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

Waldorf, MD
Obituaries
'Signing Her Death Certificate': Maryland Mom Mourns Daughter Killed In Triple-Fatal Crash 'Signing Her Death Certificate': Maryland Mom Mourns Daughter Killed In Triple-Fatal Crash 'Signing Her Death Certificate': Maryland Mom Mourns Daughter Killed In Triple-Fatal Crash
'Signing Her Death Certificate': Maryland Mom Mourns Daughter Killed In Triple-Fatal Crash "Signing my baby's birth certificate was the happiest day of my life." "But now signing for that same baby's death certificate is a complete nightmare."  Carletta Maxwell is living every parent's worst nightmare as she mourns the loss of 22-year-old Adriana Maxwell, who leaves behind an infant after being killed in a Maryland crash. Adriana Maxwell GoFundMe The young mother is being remembered for what loved ones described as "infectious laughter and the way she could brighten any room she entered." Now, just days after a crash on Route 301 took her life, those who loved …

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Arlington Predator Who Peed On Laptop To Hide Child Porn Evidence Learns Prison Fate Arlington Predator Who Peed On Laptop To Hide Child Porn Evidence Learns Prison Fate Arlington Predator Who Peed On Laptop To Hide Child Porn Evidence Learns Prison Fate
Arlington Predator Who Peed On Laptop To Hide Child Porn Evidence Learns Prison Fate There are better ways to delete a browser's history. But you can't say that Stephen Chadwick Howell didn't try. The 25-year-old Arlington man is heading to prison for nearly two decades after admitting to coercing minors into sexual activity, then trying to destroy evidence during an hours-long FBI standoff. His plan to destroy the evidence? Urinating on it, according to federal officials. It didn't work. Now he's heading to prison for 18 years and 10 months. Prosecutors say FBI agents executed a search warrant at Howell's home in May 2025, but he did not go down quietly. Howell grabbed…

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by Zak Failla
Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Roof Collapse Forces Firefighters Out Of Massive Maryland House Fire In Gaithersburg Roof Collapse Forces Firefighters Out Of Massive Maryland House Fire In Gaithersburg Roof Collapse Forces Firefighters Out Of Massive Maryland House Fire In Gaithersburg
Roof Collapse Forces Firefighters Out Of Massive Maryland House Fire In Gaithersburg A massive house fire in Maryland forced crews out of a Montgomery County home early Saturday after sections of the roof began collapsing, leaving firefighters no choice but to battle the blaze from outside. Firefighters were dispatched around 4:30 a.m. to the 9200 block of Warfield Road in Gaithersburg, where they arrived to find flames already punching through the roof of the large two-story home. Everyone inside had escaped before crews arrived. Firefighters initially pushed inside in an effort to stop the fire, but deteriorating conditions quickly changed the game. With portions of the…

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Devices Seized In Raid Lead To Fresh Child Porn Charges For Spotsylvania Man, Sheriff Says Devices Seized In Raid Lead To Fresh Child Porn Charges For Spotsylvania Man, Sheriff Says Devices Seized In Raid Lead To Fresh Child Porn Charges For Spotsylvania Man, Sheriff Says
Devices Seized In Raid Lead To Fresh Child Porn Charges For Spotsylvania Man, Sheriff Says The evidence kept coming. Weeks after a Virginia man was arrested in a child exploitation investigation, detectives say a closer look at the electronic devices they seized uncovered enough additional evidence to file five more felony charges. Connor Faitak, 32, was first taken into custody on June 16 after detectives with the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office searched his home as part of a child exploitation investigation. Investigators walked away with multiple electronic devices and, during a separate search the same day, recovered what authorities described as a Schedule I/II narcotic. Fai…

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
ISIS Convict's Final Phone Call Before Deadly ODU Terror Attack Was To Gun Seller, Feds Say ISIS Convict's Final Phone Call Before Deadly ODU Terror Attack Was To Gun Seller, Feds Say ISIS Convict's Final Phone Call Before Deadly ODU Terror Attack Was To Gun Seller, Feds Say
ISIS Convict's Final Phone Call Before Deadly ODU Terror Attack Was To Gun Seller, Feds Say Minutes before Mohamed Bailor Jalloh walked into an Army ROTC classroom at Old Dominion University and carried out a deadly terrorist attack, prosecutors say he made one last phone call. It wasn't to a family member. It was to the Virginia man who had sold him the gun. Newly filed federal court records reveal Kenya Mechell Chapman, 32, of Smithfield, sold the Glock pistol to Jalloh the night before the March 12 shooting in Norfolk, then spoke with him again just minutes before the attack that killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah and wounded two other Army personnel. The revelations surfaced o…

