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

Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Baby Dies After Allegedly Being Left In Hot Car While Mom Worked In Virginia: Spotsy Sheriff Baby Dies After Allegedly Being Left In Hot Car While Mom Worked In Virginia: Spotsy Sheriff Baby Dies After Allegedly Being Left In Hot Car While Mom Worked In Virginia: Spotsy Sheriff
Baby Dies After Allegedly Being Left In Hot Car While Mom Worked In Virginia: Spotsy Sheriff A 2-month-old baby is dead after being left inside a hot vehicle while his mother went to work in Virginia, authorities say. Deputies from the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office were called shortly after 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, to the 3700 block of Lafayette Boulevard for reports of a 2-month-old child who was unresponsive inside a car. When first responders arrived, they found the child inside a business with the baby’s mother while Spotsylvania Fire Rescue crews rushed the infant to Mary Washington Hospital. Deputies blocked intersections to help speed the ambulance to the hospital, b…

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by Zak Failla
Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Driver Pulled From I-270 Tractor-Trailer Crash In Montgomery County Dies, Officials Say Driver Pulled From I-270 Tractor-Trailer Crash In Montgomery County Dies, Officials Say Driver Pulled From I-270 Tractor-Trailer Crash In Montgomery County Dies, Officials Say
Driver Pulled From I-270 Tractor-Trailer Crash In Montgomery County Dies, Officials Say A Maryland driver died after becoming trapped inside a mangled vehicle during a violent crash with a tractor trailer on I-270 Friday morning. Rescue crews rushed to the northbound express lanes near Shady Grove Road around 7:30 a.m., where firefighters found the passenger vehicle crushed in the wreckage during the height of rush-hour traffic in Montgomery County. Firefighters worked to cut the driver from the destroyed vehicle as medics launched what officials described as aggressive lifesaving efforts at the scene. The driver was removed in critical condition but later died from his injur…

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Missing Fredericksburg Teen Last Seen Traveling With 39-Year-Old Man May Be Fleeing State: MSP Missing Fredericksburg Teen Last Seen Traveling With 39-Year-Old Man May Be Fleeing State: MSP Missing Fredericksburg Teen Last Seen Traveling With 39-Year-Old Man May Be Fleeing State: MSP
Missing Fredericksburg Teen Last Seen Traveling With 39-Year-Old Man May Be Fleeing State: MSP A missing Virginia teen was last seen traveling with a 39-year-old man who may now be trying to take her out of state, according to an updated alert from Fredericksburg Police. Investigators say 17-year-old Autumn Van Zandt disappeared around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, after she was last seen near Market Square on William Street in downtown Fredericksburg. But in a new update issued Thursday, police revealed Van Zandt was last seen traveling with Ronnie Reel, a man born in November 1986 whose photo was released publicly alongside the missing teen alert. Police warned the pair “may be attem…

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by Zak Failla
Hagerstown, MD
Breaking News
Maryland Prison Death Under Investigation After Inmate Found Unresponsive: State Police Maryland Prison Death Under Investigation After Inmate Found Unresponsive: State Police Maryland Prison Death Under Investigation After Inmate Found Unresponsive: State Police
Maryland Prison Death Under Investigation After Inmate Found Unresponsive: State Police A Maryland inmate was found dead inside his prison cell overnight, and now police suspect his own cellmate may have been involved. Maryland State Police are investigating the death of 32-year-old Colin Wolf, an inmate at Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, after he was found unresponsive inside a shared prison cell late Wednesday night, May 20. According to investigators, correctional staff found Wolf around 11:15 p.m., and he was pronounced dead by emergency responders at the prison. Police say investigators believe Wolf’s cellmate was inside the cell at the time of his death.…

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by Zak Failla
Annapolis, MD
Breaking News
Cheer Academy Owner From Annapolis Accused Of Raping 9-Year-Old Girl In Maryland: State Police Cheer Academy Owner From Annapolis Accused Of Raping 9-Year-Old Girl In Maryland: State Police Cheer Academy Owner From Annapolis Accused Of Raping 9-Year-Old Girl In Maryland: State Police
Cheer Academy Owner From Annapolis Accused Of Raping 9-Year-Old Girl In Maryland: State Police A 52-year-old man who ran a cheer academy in Maryland is being held behind bars after allegedly sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl last summer and over the spring, state police announced on Thursday. Annapolis native Dustin Moss Burket, who ran the Eastern Shore Cheer Academy in Stevensville, is facing rape and other charges following an investigation that was launched in April. According to Maryland State Police investigators, the alleged activities between Burket and the juvenile victim, a 9-year-old girl, occurred last summer and this spring on the property of the cheer academy. The …

