Mostly Cloudy 75°

Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

[email protected]

FOLLOW ON

Facebook Twitter Linkedin Instagram

Equal parts Lois Lane, J. Jonah Jameson and Vicki Vale, Zak! has traveled from coast-to-coast covering small and big town community news in both in print and online for nearly a decade since his graduation from the award-winning Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in 2010.

Before settling into the Hudson Valley, Zak! previously spent time in the New York Daily News newsroom and worked for hyperlocal digital news outlets on Long Island. He wrote sports for The Ithacan and The Ithaca Journal before taking his talents to the Pacific Northwest, where he served as the sports editor at the Shoshone News-Press until heading back east to work with Daily Voice.

Zak Failla's Contributions

Police & Fire
9-Year-Old Boy Assaulted In Bathroom Stall, Alexandria Man Charged: Fairfax Police 9-Year-Old Boy Assaulted In Bathroom Stall, Alexandria Man Charged: Fairfax Police
9-Year-Old Boy Assaulted In Bathroom Stall, Alexandria Man Charged: Fairfax Police It took officers in Fairfax County less than a day to track down an Alexandria man who allegedly sexually assaulted a 9-year-old boy in a bathroom stall, police say. Charles Vincent Jones II, 43, is being held without bond following an investigation into an incident that played out in Woodlawn earlier this week. According to the Fairfax County Police Department, at around 7:10 p.m. on June 16, officers were called to the 8100 block of Fernlake Court after a boy reported that an unknown man entered his bathroom stall and inappropriately touched him. Jones was identified as a possible suspec…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Jarrettsville Barn Becomes Inferno After Owner Tries Battling Flames With Garden Hose (PHOTOS) Jarrettsville Barn Becomes Inferno After Owner Tries Battling Flames With Garden Hose (PHOTOS)
Jarrettsville Barn Becomes Inferno After Owner Tries Battling Flames With Garden Hose (Photos) A Maryland barn fire went from backyard scare to full-blown inferno after a neighbor spotted flames and called the owner, who raced back to fight it himself with a garden hose, officials said. He needed a bigger hose. The blaze broke out at around 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, in the 1200 block of Baldwin Mill Road in Jarrettsville, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Investigators say the owner had been using a charcoal grill earlier in the evening and believed it had gone out. It had not. The owner and his girlfriend had left the home when a neighbor called to say th…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
News
'Playboy' Hid Fentanyl In Upper Marlboro Home Where His Young Children Slept, Feds Say 'Playboy' Hid Fentanyl In Upper Marlboro Home Where His Young Children Slept, Feds Say
'Playboy' Hid Fentanyl In Upper Marlboro Home Where His Young Children Slept, Feds Say A Maryland fentanyl dealer with a curious nickname who kept drugs in the same home where his young children slept is headed to federal prison, authorities announced. Fredrick Crawford, 33, also known as "Playboy," was sentenced to 66 months behind bars after investigators linked him to a fentanyl trafficking operation that stretched into Washington, DC. But it was what agents found at home that stood out after he sold nearly 10 ounces to undercover officers. When federal investigators searched Crawford's residence in October 2025, they found fentanyl, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, marijua…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
WATCH: Good Samaritan Lends Bike To Cop Chasing Suspected Child Predator Through Rockville WATCH: Good Samaritan Lends Bike To Cop Chasing Suspected Child Predator Through Rockville
Watch: Good Samaritan Lends Bike To Cop Chasing Suspected Child Predator Through Rockville Officers in Maryland got an unexpected assist from a Good Samaritan who offered their own bike to help track down a man soliciting sex. Shortly before 8 p.m. on Monday, June 15, officers from the Montgomery County Department of Police were called to a stretch of Shady Grove Road after reports that an adult was targeting a minor, officials said. Montgomery County Department of Police The suspect took off on foot, leading to a short-lived pursuit that ended with the man in custody. During the chase, a passerby offered one of the officers their bicycle, which was then used in the pursuit. …

