Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County Executive, has unveiled a scathing advertisement featuring a digitally crafted version of Governor Kathy Hochul. The ad presents a satirical take on Hochul ‘s potential future term, targeting issues such as economic viability, crime rates, and unlawful immigration.

Blakeman took to X on Tuesday to share the video, captioned with, “This is what Kathy Hochul’s New York really looks like.” He further promised tax reductions, reinstating cash bail, and working towards a safer, more affordable state.

In the one-minute video, a virtual rendition of Hochul strolls through iconic New York settings, proudly discussing her approach to increasing taxes and policies allegedly lenient on crime.

Within the ad, the AI-generated Hochul claims, “We provided luxury accommodations for illegal migrants in beautiful hotels like this one,” while standing in a computer-generated hotel lobby bustling with immigrants carrying their luggage and waiting in line at the concierge.

The ad continues with the AI Hochul declaring a tax increase of $8 billion for vital programs, such as offering free healthcare to sex workers and awarding lucrative no-bid contracts to well-connected individuals, narrated as she moves through a park dotted with benches where homeless people are seen sleeping.

The ad hit Hochul on increasing energy prices statewide, showing the governor’s digital doppelganger strolling through a hilly expanse dotted with wind turbines

“Thanks to our hard work, we’re leading the nation giving foreign companies energy contracts, which means your energy bills go up, but I get invited to all the best donor dinners now,” the fake gov says, appearing at a computer-rendered formal reception smiling and clinking glasses with a group of older men wearing tuxedoes.

“We’ve raised tolls and fares more than 20 times, because the best way to fix traffic is to ensure regular people can’t afford to drive or take the subway,” Hochul’s AI avatar says while crossing a highway overpass.

“And we ended cash bail so that we would stop punishing people who commit brutal crimes against fellow New Yorkers, like this nice young man,” she says, gesturing to a muscle-bound, tattoo-covered man wearing an intimidating facial expression outside of an AI-generated NYPD 17th Precinct building.

“Want some crack?” he happily offers the governor in what is easily the funniest moment of the spot.

The ad concludes with AI-Hochul walking down a New York City street lined with brownstones — showing her rallying against steps to make the city better,

“This November, don’t let Bruce Blakeman lower your taxes or make New York safe. Keep it unsafe and unaffordable with Kathy Hochul as your governor,” the ad concludes, flashing a mock-up campaign sign reading “Criminals, Cronies, and Illegal Immigrants for Hochul.”

The ad comes on the heels of Hochul paying a visit to Blakeman’s home turf in back-to-back appearances in Nassau and Suffolk counties, where she slammed her rival and fellow Republicans on driving up costs for New Yorkers by backing President Trump’s tariffs and war in Iran.

The latest polling shows Hochul’s lead has narrowed to just 6 points among likely general election voters, with 12% still undecided, according to a new survey conducted by co/efficient for the right-leaning Coalition to Protect Nassau Taxpayers.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and Blakeman is hoping to thwart Hochul’s efforts to win a second full term in office.

Reps for hochul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Imagine if your English teacher married your gym teacher at the neighborhood sports hall. You’d probably expect them to put some effort into making the wedding memorable. Perhaps they’d choose a theme, search for inspiration online, or maybe even design wedding stationery with their initials intertwined.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have followed a similar path, albeit on a much grander scale. When they tied the knot last Friday, it wasn’t just the union of two people in love—it was the blending of two colossal brands.

Instead of a local sports hall, their venue was the iconic Madison Square Garden, accommodating up to 20,000 guests. As the couple vowed their love, they didn’t seal it with a simple kiss but with a distinctive logo.

This logo—a creative design featuring two interconnected Ts adorned with delicately woven hearts—graced their wedding invitations and adorned the luxurious gift boxes distributed at the rehearsal dinner. It was prominently displayed on walls and podiums within the venue and featured on a commemorative handkerchief gifted as a wedding favor.

JoAnn Gregoli, a renowned events planner who has worked with high-profile clients such as George and Amal Clooney, Jon Bon Jovi, and Bill Clinton, noted that her team has been designing logos for celebrity weddings for quite some time.

‘Most weddings want to feel very personal, so often we will come up with a branding logo monogram to make it feel like it’s the couple, and then we use that branding throughout the process,’ she told the Daily Mail.

‘We talk it through and develop it with them as a group. We have a designer who will come in, draw it up, draft it and then we give them a bunch of options.’

Gregoli said her clients don’t just use the logo on the day itself. One had it emblazoned on his private jet after the wedding. Perhaps something for Swift to consider.

According to Gregoli, a wedding logo can be as much of a lifetime commitment as the marriage: ‘If they love the logo that much, and it really represents their brand as a couple, they will take that logo and trademark it and use it throughout their lifetime.’

