The fight for – and against – offshore wind power continues to rage off the coast of Cape Cod and the Islands.

Fueling the fire is President Donald Trump’s grievances toward wind turbines, which are well documented and often include notions about the danger they pose to sea wildlife, particularly whales. But CAI reporter Eve Zuckoff said those claims are unsubstantiated by experts.

“There have been very, very minimal impacts on whales,” Zuckoff said. “The one time that researchers were able to tag fin whales during pile-driving near South Fork, which is New York’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, they found that the whales just kind of moved out of the way, which is totally sensible.”

Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, State Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is facing a chorus of growing concern about his capabilities to do the job he was re-elected to by his fellow state senators. Ruggerio, who has battled cancer three times and is 76 years old, has been in the Rhode Island senate since 1984 and became senate president in 2017.

“I think there was a burgeoning feeling that Ruggerio and his advisors had not been straight with the senators about the level of health challenges he faced. Just this week, he missed the senate session as we’re talking here, because he was ill,” said Ted Nesi, investigative reporter and politics editor at WPRI. “I think it’s really more his health and the question of how long should he be allowed to stay as senate president if he’s not really able to do the job fully.”

And in New Hampshire, Governor Kelly Ayotte is taking a page out of Trump’s book, starting her own version of the national Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, in the Granite State.

“It’s called COGE (Committee on Government Efficiency), as opposed to DOGE,” said Arnie Arnesen, of WNHN’s “The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen.”

“The Republicans control every branch of government in New Hampshire – the House, the Senate, the executive council, the governor’s region,” she said. “I mean, if there’s a problem with how we’re spending our money, they don’t know what’s going on? We need to create another committee to look at what they completely control?”

All that and more on this week’s regional news roundtable!

Guests

Stories discussed in this week’s roundtable: