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Michelle R. Smith
Visitors stand outside the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, July 30, 2009. (AP/Eric J. Shelton)
August 10, 2017, 4:12 am
Losing side wants review in fight over oldest US synagogue
Local community challenges ruling putting Rhode Island building, and $7.4 million decorative silver bells it houses, under control of NY-based congregation
By Michelle R. Smith
The historic Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, 2005 (AP/Joe Giblin)
May 16, 2016, 9:45 pm
Oldest US synagogue to remain in hands of congregants
Judge awards Rhode Island’s Congregation Jeshuat Israel control of Touro, rejecting ownership claims by NY Congregation Shearith Israel
By Michelle R. Smith
The Myers rimonim at the center of the Touro synagogue dispute. (Courtesy: Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
September 19, 2015, 6:58 am
Trial over US’s oldest synagogue, $7.4m Torah bells, draws to close
Judge says there is ‘no smoking gun’ in battle over Touro Synagogue’s ‘rimonim,’ hasn’t specified date for decision
By Michelle R. Smith
In this Thursday, May 28, 2015 photo, employees Chuck Flippo, right, and Asa Montgomery walk through Patriots Park at the Touro Synagogue, the nation's oldest, in Newport, Rhode Island. (AP/Stephan Savoia)
June 1, 2015, 1:24 am
A bitter battle for control of oldest US synagogue
Legal dispute threatens 250-year-old Touro Synagogue in Newport, which has hosted presidents Washington, Eisenhower and Kennedy
By Michelle R. Smith
People cheer as Meb Keflezighi, an American, wins the Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts (Photo credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images North America/AFP)
April 21, 2014, 8:32 pm
Thousands run first Boston Marathon since bombings
‘We’re taking back our race,’ event director Dave McGillivray says as city placed under tight security
By Bob Salsberg and Michelle R. Smith
Brothers Tamerlan, right, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, pictured shortly before April 2013's Boston Marathon blasts (Photo credit: AP/Bob Leonard)
October 24, 2013, 6:27 am
Boston Marathon suspect may pin blame on brother
In effort to avoid death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, defense attorneys seek mitigating evidence from 2011 triple homocide
By Bridget Murphy and Michelle R. Smith
Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev (photo credit: AP/The Lowell Sun, Julia Malakie)
May 9, 2013, 7:01 pm
Boston bomber buried in secret location
A ‘courageous and compassionate’ citizen steps forward to facilitate the burial outside Worcester, police say
By Jay Lindsay and Michelle R. Smith
Katherine Russell, wife of Boston Marathon bomber suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, leaves the law office of DeLuca and Weizenbaum with Amato DeLuca, left, Monday, April 29, in Providence, R.I. (photo credit: AP/Stew Milne)
May 1, 2013, 3:24 am
Boston bombing suspect’s widow wants body released
Once Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s remains are handed over to the family, authorities will reveal cause of death
By Michelle R. Smith
The Touro Synagogue in Newport RI (photo credit: CC-BY, dbking, Flickr)
January 1, 2013, 1:20 am
Jewish congregation pitted against US’s oldest synagogue in battle over ceremonial bells
Rhode Island institutions fall out over ownership of ancient Torah finial bells worth millions
By Michelle R. Smith
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