At time of writing there were no publicly available filings to suggest that Swift and Kelce, both 36, have taken that step. But it is surely only a matter of time. This is, after all, the logo for the uberbrand that is, ‘Tayvis.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Swift’s publicist for comment.

As it stands the singer currently owns more than 150 trademarks, having trademarked everything from the names of her cats – Meredith, Olivia and Benjamin Swift – to the phrase ‘Welcome to New York, it’s been waiting for you.’

So, might the singer and sportsman become best known by their symbol, like Prince and Michael Jordan before them? It seems unlikely. But according to industry experts who spoke to the Daily Mail, there are risks when it comes to brands in which two become one.

In fact, the couple dipped their toe in some stealth branding ahead of the big day – both wearing Ralph Lauren for their engagement photographs, both wearing Christian Dior for their wedding. But, our experts warned, there’s a fine line between cementing brands… and destroying them.

‘Cynical people are assuming this is just a business deal, so you have to be careful that you’re not branding people to death,’ said Bob Dorfman, author of the annual Sports Marketers’ Scouting Report. ‘They have to let their individual careers continue along their paths without making everything T&T together.’

Lisa Delpy Neirotti, director of the sports management program at George Washington University’s school of business, agreed that there was a tightrope to walk between enhancing their individual brands and burning them.

‘She’s very classy, and she doesn’t need any more money,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘This is one of the most important moments of her life. She did everything so high-end and so thoughtfully that I don’t see her trying to license or commercialize it. But I do see it being integrated into her future work.’

Trademarking the T&T logo would, Neirotti noted, at least give them control over it.

‘There are already counterfeiters out there doing it: I’ve seen people trying to sell it on Etsy and things like that,’ she said. At $23.95 for some knock- off T&T drinking glasses, the prices being fetched so far are decidedly underwhelming.

But still, it’s a design worth protecting, Neirotti said: ‘They’re probably going to try to trademark it. I could see it appearing on the cover of an album. Maybe she’s working on something about their marriage or that chapter of her life. I would see it integrated into her work rather than just used to sell T-shirts.’

Certainly, for the couple, the potential for cashing in is almost limitless.

Swift has 273 million followers on Instagram, and Kelce has eight million – almost four times the figure he had when he and Swift began dating.

The billionaire musician is without doubt the higher-profile figure, but it is not a one-way street: her embrace of NFL culture has seen her reach a new audience, with sports fans looking at her in a new, admiring light.

Ishveen Jolly, founder and CEO of sports marketing firm OpenSponsorship, which describes itself as ‘the world’s largest and smartest marketing platform,’ noted that Swift and Kelce were following in the footsteps of David and Victoria Beckham, whose entwined initials featured in their 1999 wedding.

She then launched a jeans brand under the ‘DVB’ logo, while he took the initials for his fragrance line.

Like the Beckhams, Swift and Kelce straddle the worlds of sport and entertainment; like their British counterparts, the Americans look intent on keeping their own separate passions alive.

‘David features in Victoria’s content and she features in his, but it’s quite clear who’s doing what,’ said Jolly. ‘She’s got the fashion line and he supports it; he’s got sports and the teams. It’s quite separate, which I think would make sense for Taylor and Travis too, because Travis is football and he’s a big name in football. I don’t think he suddenly wants to become her number two.’

When Beckham retired, he branched out into sports ownership and now co-owns Inter Miami soccer club.

Kelce has already bought in to a baseball team in his hometown of Cleveland, Neirotti pointed out. The 36-year-old, whose career is in its twilight, could easily segue, like Beckham, into owning a team of his own.

‘I could also see them getting involved more on the investment side, whether it’s a production company or being owners of sports teams,’ said Dorfman, the sports marketing expert – who attended the same Cleveland high school as Kelce.

‘You’re seeing more and more celebrities becoming minority owners, especially when you have that much money to throw around,’ he said. ‘You can be an investor without being actively involved, and just show up at games – it’s a little easier to do when you still have busy careers on the other side.’

Jolly, who counts Serena Williams and her Reddit founder husband Alexis Ohanian among her investors, said there was significant potential for crossover with their careers: Swift could lean into his world, and continue to build on her recent appearances at the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Knicks.

‘I think Serena and Alexis are a really interesting example. Alexis was not in the sports world at all, then married Serena and became obsessed with sports. I wonder whether Taylor and Travis would lean into sports ownership, because it’s such a natural and fun thing to be involved in,’ said Jolly.

‘Taylor obviously has enjoyed being at the football games, so maybe that would be their joint brand. Especially with women’s sports on the rise and her being such a prominent voice in that space.’

