Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

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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

Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Repeat Drug Dealer Caught Selling PCP Near DC Playground Facing Fresh Prison Term: DOJ Repeat Drug Dealer Caught Selling PCP Near DC Playground Facing Fresh Prison Term: DOJ Repeat Drug Dealer Caught Selling PCP Near DC Playground Facing Fresh Prison Term: DOJ
Repeat Drug Dealer Caught Selling PCP Near DC Playground Facing Fresh Prison Term: DOJ A children's playground wasn't enough to keep Jermaine Fairnot away, prosecutors said. Federal jurors found the repeat narcotics offender guilty after prosecutors proved he was dealing PCP while armed with loaded handguns just steps from a Southwest DC recreation center and playground. The verdict came late on Wednesday, Aug. 5, following a four-day federal trial in Washington, DC, where jurors convicted the 46-year-old District man on multiple drug and weapon offenses. According to prosecutors, Metropolitan Police officers were patrolling the King Greenleaf Recreation Center on Oct. 14, 2…

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by Zak Failla
Gainesville, VA
Breaking News
Gainesville Teen Girl Reached For Officer's Gun During Domestic Arrest In Virginia: Police Gainesville Teen Girl Reached For Officer's Gun During Domestic Arrest In Virginia: Police Gainesville Teen Girl Reached For Officer's Gun During Domestic Arrest In Virginia: Police
Gainesville Teen Girl Reached For Officer's Gun During Domestic Arrest In Virginia: Police She was already under arrest when police say things took an even more dangerous turn. A 16-year-old girl is accused of grabbing for an officer's holstered firearm while being taken into custody during a domestic dispute in Virginia early Thursday morning, authorities said. The incident played out around 12:40 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, when Prince William County police responded to a home in the 7800 block of Crescent Park Drive in Gainesville to investigate a reported domestic dispute. Officers determined the teenager had assaulted a family member and placed her under arrest, according to …

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by Zak Failla
Aberdeen, MD
Breaking News
Victim Fired Back Before Dying, Prosecutors Say As Trevor Taylor Is Convicted Of Murder Victim Fired Back Before Dying, Prosecutors Say As Trevor Taylor Is Convicted Of Murder Victim Fired Back Before Dying, Prosecutors Say As Trevor Taylor Is Convicted Of Murder
Victim Fired Back Before Dying, Prosecutors Say As Trevor Taylor Is Convicted Of Murder A storm drain. A bullet-riddled Honda. A victim who fired back before collapsing.  Prosecutors say the evidence led a Harford County jury to convict Trevor Taylor of murder in the 2025 killing of Travis Davis. The case dates back to approximately 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, when Aberdeen police were called to the intersection of Washington and Dorsey streets after 911 callers reported a man lying in the roadway despite the freezing temperatures. Officers found Davis unresponsive with two gunshot wounds to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene despite lifesaving effo…

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by Zak Failla
Edgewood, MD
Breaking News
Two Hospitalized, Bedroom Buried After Ceiling Collapses In Edgewood Townhouse (PHOTOS) Two Hospitalized, Bedroom Buried After Ceiling Collapses In Edgewood Townhouse (PHOTOS) Two Hospitalized, Bedroom Buried After Ceiling Collapses In Edgewood Townhouse (PHOTOS)
Two Hospitalized, Bedroom Buried After Ceiling Collapses In Edgewood Townhouse (Photos) What started as an ordinary day in Maryland ended with a bedroom buried under a mountain of insulation after the ceiling inside a townhouse suddenly gave way. Two people suffered minor injuries in the collapse at a home in the 1600 block of Meadowood Court in Edgewood, according to the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company.  Both were taken to area hospitals — one by Harford County Department of Emergency Services and the other by Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company EMS. Photos from the scene show nearly the entire bedroom floor blanketed in pink insulation, with a large section of the …

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Felon Charged After Officers Find Active Drug Manufacturing Operation In Fredericksburg: Police Felon Charged After Officers Find Active Drug Manufacturing Operation In Fredericksburg: Police Felon Charged After Officers Find Active Drug Manufacturing Operation In Fredericksburg: Police
Felon Charged After Officers Find Active Drug Manufacturing Operation In Fredericksburg: Police He wasn't just hiding drugs. Police say he was making them. A drug investigation ended with detectives in Virginia catching a convicted violent felon they say was actively manufacturing illegal narcotics inside his home. The months-long investigation led Fredericksburg Police detectives to the 1000 block of Myrick Street, where officers executed a search warrant on Wednesday, July 30, with help from the department's Special Equipment and Tactical Team. According to investigators, Ernesto Courtney, 52, of Fredericksburg, was actively manufacturing illegal narcotics when officers entered the…

