly to planets like Jupiter without the lengthy gravity-assist swings by Venus and Earth as have been undertaken for missions launched by less powerful rockets. Transit times to the giant planet would be cut down to about three years.

The test flight in 2017 is planned to go beyond lunar orbit, with the upper stage of the booster powered by derivatives of Pratt & Whitney/Rocketdyne's J2 engines, which date back to the Apollo program.

In addition to the new components of the SLS, some reverse engineering of legacy hardware, such as the Saturn V's F-1 engines (capable of 1.5 million pounds of thrust), are being conducted. Whether or not such a large power plant will be built for future uses is unclear.

"We are ready to move beyond LEO into more ambitious missions," Leestma said.

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Witnesses todescribed what was initially a chaotic scene and frantic search for people trapped under the rubble.

"It felt like an earthquake," Bernie Ditomo, a truck driver who was parked nearby, . "I said, 'What the hell is going on?' My truck is totaled. I am a little dusty and dirty, but Im alright. I am one of the lucky ones.

The four-story building, which was in the process of being demolished, collapsed onto an adjacent Salvation Army thrift store at 10:41 a.m., fire officials said. One person died and at least 13 people were rescued and transported to local hospitals with minor injuries. One person remained trapped inside.

"There are firemen, police, construction guys digging out, because I believe people are down there," Corey Vey, who was driving and saw the building collapse, told NBC. "It's crazy right now."

Jordan McLaughlinthat he pulled two people from the rubble before the fire department arrived.

, , was walking about a block away when the building collapsed.

"I saw two construction workers in hard hats run along Market, past the thrift store, around the corner and climbing onto the rubble," Carpenter said. "I could also see a few pedestrians heading into the rubble as well. Very quickly two people were placed on a sidewalk and paramedics were treating them."

At first, authorities thought there might have been an explosion.

"One officer kept saying, 'We are concerned there is going to be a second explosion,'" Carpenter said. "About 15 minutes later the police chief, Charles Ramsey, came by, 'It was a collapse, definitely not an explosion.'"

Search and rescue dogs were brought in to search, he said, and firefighters formed a human chain, meticulously moving buckets of debris out of the building in a search for survivors.

"This is a delicate and dangerous operation," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said at a press briefing on the rescue and recovery effort.

"One thing that struck me is how quiet the scene was," Carpenter added. "I never heard screaming. No one seemed shaken or rattled. The site itself was quiet. No ringing alarms. No car alarms. No noise from rubble."

The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday that its index of service-sector growth rose to 53.7 from 53.1 in April. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion. Last month's figure is below the 12-month average of 54.4.

A measure of employment fell to 50.1 from 52, the lowest since last July. Service firms have been the main source of job gains in the past several months. Manufacturers have cut back sharply on hiring this year.

The new orders index rose last month, and a gauge of sales also increased.

Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics, said the slowdown in hiring could mean that "managers are not too confident that the business improvement will last." Still, hiring may rebound if sales and orders remain healthy, Ellis added.

The survey measures growth at businesses that employ about 90 percent of the U.S. workforce, ranging from construction companies and health care firms to retail businesses and restaurants.

Growth in the service industry depends largely on consumers, whose spending drives roughly 70 percent of economic activity. A steady recovery in housing and stronger consumer spending helped push the index higher earlier this year.

But Americans spent less in April as their income failed to grow. That signaled the economy may be slowing this spring.

The survey showed that 13 industries reported growth last month, led by hotels and restaurants, transportation and warehousing, and arts and entertainment. Five said business contracted, including mining, health care and real estate.

Most economists say higher Social Security taxes and steep cuts in government spending are dragging on growth. They forecast the economy will expand at around a 2 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, down from 2.4 percent in the first three months of the year.

Still, in May consumers grew more confident, which suggests spending could rebound later this year. Measures of consumer confidence reached five year highs last month, as Americans grew more optimistic that the job market is healing.

And other trends may offset some of the impact of the taxes this year. Consumers have cut their debts. Rising home values and stock prices have increased household wealth, which typically makes people more likely to spend.

In general, service firms are in better shape than manufacturers. A separate survey by ISM released Monday showed that a measure of factory activity fell to the lowest level in four years in May.

Service companies have accounted for nearly all U.S. job gains in recent months. In April, they added 185,000 jobs, while manufacturers and government agencies cut jobs. Employers overall added 165,000 positions that month.

Bieber, who was named top male artist, also performed at the show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. He also took home Billboard's first Milestone Award, chosen by fans, for musical innovation and ingenuity.

"I'm 19 years old. I think I'm doing a pretty good job, Bieber said. "It should really be about the music. This is not a gimmick. I'm an artist and I should be taken seriously. And all this other bull should not be spoken of."

The teen heartthrob did not elaborate, but in recent months he has been involved in several high-profile incidents ranging from driving offenses to reports of hard partying and drugs being found on his tour bus in Sweden.

Swift won the top award of the night, artist of the year. She thanked her fans by telling them: "You are the longest and best relationship I've ever had."

Pop diva Madonna was named top touring artist for her "MDNA Tour," 2012's highest-grossing concert series.

Madonna strode onstage to accept the accolade from will.i.am, wearing black fishnet stockings, garters and a padlock choker.