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Your Community
15-Year-Old Great Mills HS Student Carrying Pocketknife Threatened To Stab Teacher: Sheriff 15-Year-Old Great Mills HS Student Carrying Pocketknife Threatened To Stab Teacher: Sheriff 15-Year-Old Great Mills HS Student Carrying Pocketknife Threatened To Stab Teacher: Sheriff
15-Year-Old Great Mills HS Student Carrying Pocketknife Threatened To Stab Teacher: Sheriff Things got heated at a Southern Maryland High School on Thursday morning when a student threatened to stab a teacher, officials say. On Thursday, May 21, the School Resource Officer assigned to Great Mills High School was notified by administrators that a student had threatened a teacher, according to the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office. The student did not make good on the verbal threat, but was busted with a pocketknife in his pants pocket during the investigation. The 15-year-old student was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school property and disruption of school ope…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
On Your Side
Georgetown Cupcake Keg-Tossing Fool Arrested After Viral Window-Smashing Rampage: Owners Georgetown Cupcake Keg-Tossing Fool Arrested After Viral Window-Smashing Rampage: Owners Georgetown Cupcake Keg-Tossing Fool Arrested After Viral Window-Smashing Rampage: Owners
Georgetown Cupcake Keg-Tossing Fool Arrested After Viral Window-Smashing Rampage: Owners The keg-tossing fool who shattered Georgetown Cupcake’s front window and terrified employees inside the iconic DC bakery has officially been caught. Sister-owners Katherine Berman and Sophie LaMontagne confirmed on Thursday that an arrest has been made following the now-viral beer keg attack that left glass scattered across the Georgetown storefront and stunned customers across the region. “This week, our community showed up for us in the most extraordinary way,” the sisters wrote in a public update posted days after the incident. “Thank you to Detective Leiva and the DC Metropolitan Po…

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Baby Fox Sale Bust In Virginia Leads To Gun Arrest, More Charges Pending: Sheriff Baby Fox Sale Bust In Virginia Leads To Gun Arrest, More Charges Pending: Sheriff Baby Fox Sale Bust In Virginia Leads To Gun Arrest, More Charges Pending: Sheriff
Baby Fox Sale Bust In Virginia Leads To Gun Arrest, More Charges Pending: Sheriff The "Wolf of Warrenton?"  A Virginia man is facing charges following an extensive investigation into the illegal commercialization of wildlife, according to the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office. Mason Griffith, 22, of Sumerduck, was arrested following a probe into his alleged capture of a fox and subsequent attempt to sell the animal. Griffith was ultimately brought down by the sheriff's office and Virginia Conservation Police. Investigators say that detectives executed a search warrant where Griffith was staying in Northern Virginia. During the execution of that warrant, inves…

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by Zak Failla
Indian Head-Nanjemoy, MD
Breaking News
Fugitive Found Hiding Under Indian Head Home During Wild Crawl Space Search, Sheriff Says Fugitive Found Hiding Under Indian Head Home During Wild Crawl Space Search, Sheriff Says Fugitive Found Hiding Under Indian Head Home During Wild Crawl Space Search, Sheriff Says
Fugitive Found Hiding Under Indian Head Home During Wild Crawl Space Search, Sheriff Says Sean Patrick Heckman lost a wild game of hide-and-seek in Southern Maryland. There is no place to hide behind bars. The 23-year-old fugitive is facing a host of charges after being apprehended following a bizarre search in Indian Head, according to the Charles County Sheriff's Office on Thursday afternoon. His arrest did not come easily. Shortly after 5:45 a.m. on Monday, May 11, officers responded to a home in the 4600 block of Smallwood Church Road to serve multiple outstanding warrants on Heckman. Residents inside the home at the time of the search claimed they did not know Heckman's …

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Obituaries
19-Year-Old Found Hanging From Tree Near DC Police Station; Now His Family Searches For 'Truth' 19-Year-Old Found Hanging From Tree Near DC Police Station; Now His Family Searches For 'Truth' 19-Year-Old Found Hanging From Tree Near DC Police Station; Now His Family Searches For 'Truth'
19-Year-Old Found Hanging From Tree Near DC Police Station; Now His Family Searches For 'Truth' Weeks after 19-year-old Isaac Carlos Aguirre was found hanging from a tree near a DC police station, loved ones are still searching for answers and refusing to let his death fade quietly into another headline. Aguirre was discovered unresponsive on Monday, April 13, near the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District station on Quackenbos Street NW, where officers say he was found hanging from a tree limb. DC Fire and EMS attempted lifesaving measures, but the teenager was pronounced dead at the scene. Police later said investigators found no indication of foul play and were treating…

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by Zak Failla
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