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Global Ransom Cartel Leader Learns Fate In Alexandria Federal Court Global Ransom Cartel Leader Learns Fate In Alexandria Federal Court Global Ransom Cartel Leader Learns Fate In Alexandria Federal Court
Global Ransom Cartel Leader Learns Fate In Alexandria Federal Court An international ransomware operation that terrorized companies around the world has officially come to an end in Virginia. Maksim Silnikau, 40, a Belarusian national who created and led the notorious "Ransom Cartel" ransomware operation, was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 5, to 16 years in federal prison after prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia secured his conviction in one of the district's latest high-profile cybercrime cases. US District Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. handed down the sentence in Alexandria after Silnikau pleaded guilty to:  Conspiracy to commit offenses again…

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by Zak Failla
Lusby, MD
Breaking News
Lusby Teen Sentenced After Shooting Woman In Back During Robbery Plot Lusby Teen Sentenced After Shooting Woman In Back During Robbery Plot Lusby Teen Sentenced After Shooting Woman In Back During Robbery Plot
Lusby Teen Sentenced After Shooting Woman In Back During Robbery Plot It was supposed to be a robbery. Instead, prosecutors say it became an attempted murder that nearly claimed a young woman's life. A Calvert County judge has sentenced Jasier Isai Aparicio, 16, of Lusby, to life in prison with all but 18 years suspended for shooting a woman in the back during a planned robbery in Southern Maryland. The sentence was handed down this week by Calvert County Circuit Court Judge Mark S. Chandlee, more than a year after the violent attack in the White Sands community of Lusby. According to prosecutors, Aparicio conspired with two other people to rob 24-year-old …

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by Zak Failla
College Park, MD
Breaking News
Teen Hurt In Accidental Apartment Shooting In Glenarden, PGPD Investigating Teen Hurt In Accidental Apartment Shooting In Glenarden, PGPD Investigating Teen Hurt In Accidental Apartment Shooting In Glenarden, PGPD Investigating
Teen Hurt In Accidental Apartment Shooting In Glenarden, Pgpd Investigating What first appeared to be a shooting quickly took a different turn. Maryland investigators say a teenage boy was accidentally shot inside an apartment in Glenarden on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 5, and is expected to survive. Prince George's County Police said the shooting happened inside an apartment in the 3000 block of Roland Kenner Loop, where officers responded after reports of a shooting at the Glenarden Hills Apartments. The preliminary investigation indicates a firearm was accidentally discharged, striking the teen, according to the Prince George's County Police Department. The vict…

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by Zak Failla
Frederick, MD
On Your Side
Second Beaver Attack In 2 Weeks Shuts More Of Cunningham Falls State Park As Rabies Fears Grow Second Beaver Attack In 2 Weeks Shuts More Of Cunningham Falls State Park As Rabies Fears Grow Second Beaver Attack In 2 Weeks Shuts More Of Cunningham Falls State Park As Rabies Fears Grow
Second Beaver Attack In 2 Weeks Shuts More Of Cunningham Falls State Park As Rabies Fears Grow It happened again. Maryland officials have shut down additional areas of Cunningham Falls State Park after a second person in less than two weeks was attacked by a beaver, raising new concerns about a possible rabies outbreak around Hunting Creek Lake. The latest attack happened around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, when a 19-year-old fisherman was bitten on the ankle in the South Beach Day Use Area, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The man drove himself to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown for treatment. Natural Resources Police said they will interview him a…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Justice Finally Catches Up 9 Years After Killing Of Off-Duty DC Metro Sergeant In Maryland Justice Finally Catches Up 9 Years After Killing Of Off-Duty DC Metro Sergeant In Maryland Justice Finally Catches Up 9 Years After Killing Of Off-Duty DC Metro Sergeant In Maryland
Justice Finally Catches Up 9 Years After Killing Of Off-Duty DC Metro Sergeant In Maryland Justice took nearly nine years to catch up with the man who gunned down an off-duty DC Metro Police sergeant as he sat in his car on a Baltimore street. Dion Thompson was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 5, to life in prison plus 33 years after being convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy and related charges in the November 2017 killing of Sgt. Tony Mason Jr., Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates announced. Mason, a husband, father and veteran Metropolitan Police Department sergeant, had just finished a night out with a woman he had been dating for about a month when the ambush unfolde…

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by Zak Failla
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