The MDNA tour grossed more than $305 million from 88 sold-out shows and attracted an audience of 2.2 million people. Madonna acknowledged her fans, saying: "A showgirl needs her fans. Thank you for supporting me for three decades."

She also thanked her four children for being "incredibly supportive."

The Billboard Music Awards, hosted by "30 Rock" star Tracy Morgan, opened with Bruno Mars performing "Treasure."

Early awards went to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who won top rap song for "Thrift Shop," and Nicki Minaj, who took home the top rap artist honor.

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" was named top digital song, while Swift took home the top Billboard 200 album award for "Red."

French producer and DJ David Guetta was named top electric dance music artist.

Among musical highlights, Bieber performed "Take You," which was chosen by his fans via Twitter, before pairing up with will.i.am for "#ThatPOWER."

Other musical pairings included Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull singing "#LiveItUp," Minaj and Lil Wayne who performed "High School," and Christina Aguilera and Pitbull singing "Feel This Moment."

Selena Gomez, Chris Brown, Icona Pop, South Korea rap sensation Psy and Swift, who was nominated for 11 Billboard awards and received eight, performed as well.

In an apparently unscripted moment, Miguel, performing "Adorn," leapt from the stage and landed feet-first atop two young women. No mention was made on the broadcast as to whether they were injured.

The show ended with the Icon Award for Prince, in recognition of his unique career and accomplishments in the music industry. Prince performed a medley to close the show, but did not deliver an acceptance speech.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Stacey Joyce)

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."

Hibbert scored 24 points as the Pacers beat the Miami Heat 91-77 on Saturday to force a deciding game seven in South Florida on Monday but the 26-year-old responded with a rant in the televised press conference.

Hibbert used the phrase "no homo" to describe his play and also attacked the media, using foul language when asked to discuss his low place in voting for the Defensive Player of the Year.

The league said in a statement that Hibbert had used "inappropriate and vulgar language".

Before the fine, Hibbert had issued an apology on the Pacer's official website.

"I am apologizing for insensitive remarks made during the postgame press conference after our victory over Miami Saturday night," read Hibbert's statement.

"They were disrespectful and offensive and not a reflection of my personal views. I used a slang term that is not appropriate in any setting, private or public, and the language I used definitely has no place in a public forum, especially over live television.

"I apologize to those who I have offended, to our fans and to the Pacers' organization. I sincerely have deep regret over my choice of words last night," he said.

The NBA noted Hibbert's statement but said he still deserved a fine.

"While Roy has issued an apology, which is no doubt sincere, a fine is necessary to reinforce that such offensive comments will not be tolerated by the NBA," said commissioner David Stern.

After the press conference, Hibbert sent a tweet to fellow NBA player Jason Collins, who in April became the first active player in the league to come out as a gay.

"Hey can I get a follow? Would like to discuss somethings with you," read the tweet from Hibbert which was later deleted.

(Reporting By Simon Evans; editing by Julian Linden)

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The festival's top award, the prestigious Palme d'Or, will be handed out to one of 20 films in competition Sunday night in Cannes. Unlike in recent years, there's no obvious frontrunner for the Palme. Spielberg is presiding over the nine-member jury that will choose the winner of one of cinema's highest honors.

Critical polls have ranked Abdellatif Kechiche's lesbian coming-of-age tale "Blue is the Warmest Color" the highest. Prognosticators have also predicted Asghar Farhadi's domestic drama "The Past" will take the Palme. And others believe it will go to the Coen brothers' 1960s folk tale, "Inside Llewyn Davis." (The Coens won the Palme in 1991 for "Barton Fink.")

Other films are in the mix, too, including Paolo Sorrentino's rollicking Roman party "The Great Beauty," James Gray's 1920s Ellis Island melodrama "The Immigrant," and Kore-eda Hirokazu's switched-at-birth drama "Like Father, Like Son."

But it will ultimately come down to what Spielberg and his jury which includes Nicole Kidman and Ang Lee think was the top film at Cannes.

Last year, Michael Haneke's "Amour" was the far-and-away favorite, and went on to win best foreign language film at the Oscars and earn the rare best picture nomination for a non-English film. In 2011, Terrence Malick's cosmic rumination "The Tree of Life" won the Palme d'Or.

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

"90210" star Shenae Grimes - clad in a black wedding gown -- tied the knot with fiance Josh Beech,on Friday.

"I now pronounce us Mr. and Mrs. Beech! Ahhh!" she Tweeted, along with a wedding photo of the newlyweds sharing a kiss.

The 23-year-old actress' unique dress is from Vera Wang's Fall 2012 collection and features a V-neck halter neckline with Chantilly lace applique and multi-layered tulle, according to .

The beautiful bride paired the gown with a largely red floral bouquet, with her hair swept back in a low, loose bun for the big day.

Josh, 26 (a musician/model), also late Friday night to share his happiness over marrying Shenae, Tweeting, "Happiest day of my life love you @shenaegrimes aka mrs beech x x."

The couple got engaged in December 2012, and Shenae shared the news in a blog posted on her website at the time.

"Thanks for all the congratulations everyone, I'm a very happy lady indeed and all the warm wishes are well appreciated!" she wrote, in a post titled "I'm Engaged!" "We plan to keep our special day very private and we hope everyone can respect that. Thanks for the love, right back atcha!"

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