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Politics
Voice Of America Employee From Edgewater Who Threatened Marjorie Taylor Green Learns Fate: Feds Voice Of America Employee From Edgewater Who Threatened Marjorie Taylor Green Learns Fate: Feds
Voice Of America Employee From Edgewater Who Threatened Marjorie Taylor Green Learns Fate: Feds A former Voice of America employee from Maryland who made threats toward embattled Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is heading to prison. Edgewater resident Seth Jason, 65, admitted in federal court last year to making repeated anonymous threats to kidnap and kill the Republican congresswoman over the course of more than a year while working for the broadcasting company. Specifically, Jason pleaded guilty to one count of interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure and one count of anonymous telecommunications harassment between October 2023 and January 2025. On Thursday, June 18…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Business
Maryland Moves To Block Preakness Sale, Match $85M Offer To Keep Race Rights In-State Maryland Moves To Block Preakness Sale, Match $85M Offer To Keep Race Rights In-State
Maryland Moves To Block Preakness Sale, Match $85M Offer To Keep Race Rights In-State Just months after Maryland appeared set to lose control of one of its most recognizable sporting brands, Gov. Wes Moore says the state is stepping in with an $85 million move to keep the Preakness Stakes in Maryland's hands. The Moore administration announced Thursday, June 18, that Maryland will exercise its right of first refusal and match Churchill Downs Incorporated's $85 million offer to acquire the intellectual property rights to the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan. The announcement reverses a deal revealed earlier this year that would have transferred ownership of the races' na…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Road Rage Follows Drivers To Stafford Library, Ends With Punches, Arrest, Sheriff Says Road Rage Follows Drivers To Stafford Library, Ends With Punches, Arrest, Sheriff Says
Road Rage Follows Drivers To Stafford Library, Ends With Punches, Arrest, Sheriff Says Libraries are usually where people go to settle down. Deputies say one Virginia man showed up looking to settle a score instead. What started as a road rage dispute on Lyons Boulevard in Stafford ended in a library parking lot fight, deputies say, leading to the arrest of 60-year-old Fredericksburg man Mark Gibson. The incident played out around 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, June 17, at the William J. Howell Library. According to the Stafford County Sheriff's Office, the victims told deputies that a driver brake-checked them on the road before following them into the library parking lot. It's n…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Lifestyle
Lincoln Park Community Center Reopening After Year-Long Renovation In Rockville Lincoln Park Community Center Reopening After Year-Long Renovation In Rockville
Lincoln Park Community Center Reopening After Year-Long Renovation In Rockville A beloved Maryland community hub is getting ready to welcome neighbors back after a year away. The Lincoln Park Community Center in Rockville will officially reopen on Wednesday, July 1, following a major renovation that began in May 2025, city officials announced. Before the doors fully reopen, the Montgomery County center is giving residents a sneak peek. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, June 22, through Tuesday, June 30, visitors can tour the renovated space, renew or purchase memberships, and take part in drop-in open-house activities. Some work is still being completed, officials not…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Traffic
Driver Sought After Man Is Struck By Two Vehicles, Killed On Richnond Highway: Fairfax Police Driver Sought After Man Is Struck By Two Vehicles, Killed On Richnond Highway: Fairfax Police
Driver Sought After Man Is Struck By Two Vehicles, Killed On Richnond Highway: Fairfax Police A man was hit by two vehicles and killed before sunrise Thursday on a busy stretch of Richmond Highway in Northern Virginia, and police are now trying to identify the second driver involved. The crash happened around 3 a.m. on Thursday, June 18, near Fort Hunt Road in the Huntington area, according to Fairfax County Police. Investigators say the adult victim was struck by one vehicle, then hit by a second. He was pronounced dead at the scene. One driver stayed. The other did not. Now, detectives with the department's Crash Reconstruction Unit are working to determine exactly what hap…

SHARE

by Zak Failla
News
54 Pounds From LA, AK-Style Rifle In DC: 'Spot Manager' Sentenced In Marijuana Pipeline Case 54 Pounds From LA, AK-Style Rifle In DC: 'Spot Manager' Sentenced In Marijuana Pipeline Case
54 Pounds From LA, Ak-style Rifle In DC: 'Spot Manager' Sentenced In Marijuana Pipeline Case A convicted felon caught returning to Maryland with more than 54 pounds of marijuana in his luggage after a cross-country trip to Los Angeles has been sentenced in federal court, prosecutors announced. Robert Spriggs, 38, of Washington, DC, was sentenced on Thursday, June 18, to 30 months in prison for his role in a marijuana trafficking conspiracy that moved drugs from California to the Baltimore-Washington region and for illegally possessing multiple firearms. Federal investigators say Spriggs and his associates spent months shuttling between Los Angeles and the DMV, building a marijuana …

SHARE

by Zak Failla
Prev Page 1 of 3795 1 2 3 4 5 Next
1 - 10 of 37,941 articles