NEW YORK (Reuters) – Christine Quinn, New York’s highest-ranking openly gay official and the leading candidate to be the city’s next mayor, married her longtime girlfriend on Saturday, walking down the aisle to Beyonce’s “Ave Maria.”

The wedding came less than a year after New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, whose first same-sex nuptials were held July 24.

Quinn, the speaker of the New York City Council and a vocal advocate of same-sex marriage, wore a full-length, cream-colored gown designed by Carolina Herrera and a hair comb fashioned with family heirlooms.

Quinn’s wife, New York lawyer Kim Catullo, wore a cream silk evening suit designed by Ralph Lauren. Catullo, who like Quinn is 45, walked in to Bruce Springsteen’s “If I Should Fall Behind.”

Cuomo, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly were among the 275 guests.

Before the reception, several politicians expressed hopes that same-sex marriage will be legalized across the country.

“It’s not a question of if but when – everywhere,” U.S. Senator from New York Charles Schumer said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shooting from the hip may have got Jamie Dimon into deep trouble — shooting straight may help to get him out of it.

The JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CEO made the crisis over the bank’s trading loss of at least $2 billion far worse because he had assured financial markets back in April that news reports about massive bets the bank’s Chief Investment Office had taken were “a tempest in a teapot”.

It meant that when the bank disclosed the big and probably growing loss on May 10, it not only had to admit a sizable problem, but also that it had been misleading investors.

The context of the “tempest” comment changed the whole dynamic of the bank’s response, according to a source familiar with the bank’s thinking. It was one of the main reasons that Dimon was so blunt in admitting just about everything was wrong with the situation — he said the hedging strategy was “flawed,” there was “sloppiness” and that “egregious mistakes” had been made.

The approach gets high marks from crisis communications experts, who said Dimon did the best he could with a bad hand, albeit a hand that he was involved in dealing himself.

His problems may not yet be over. He has agreed to testify before Congress and the bank faces probes by regulators and shareholder lawsuits. But at least getting out in front of the news has made it more difficult for his critics to paint him as a banker-villain.

“One of the tried and true rules of this kind of communication is, if it’s not going to end well, try and end it on your own terms,” said Michael Robinson, of Levick Strategic Communications and a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission public affairs and policy chief.

NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) – Shooting from the hip may have got Jamie Dimon into deep trouble — shooting straight may help to get him out of it.

The JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) CEO made the crisis over the bank’s trading loss of at least $2 billion far worse because he had assured financial markets back in April that news reports about massive bets the bank’s Chief Investment Office had taken were “a tempest in a teapot”.

It meant that when the bank disclosed the big and probably growing loss on May 10, it not only had to admit a sizable problem, but also that it had been misleading investors.

The context of the “tempest” comment changed the whole dynamic of the bank’s response, according to a source familiar with the bank’s thinking. It was one of the main reasons that Dimon was so blunt in admitting just about everything was wrong with the situation — he said the hedging strategy was “flawed,” there was “sloppiness” and that “egregious mistakes” had been made.

The approach gets high marks from crisis communications experts, who said Dimon did the best he could with a bad hand, albeit a hand that he was involved in dealing himself.

His problems may not yet be over. He has agreed to testify before Congress and the bank faces probes by reglators and shareholder lawsuits. But at least getting out in front of the news has made it more difficult for his critics to paint him as a banker-villain.

“One of the tried and true rules of this kind of communication is, if it’s not going to end well, try and end it on your own terms,” said Michael Robinson, of Levick Strategic Communications and a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission public affairs and policy chief.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York police conducted more than 200,000 frisk searches in the first three months of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, even as critics say the practice often is racial profiling.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have long defended the program as one that saves lives and has helped bring violent crime down to historic lows, making New York one of the safest big cities in America.

But the New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups say that black and Latino New Yorkers are stopped with alarming frequency, even though in the great majority of cases they are found to have done nothing wrong.

Last week, the organization released a study that found that in 2011, police performed more stop and frisk searches of young black men than the total number of young black men living in New York.

So far this year, almost all of the stops have involved men, while blacks made up more than half of the stops and a third involved Latinos. About one in ten of those stopped were white and 3 percent of the stops were Asian.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said the demographic breakdown corresponded to crime data. The department provided the data to the New York City Council on Friday and to reporters on Saturday.

Nine in ten stops resulted in no further police action. An arrest was made in five percent of the stops, and a summons was issued in another five percent of cases, down slightly from 2011, police said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The teenage daughter of an Indian diplomat who says she was wrongfully arrested for sending threatening emails to two of her New York City teachers has sued the city for $1.5 million, claiming civil rights violations.

Krittika Biswas, the daughter of the vice-consul in the Consulate General of India in New York, was arrested and imprisoned for a night last year after gym and calculus teachers at her Queens high school accused her of sending lewd and violent emails.

The next day, Biswas was suspended from John Bowne High School and compelled to attend classes at “an alternate location without an applicable enriched academic program, and more akin to ‘reform school,’” according to the lawsuit.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown dropped all charges against Biswas, who was 18 years old at the time, and ordered the records from the case sealed. A spokeswoman for Brown declined to comment because the case is sealed.

Biswas has denied sending the messages and her lawyer described the case as one of “mistaken identity.”

A representative at the Queens high school declined to comment, and one of the teachers involved in the incident, Jamie Kim-Ross, could not immediately be reached.

