What can you report about the impact of Trump's tariffs on the cost of milk or other New York agricultural products?

Well, the, the cost of milk is a, it's a, a, a tricky thing because it's set by commodities markets.

It's set by, uh, there's- there's federal regulation on that as well.

But what, what I can say, uh, the, the state controller put out a report last year that looked at dairy exports, uh, dairy exports, I should say.

Uh, you know, they were down in 2025 versus 2024.

Soybean sales, they were down from, y- you know, f- uh, in the beginning of '25 compared to '24.

So there were serious [clears throat] impacts for, for farmers, and then it's also had a pr- uh, impact on the price of things like fertilizer, which is certainly something that, uh, uh, farmers need and, and eventually that price works its down, way down to the consumer.

Was that a real trend that Blakeman was referring to of farmers giving up on even trying to make a living that way and selling or leasing their land for solar panel installations?

The question is, you know, is something breaking through here? How, how do we figure out where this race stands? What do you see?

Well, I mean, listen, in a, in a modern debate in the modern era of how we all consume content on the internet, whether it's social media, whether it's, um, you know, through news sites, whatever, I mean, your goal is to get some sort of clip that you can share with your followers, that can ricochet across the internet and, and perhaps pick off some, some undecided voters then, or, or some of your opponent's voters to come to your side.

I mean, but, you know, in this race in particular, and in a lot of races across the country, uh, you know, people have already made up their minds, generally speaking.

There was a, a Marist University poll, uh, two weeks ago, uh, that, that found just 5% of voters said that they were undecided in this race, and of those that were supporting Hochul or Blakeman, only 2% said that they'd be open to switching their vote before election day.

So, you know, I don't know that we got any of those, you know, mega viral vote- uh, moments that, that really do ricochet across the internet and, and could have some sort of impact.

Uh, and, and I certainly don't know that, that the debate had any moments that really would lead, uh, many voters to, to change their minds.

I mean, there was a lot of falling back on the same talking points that we've heard a lot throughout the campaign from both of these candidates, Kathy Hochul and Bruce Blakeman.

How do you follow that logic, Jon? What do you think?

Is this the first time she's done that? Yes,

and that is a significant – not necessarily a difference, but that is – she elaborated more from what she said yesterday, which she had put out a video – I'm sorry, two days ago, where she had put out a video saying she's going to have her office look at the different ways that we can – strengthen sexual assault laws but this is the first today is the first time she's explicitly taken a position on that so-called voluntary intoxication loophole bill it has never gotten to her desk i mean the short story is that it's stuck in the state assembly the The Senate has passed that bill several times, at least four times since 2019.

That's when it was first introduced.

And it's never gotten a vote in the assembly where, you know, there are some lawmakers who have concerns.

I mean, the assembly has had a long history of not wanting to expand the penal law.

That is something that has troubled the assembly in the past as kind of a Not necessarily a policy, but it kind of ends up being a policy just because of the bills that they do and do not take up.

So Speaker Hasty, Carl Hasty, is the Speaker of the Assembly.

Is there any indication of that? that the governor or attorney general cited? You know,

And, and more to the point, why does Blakeman want him here, given Trump's low approval ratings right now? There's so much national news coverage about local candidates all over the country trying to run away from Trump.

Yeah, it's, it's fascinating, right? Because Donald Trump is not viewed favorably in New York State as a whole, right? There were, there was a Siena poll and a Quinnipiac poll that came out last week that basically showed one-third of, of New York has a, uh, of New York voters, I should say, have a, uh, a positive view of President Trump, and about two-thirds have a, have a negative view, give, give or take.

And so yeah, i- the, immediately the question is, well, why would Bruce Blakeman then want to appear with Donald Trump at a rally when Bruce Blakeman is fighting for every vote he can get, right? He's a, he's an underdog in the race because he's a Republican in a two-to-one Democratic state.

But, you know, I think you can make the, the argument that Bruce Blakeman needs to pump up his base, right? And it is well-known that he is an ally of, of Donald Trump.

He already has campaigned with him once.

Donald Trump has campaigned with, with Bruce Blakeman already once this cycle.

So I, I think you could make an argument that, that leaning into it to energize his base, particularly in perhaps a portion of, of what many would call upstate New York, that, that may be more favorable to Donald Trump, maybe that can do him, his, his campaign some good.

Do they get along, as the headline puts it?

So do people like Senator Harckham have alternative numbers to argue that meeting these climate goals as aggressively as they are in the law would not push up utility costs or gas prices very much?

Well, it's not so much that.

Uh, you know, there's, there's little doubt that it would push up costs in the short term, but the argument from, from the environmentalists and some Democrats is the long-term benefits far outweigh the, the short-term costs.

I mean, even the, the state's scoping plan, uh, which, which was kind of this plan laying out like a pathway to meet these climate goals, that scoping plan came out in twenty twenty-two, and, and it estimated that, quote, "The cost of inaction exceeds the cost of action by more than a hundred and fifteen billion dollars." And, you know, that report makes the argument that, uh, not reducing greenhouse, uh, gas emissions would, would have significant costs over the long term.

And, you know, to implementing energy efficiency prod- projects and improving air quality, all of these things come with a cost benefit.

And they're pretty angry that the-- eh, the environmentalists are pretty angry that the NYSERDA memo did very little to-- nothing really to try to quantify those benefits.

But I don't think anybody disagrees that there would be short-term costs.

office.And a listener writes, "Maybe I came in late, but why would adding solar and other clean forms of energy increase our energy bills?" Uh, which again comes to the-- brings us back to the fact that there are kind of two, two pieces of this law which, um, which are being debated, right? Both how much, um, the carbon emission reduction goal for twenty thirty can be met, but also whether it can be met by adding more renewable sources.

So do people like Senator Harcum have alternative numbers to argue that meeting these climate goals as aggressively as they are in the law would not push up utility costs or gas prices very much?

Well, it's not so much that.

There's little doubt that it would push up costs in the short term.

But the argument from the environmentalists and some Democrats is the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term costs.

I mean, even the state's scoping plan, which was kind of this plan laying out like a pathway to meet these climate goals, That scoping plan came out in 2022, and it estimated that, quote, the cost of inaction exceeds the cost of action by more than $115 billion.

And, you know, that report makes the argument that not reducing greenhouse gas emissions Emissions would have significant costs over the long term.

And, you know, implementing energy efficiency projects and improving air quality, all of these things come with a cost benefit.

And a listener writes, maybe I came in late, but why would adding solar and other clean forms of energy increase our energy bills? Which again brings us back to the fact that there are kind of two pieces of this law which are being debated, right? Both how much the carbon emission reduction goal for 2030 is, can be met, but also whether it can be met by adding more renewable sources.

Hochul talking about Mamdani, Mamdani talking about Hochul.

Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt that there's been a change in tone on a lot of things.

I mean, as a reporter in Albany for a long time, I mean, how the reporters came to know Zeran Mamdani was when he was first elected and first in Albany in the early 2020s.

He was the firebrand at every left-leaning press conference, rally, anything that was going on in the Capitol.

He was there, and he was very aggressive in his stance on Israel and many other issues that he has moderated on as he's tried to represent the entire city rather than, as Liz said, just a sliver of Queens.

So this is among them two.

He is courting the Democratic establishment's endorsements since the primary.

John, you wanted to add? No.