And if they have children, the marketing opportunities will only grow, Dorfman pointed out.

‘I don’t know what their plans are for having kids, but if they become a family, that opens up a whole avenue of marketing opportunities: products and services that are family-oriented, whether it’s automotive, fashion, toys, clothes,’ he said. ‘Maybe down the road that’s something they could get into.

‘As long as they stay together, it can be very, very lucrative.’

NEW YORK — The precarious situation of a high-rise under construction in Manhattan was brought under control late Tuesday, allowing some previously evacuated buildings to reopen.

“After extensive monitoring, we’ve observed no further movement in the structure,” stated Ahmed Tigani, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, during a news briefing on Tuesday.

By the time night fell, several of the seven buildings initially evacuated for safety reasons had welcomed back their residents.

The situation began to unfold Tuesday morning when inspectors noticed columns bending at a 1970s-era structure undergoing conversion into luxury apartments. As a precaution, workers on-site and occupants of nearby structures—which include a school, diplomatic offices, and multiple hotels in bustling midtown—were evacuated after firefighters arrived at approximately 8 a.m. Mayor Zohran Mamdani labeled the incident as “an extremely serious situation.”

Upon further inspection, city teams found that the compromised columns showed no new signs of movement, allowing on-site contractors to proceed with urgent repair efforts. By Tuesday evening, workers were visibly reinforcing the damaged sections inside the sleek glass-and-steel skyscraper.

That work is expected to continue, impacting a part of Manhattan near the famed Grand Central train station that is a hub for metro area commuters and residents as well as tourists.

Fears of collapse prompted evacuation orders

The building, which is the former headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is located just down the street from New York City icons like the Chrysler Building and the United Nations headquarters.

Leila Bozorg, one of Mamdani’s deputy mayors, said it was “encouraging” the building did not appear to be shifting as officials went up into and past the damaged floors on their way to the 37th floor – the top floor – of the building.

From the street below, a badly bent structural column could be seen through a large glass window on the 21st floor. The fire department, which also posted images of the column, said they found multiple cracks and sagging floors as well.

Asked earlier in the day if there was concern of a collapse, Fire Chief John Esposito said the way the steel-framed building is constructed, “it would not be a total collapse, it would be more of a localized collapse.”

Nearby buildings and streets remained evacuated for much of the day, including a school and the Israeli consulate just across the street. The former Pfizer building itself was empty at the time, other than for the construction workers.

Ramesh Yallappa, a tourist who was among those evacuated from a nearby hotel, said he initially feared it was a fire in the hotel when an immediate evacuation was ordered Tuesday morning.

“That moment, we were really really scared,” he said.

Developer says new addition led to damage

With more than 1,600 units, the developers say the project is the largest office-to-residential conversion in the city’s history. Gensler, the architectural firm leading the project, says on its website that it is transforming a pair of 1970s-era office buildings by adding more than a dozen stories and redesigning an adjoining tower.

Building department records show the project has been fined by the city for several safety violations, including glass and metal falling off the building, along with an incident where a worker fell off a ladder.

Spokespersons for Gensler and MetroLoft, the project developer, didn’t return messages seeking comment.

But in a statement to The New York Times, MetroLoft stressed that the building itself is not at risk of collapse and that no debris fell from the building.

Nathan Berman, founder of MetroLoft, told The Wall Street Journal that the added weight from widening the top 15 or so floors of the building likely caused the damage. The two columns that buckled may not have been properly reinforced, he told the newspaper.

“Why those particular two columns and nothing else? We don’t know,” Berman told the Journal. “We’re investigating that.”

He maintained the building’s integrity wasn’t compromised.

“Ninety-five percent of the building, the structure is sound and intact,” Berman told the Journal. “There is no way that this corner of a small extension all of a sudden topples this building.”

Experts say more extensive repairs likely needed

Emily Guglielmo, a structural engineer based in California, said the buckled columns are likely not repairable and will need to be removed and replaced.

“A lot of these things – cracking, deflections, sagging – those elements are probably not salvageable,” she said.

Replacing the columns will require rigorous analysis, and the repairs will be expensive, experts said.

The short-term solution is shoring up the structure and the floors, said Abi Aghayere, a professor of structural engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Shoring involves installing four-legged scaffolding to temporarily carry the load that the structure is supposed to carry until the columns can be replaced, Aghayere said.

Yi Bao, associate professor of civil engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, said the building could be damaged beyond the buckled columns, which could have forced the loads to be redistributed to different parts of the building.

Ed Miller, an area resident, said he walks under the building’s scaffolding several times a day, but will find other routes home going forward.

“The building was pretty old,” said Miles Grant, who said he used to work at the building. “It definitely needed a lot of work to become ready for residential.”