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Driver Charged Months After 62-Year-Old Woman Was Killed In Alexandria Crosswalk: Police Driver Charged Months After 62-Year-Old Woman Was Killed In Alexandria Crosswalk: Police Driver Charged Months After 62-Year-Old Woman Was Killed In Alexandria Crosswalk: Police
Driver Charged Months After 62-Year-Old Woman Was Killed In Alexandria Crosswalk: Police It took nearly three months, but a Virginia grand jury has now decided the crash was criminal. A Lorton man has been indicted in connection with a fatal pedestrian crash that claimed the life of a 62-year-old woman in Alexandria earlier this year. Tekaligne Shirko, 46, surrendered Friday, July 17, after an Alexandria grand jury returned an indictment charging him with involuntary manslaughter and failure to yield to a pedestrian causing death, according to Alexandria Police. The charges stem from a collision shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 20, at the intersection of North Saint A…

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by Zak Failla
Fairfax, VA
Breaking News
Virginia Drivers Hit Double Trouble As Crashes Snarl Beltway In Fairfax Virginia Drivers Hit Double Trouble As Crashes Snarl Beltway In Fairfax Virginia Drivers Hit Double Trouble As Crashes Snarl Beltway In Fairfax
Virginia Drivers Hit Double Trouble As Crashes Snarl Beltway In Fairfax Just when one backup wasn't enough, another crash made the afternoon commute even worse. Virginia drivers heading through Fairfax County on Friday, July 17, found themselves crawling along the Capital Beltway after two separate crashes on Interstate 495 South closed multiple lanes and stacked traffic for miles. The biggest backup developed near mile marker 49.1, where a crash involving a tractor-trailer shut down the left and left-center lanes. As of 4:53 p.m., traffic was backed up for approximately three miles, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation, which urged motorists…

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by Zak Failla
College Park, MD
Breaking News
$60K Reward Back In Play As FBI, Maryland State Police Hunt Unsolved Road Rage Killers $60K Reward Back In Play As FBI, Maryland State Police Hunt Unsolved Road Rage Killers $60K Reward Back In Play As FBI, Maryland State Police Hunt Unsolved Road Rage Killers
$60K Reward Back In Play As FBI, Maryland State Police Hunt Unsolved Road Rage Killers Four years later, someone still knows who pulled the trigger. Maryland State Police and the FBI are renewing their plea for information in two unsolved road rage killings that left a father of six and another driver dead in separate 2022 shootings, reminding the public that $60,000 in reward money is still available. The renewed push came on Friday, July 17, when the FBI Baltimore Field Office spotlighted the unsolved killings of Delonte Hicks in Prince George's County and Charles Harrison Marks IV in Howard County, both of whom were fatally shot while behind the wheel. Hicks, 29, of Washi…

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by Zak Failla
Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Maryland Trash Truck Erupts In Flames At Busy Gaithersburg Intersection (PHOTOS) Maryland Trash Truck Erupts In Flames At Busy Gaithersburg Intersection (PHOTOS) Maryland Trash Truck Erupts In Flames At Busy Gaithersburg Intersection (PHOTOS)
Maryland Trash Truck Erupts In Flames At Busy Gaithersburg Intersection (Photos) It went from garbage pickup to a five-alarm-looking mess in a hurry. A Maryland trash truck erupted in flames Friday afternoon, sending thick black smoke billowing over a busy Gaithersburg intersection before firefighters brought the blaze under control. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews were dispatched shortly after 2:15 p.m. Friday, July 17, to Snouffer School Road and Sweet Autumn Drive after reports of a large vehicle fire. When firefighters arrived, they found an empty Leach trash truck with its engine compartment engulfed in flames. The driver had already made it out s…

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by Zak Failla
Silver Spring, MD
Breaking News
Silver Spring Man 'Young Wiggi' Used Stolen Identities To Hide Cocaine Operation, Police Say Silver Spring Man 'Young Wiggi' Used Stolen Identities To Hide Cocaine Operation, Police Say Silver Spring Man 'Young Wiggi' Used Stolen Identities To Hide Cocaine Operation, Police Say
Silver Spring Man 'Young Wiggi' Used Stolen Identities To Hide Cocaine Operation, Police Say The drugs weren't the only thing police say he was hiding. A Maryland man accused of trafficking kilos of cocaine was also using stolen identities to conceal his operation, according to investigators, who say the scheme unraveled during a sweeping multi-agency investigation in Montgomery County. Wildy Cherubin, 38, of Silver Spring, who also goes by the nickname "Young Weegi," was arrested Wednesday, July 8, following an investigation by the Montgomery County Police Department's Special Investigations Division and the DEA. Detectives say Cherubin wasn't just distributing significant quanti…

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by Zak Failla
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