Biswas claimed diplomatic immunity. Ultimately, she returned to India, where she holds citizenship, and has continued her studies there.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The film and TV industry has spent $60 billion in New York City over the last decade, and production of feature films and popular shows is at an “all-time high,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.

While financial incentives to lure film and TV production have been controversial in other cities and states, especially in an era of budget gaps and fiscal austerity, New York has worked to retain its leading role.

A 2010 study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded that generous tax credits were not a good value since the best jobs went to people from outside the state.

But film and television production in New York City employs 130,000 people, including the support sectors of construction and food service, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, conducted at the city’s request free of charge.

“This report confirms what I’ve been seeing on sets and sound stages around the city – the film and television industry in New York City has never been bigger,” the mayor said in a statement.

In 2011, the industry generated $7.1 billion in direct spending, the study found.

Bloomberg has long argued New York City’s reputation as a cultural hub brings jobs and bolsters its international reputation, generating more tourism.

NEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters) – The film and TV industry has spent $60 billion in New York City over the last decade, and production of feature films and popular shows is at an “all-time high,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.

While financial incentives to lure film and TV production have been controversial in other cities and states, especially in an era of budget gaps and fiscal austerity, New York has worked to retain its leading role.

A 2010 study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded that generous tax credits were not a good value since the best jobs went to people from outside the state.

But film and television production in New York City employs 130,000 people, including the support sectors of construction and food service, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, conducted at the city’s request free of charge.

“This report confirms what I’ve been seeing on sets and sound stages around the city – the film and television industry in New York City has never been bigger,” the mayor said in a statement.

In 2011, the industry generated $7.1 billion in direct spending, the study found.

Bloomberg has long argued New York City’s reputation as a cultural hub brings jobs and bolsters its international reputation, generating more tourism.

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) – Occupy Wall Street sought to breathe fresh life into the movement that sparked a wave of nationwide protests against economic injustice eight months ago with May Day events across the United States on Tuesday and a call for a general strike that went unheeded.

By mid-morning May 1, about 500 activists had gathered at Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan for a “pop-up encampment” emblematic of the movement’s early days in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park near the Wall Street financial district.

On the Williamsburg Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, about 350 demonstrators marched on the pedestrian crossing with signs reading “Capitalism Kills Fun” and “Strike!” Several dozen police accompanied them on foot and on scooters.

In San Francisco, the May Day protests began early on Monday night, when a group of demonstrators walking through the city’s Mission District smashed windows and splashed paint on buildings and vehicles near a police sub-station, said police spokesman Sergeant Daryl Fong. Officers arrested one of the protesters.

Occupy Chicago protesters, shadowed by police, gathered outside Bank of America branches, raising a large “Chicago Spring” banner and chanting “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out.”

Police blocked a State Street bank entrance, and banks in Chicago’s banking center on LaSalle Street prepared for protesters by posting extra guards and closing some entrances.

Other plans for May Day included a march with organized labor starting from New York City’s Union Square in the afternoon. In Washington, there were plans to march to the White House.

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) – Occupy Wall Street’s call for a general strike to mark International Workers Day got off to a slow start on Tuesday, with sparse gatherings at a handful of spots around a rainy New York City.

At Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, about 100 activists gathered where the group had promised a “pop-up encampment” emblematic of the movement’s early days in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park near the Wall Street financial district.

The crowd soon dispersed to other locations to demonstrate, including directly across the street from Bryant Park at the Bank of America tower. About two dozen activists picketed in front of the building’s main entrance. One person was arrested in the middle of 6th Avenue in front of the building.

The group said it expected greater participation in events planned for later in the day as it tries to breathe fresh life into the movement that sparked a wave of nationwide protests against economic injustice eight months ago.

Other actions included a march with organized labor starting from New York City’s Union Square in the afternoon and a promise to “occupy” San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. In Washington, D.C., there were plans to march to the White House.

A text message alert broadcast late Monday from an Occupy Wall Street address said: “All civilians stand by for GENERAL STRIKE at 08:00. No Work, School, or Shopping. All out in the streets!”

In California, Occupy Oakland has called for protesters to “occupy” the Golden Gate Bridge in a show of solidarity with bridge workers engaged in a contract dispute over wages and benefits.

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) – Occupy Wall Street will join labor groups for a day of protests on Tuesday to mark International Workers Day and to try to breathe fresh life into the movement that sparked a wave of nationwide protests against economic injustice eight months ago.

Scheduled actions ranged from a “pop-up encampment” in a New York City park to a promise to “occupy” San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

A text message alert broadcast late Monday from an Occupy Wall Street address said: “All civilians stand by for GENERAL STRIKE at 08:00. No Work, School, or Shopping. All out in the streets!”

Activities were set to kick off early in New York at Bryant Park in midtown, where protesters plan to set up an encampment emblematic of the movement’s early days in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park near the Wall Street financial district.

But, as a light morning rain fell on the city, the park was largely empty, populated by a handful of police officers and half a dozen maintenance workers in yellow rain slickers who were emptying trash cans. About a dozen people milled about at a pair of coffee kiosks at the corner of 42nd Street and 6th Avenue, just outside the park.

Across the street, the new Bank of America tower was encircled by steel crowd control barricades and police were stationed at each the building’s entrances. The building is one of six bank locations protesters planned to target Tuesday.

Later, activists planned to join organized labor for a march starting at Union Square. Some in New York have vowed to disrupt commuter traffic, but Occupy said it would not take part.