• EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 31, 1999, killing all 217 people on board.
• Newport, Rhode Island, served as the U.S. incident command center due to its proximity and resources.
• The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the crash was likely caused by the relief pilot’s actions.

On Oct. 31, 1999, a flight from Los Angeles made a scheduled stopover at JFK International Airport, taking off from the runway to continue its journey to Cairo, Egypt, at 1:20 a.m. Just half an hour later, though, and minutes after the plane reached its cruising altitude, the commercial aircraft plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean, 60 miles south of Nantucket, killing all 217 people on board.

EgyptAir Flight 990 was the deadliest aviation disaster in the history of EgyptAir and the second-deadliest aviation disaster involving a Boeing 767. However, though the flight originated in Los Angeles, took off from New York and was headed to Egypt, the remains of six unidentified passengers were interred at Newport’s own Island Cemetery and the official memorial sits at Brenton Point State Park, overlooking the very body of water where those passengers perished. 

The reason behind the location of the memorial is remarkably simple. A short written account from Island Cemetery’s records, obtained by The Newport Daily News through Records Manager Zachary Russell,  indicated that Newport had been used as the U.S. incident command center in the immediate aftermath because it was the closest city large enough to accommodate the investigators and families of the victims. A heartbreaking report from The Standard Times in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on the unlikelihood that the investigation would recover intact remains also indicated Newport was the coordination center for search efforts and the families housed in a Newport hotel. 

A New York Times report published at the time states that wreckage from the crash, as well as the bodies of victims, were brought to Naval Base Newport for investigation and identification, though the 2002 Aircraft Accident Brief from the National Transportation Safety Board makes no mention of the city, instead stating that containers of the wreckage were initially stored in a former Naval air hangar at Quonset Point. 

Still, Newport served at least as the gathering site for those in mourning. An interdenominational memorial service was held at Brenton Point State Park that November, alongside members of the U.S. Coast Guard, Red Cross, Salvation Army, National Transportation Safety Board and several public officials. 

The granite memorial would be erected a year later, rough-hewn on three of its four sides to represent the mourners’ pain, according to an article on the memorial by AP reporter David Rising, also stored in Island Cemetery’s records. The inscription reads, “They are not gone from us,” in French, Arabic and English. 

The incident itself was under investigation for two years by the National Transportation Safety Board, which determined the probable cause of the incident lay in the actions of the relief pilot, First Officer Gameel Al-Batouti, who was left in charge of the cockpit while Captain Ahmed El-Habashi went to the bathroom. It concluded that Al-Batouti, a former Egyptian Air Force major and chief flight instructor, manually disengaged the plane’s autopilot during this time, causing it to begin a nosedive. Though El-Habashi had returned and attempted to recover the plane, the NTSB’s investigation into the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Recorder indicated that Al-Batouti did nothing to help the situation, only calmly repeating a phrase in Arabic that translates to “I rely on God.” When El-Habashi managed to pull the plane’s nose up, the report states that Al-Batouti was putting in opposite inputs to turn the plane’s nose down again.

Though initially deferring responsibility of the investigation to the NTSB, the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority disputed the NTSB report’s conclusion as the result of a “flawed and biased” investigation. It launched a separate investigation in the following weeks, which argued that the probable cause for the incident was not Al-Batouti’s actions, but instead a mechanical failure. 

In a later interview with former NTSB Director of Aviation Safety Bernard Loeb, conducted by the Canadian TV series “Mayday,” Loeb said none of the mechanical failure scenarios presented by the Egyptian investigation matched the flight profile and that the evidence showing the plane had been intentionally flown into the ocean was irrefutable “to anyone who knows anything about investigating airplane accidents.”

On Sunday, there will be a funeral on the State House steps for all the climate bills that died a silent death because of our state Legislature’s grossly undemocratic process. But the funeral isn’t just for the environment: The legislative dysfunction applies to all issues.

This year, 19 of the 20 bills endorsed by Climate Action Rhode Island simply disappeared. No vote was ever taken on them because the leaders of the House and Senate did not want one. That’s how our Legislature works. Nothing comes to a vote without the specific approval of the Senate president or the House speaker.

