Montgomery County’s elite gymnast Kayla DiCello won the women’s artistic gymnastics all-around gold medal at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile on Oct. 23. DiCello’s final score of 54.699 beat out Brazilian gymnast Flavia Saraiva (who scored 54.565) and Team USA’s Jordan Chiles (who scored 53.999).
DiCello told Olympics.com, “It feels really good. I’m really happy with how I did today. This is my first gold medal as an all-around champion, so I’m just really happy.”
She is currently taking a gap year from the University of Florida in pursuit of a coveted spot on the U.S. women’s gymnastics team heading to the Paris 2024 Olympics. DiCello was an alternate on Team USA’s gymnastics team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. [Olympics.com]
Maryland judge considers resentencing of D.C. sniper for killing six in MoCo
On Monday, Lee Boyd Malvo, 38, appeared by video in Montgomery County Circuit Court for a hearing to discuss the resentencing for his involvement in the 2002 sniper attacks on the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region.
Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad, who was 41 at the time, killed 10 people and critically wounded three others in the killing spree. He is currently serving four life sentences without parole in a maximum-security prison in southwestern Virginia.
In 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to mandatory life sentences without any possibility of parole. In August 2022, Maryland’s Court of Appeals ruled the Circuit Court must sentence Malvo again to comply with the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling. The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1. [WTOP]
The county’s first historical marker for the lynching of Black man in 1880 goes up in Poolesville
A new historical marker has gone up in Poolesville, recounting the story of the lynching of George W. Peck, a 22-year-old Black man who lived and worked in Beallsville. Peck’s lynching was the first recorded of three other lynchings in the county, according to Montgomery History.
On Sunday an unveiling ceremony was held outside of the Poolesville Presbyterian Church, where angry crowd hanged Peck on a locust tree.
“It’s important to try to remember your history before you erase it all,” said County Executive Marc Elrich told Montgomery Community Media. “And a lot of people don’t know about this, I would venture to say that most people have no idea there actually were lynchings in Montgomery County.”[My MCM]
Today’s weather:
Sunny with a high of 74 degrees
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