Rank-and-file legislators — the people we elect to represent our interests — never get to cast a vote on our behalf unless leadership decides the bill should pass. If leadership decides to allow a vote, you can bet the bill will be approved.

Here’s how democracy is subverted in Rhode Island: When a bill is filed, it’s assigned to a committee, which automatically votes to refer it for “further study.” This is true for every bill, regardless of its merits or popularity. The vast majority of bills are never heard from again because “further study” is where bills are sent to “disappear” Rhode Island style.

No bill is allowed to return to committee without the blessing of leadership. Even the committee chairperson cannot call a bill forth from purgatory without leadership approval.

This makes committee hearings into a charade and public testimony meaningless because the committee members have no power to act on a bill unless leadership gives them a green light. This is not democracy. Two people run the whole show. The rest is stagecraft.

So let’s use those environmental bills as a case study.

Of the 20 bills, 17 went to “further study” and disappeared. No debate, no vote, no nothing. Just silence. (In case you’re curious, this included bills that would have funded public transit, purchased clean energy from offshore wind, and required the fossil fuel companies that are causing climate change help clean up the mess they’ve made).

Of the three remaining bills, two passed in one chamber, but were never released from in “further study” in the other, thus bringing the death toll to 19 of 20.

One bill passed — a minor improvement that removes the limits on how many solar panels homeowners can put on their house.

The environmental community’s top-priority bill is particularly instructive.

Half of all carbon emissions in Rhode Island come from buildings. The Building Decarbonization bill would have created a multi-year program to gradually decrease building emissions. It applied only to the state’s largest buildings and would have had no impact on homeowners.

The bill was introduced in both the House and Senate and both were referred to “further study.” The original bill was never voted on in either chamber. Instead, after several months of silence, a substitute bill suddenly appeared that gutted the original bill so severely that it no longer required any reduction in carbon emissions. It was pretty close to useless, but would have allowed leadership to claim they had passed environmental legislation.

The gutted bill moved swiftly through committee and was approved by the full House with no public testimony allowed. But even this gutted bill failed to become law because the Senate leadership never called a vote. I would say it was dead on arrival, except it never arrived at all.

The public should be outraged, as should the many dedicated legislators who have been disempowered by this undemocratic process. Both should demand change. It’s time for legislators to act like leaders instead of vassals.

Are Speaker Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Valarie Lawson despotic leaders or benign dictators? Who knows. But well-intentioned or not, they are dictators. And that isn’t healthy for the state.

Providence-based writer Bill Ibelle is a member of Climate Action Rhode Island and the Rhode Island chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby.

A Bellingham Police sergeant is on paid leave and under internal investigation after being arrested for allegedly getting drunk while strapped with a gun — and crashing into a parked car.

Sgt. Kevin Heenan was arrested Thursday morning by police in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, on charges of operating under the influence and carrying a firearm while intoxicated after police there say he crashed into a parked, unoccupied vehicle.

“A comprehensive internal affairs investigation is underway, and the actions we are investigating will have consequences,” a Bellingham Police Department spokesperson wrote in a statement Thursday afternoon. “We remain fully committed to upholding the public’s trust and applying the law equally, without favor and without exception.”

The department placed Heenan on paid administrative leave pending arraignment on the charges, according to a memo issued by Chief of Police Kenneth Fitzgerald. Being on leave strips him of police powers and access to police property, systems or equipment. The department will reassess his status following that arraignment.

The internal review, Fitzgerald wrote, will be independent of the criminal process in Rhode Island.

“These allegations are deeply concerning and do not reflect the standards or values of this department,” Fitzgerald wrote. “The Bellingham Police Department is committed to transparency, integrity, and professionalism, and takes all allegations of criminal conduct — on or off duty — very seriously. We are fully cooperating with the Woonsocket Police Department and Rhode Island Judicial authorities as this matter progresses.”

Fitzgerald said the department will not make further comments as the investigation is underway. Heenan was promoted to sergeant on April 1 of last year, according to a department Facebook post from that day.