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

Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Virginia Teen Wakes Up, Talks To Family After High School Altercation Lands Him In ICU Virginia Teen Wakes Up, Talks To Family After High School Altercation Lands Him In ICU Virginia Teen Wakes Up, Talks To Family After High School Altercation Lands Him In ICU
Virginia Teen Wakes Up, Talks To Family After High School Altercation Lands Him In ICU Irvin Rodriguez Gaitan is awake, but the Virginia high schooler is still facing a long battle after a violent fight, his family says. An altercation at Meadowbrook High School led to Rodriguez Gaitan being hospitalized with serious injuries in the ICU, leaving his loved ones "praying for his recovery."  "This situation has affected our family very badly," Rodriguez Gaitan's brother, Kevin Rodriguez, wrote this week. "We are doing everything we can to stay close to him and support him through this, while also trying to carry the weight of everything this emergency has brought into …

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by Zak Failla
Riverdale, MD
Your Community
One Year Out Of High School, Riverdale Teen Becomes Millionaire With Massive Lottery Win One Year Out Of High School, Riverdale Teen Becomes Millionaire With Massive Lottery Win One Year Out Of High School, Riverdale Teen Becomes Millionaire With Massive Lottery Win
One Year Out Of High School, Riverdale Teen Becomes Millionaire With Massive Lottery Win At 19 years old, one Maryland teen already has made his first million. And then some. Just a year removed from high school, the Riverdale resident was learning the ropes as an electrician's apprentice when an occasional lottery ticket turned into a life-changing $4.2 million Multi-Match jackpot. Before the win, there wasn't much of a lottery routine. "I just buy them sometimes," he said. A few tickets every other week was about it, usually from Town Center Market on Queensbury Road in Riverdale. Then came a clue he couldn't ignore. The teen was browsing the Maryland Lottery website when…

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by Zak Failla
McLean, VA
Obituaries
Vienna Dad Gets Five Kids Ready For School, Never Makes It Home From Construction Job In McLean Vienna Dad Gets Five Kids Ready For School, Never Makes It Home From Construction Job In McLean Vienna Dad Gets Five Kids Ready For School, Never Makes It Home From Construction Job In McLean
Vienna Dad Gets Five Kids Ready For School, Never Makes It Home From Construction Job In McLean It was supposed to be another ordinary workday. A Virginia father helped get his five children ready for school on Wednesday, Sept. 9, hugged his family goodbye, and headed to his construction job. He never came home. Elmer Fabricio Ventura Izaguirre, 41, left his Vienna home that morning for work in McLean, according to a fundraiser launched for his wife, Yesi Flores, and their children. Around lunchtime, Ventura Izaguirre went to his car to eat. When he did not return, his coworkers became concerned and went to check on him. They found that he had died unexpectedly from a heart attack,…

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Fake Online Biz Funded Luxury Homes, Cars In $3.5M Virginia Fraud Scheme: Feds Fake Online Biz Funded Luxury Homes, Cars In $3.5M Virginia Fraud Scheme: Feds Fake Online Biz Funded Luxury Homes, Cars In $3.5M Virginia Fraud Scheme: Feds
Fake Online Biz Funded Luxury Homes, Cars In $3.5M Virginia Fraud Scheme: Feds Alexander Olave was selling the dream of easy money online. Prosecutors say he was the only one getting rich. The 35-year-old Manassas man was sentenced in Virginia to two years and nine months in federal prison after approximately 100 victims poured more than $3.5 million into an e-commerce operation built on promises that weren't true. Olave ran AO Elite, pitching customers a “done-for-you” online business that would build and maintain e-commerce storefronts on their behalf. His purported track record was impressive. Hundreds of stores. $112 million in revenue generated for clients. Gu…

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by Zak Failla
College Park, MD
Breaking News
Sleeping UMD Student Wakes To Man Opening Bedroom Door During Burglary Spree: Police Sleeping UMD Student Wakes To Man Opening Bedroom Door During Burglary Spree: Police Sleeping UMD Student Wakes To Man Opening Bedroom Door During Burglary Spree: Police
Sleeping UMD Student Wakes To Man Opening Bedroom Door During Burglary Spree: Police One University of Maryland student woke up to find her bedroom door opening. It was among a series of encounters in College Park that led campus police to charge two Maryland men following five reported residential burglaries, according to the University of Maryland Police Department. Tyler Alexander Butler, 18, of Frederick, and Amir Christian Short, 19, of Mount Airy, were identified after investigators received a flood of tips from the campus community, police announced on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The investigation began when officers were called to South Campus Commons to investigate three b…

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by Zak Failla
Manassas, VA
Breaking News
Manassas Pulls Plug On Next 'First Friday' After Innocent Teen Killed In Gunfight Manassas Pulls Plug On Next 'First Friday' After Innocent Teen Killed In Gunfight Manassas Pulls Plug On Next 'First Friday' After Innocent Teen Killed In Gunfight
Manassas Pulls Plug On Next 'First Friday' After Innocent Teen Killed In Gunfight First Friday is going dark in Virginia, at least for now. Manassas officials announced that next month's downtown event has been canceled as the city reconsiders the future of a longstanding tradition following the deadly shooting that shattered September's celebration. The October event had been moved to the second Friday of the month, but that gathering is now off the calendar. The decision comes less than two weeks after gunfire erupted during the Sept. 4 First Friday festivities, killing an innocent 16-year-old girl and leaving another man wounded. Police later said three men exchange…

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by Zak Failla
Sterling, VA
Breaking News
Loudoun Sheriff Calls ICE Claims 'False,' Says Deputies Don't Enforce Immigration Law Loudoun Sheriff Calls ICE Claims 'False,' Says Deputies Don't Enforce Immigration Law Loudoun Sheriff Calls ICE Claims 'False,' Says Deputies Don't Enforce Immigration Law
Loudoun Sheriff Calls ICE Claims 'False,' Says Deputies Don't Enforce Immigration Law Loudoun County's sheriff says the record needs to be set straight on ICE. Sheriff Mike Chapman pushed back on what he called "false information" about his agency's interactions with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday, Sept. 15, ahead of a Board of Supervisors discussion on the issue in Leesburg. "LCSO has been consistent about our relationship with ICE," Chapman wrote in a letter to the board. "We do not conduct field enforcement with or on behalf of ICE, and any claim or implication to the contrary is false." The discussion was placed on Tuesday's agenda through a Board Mem…

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by Zak Failla
Waldorf, MD
Breaking News
Sunday Night Drive Ends In Tragedy For 41-Year-Old Charles County Man: Sheriff Sunday Night Drive Ends In Tragedy For 41-Year-Old Charles County Man: Sheriff Sunday Night Drive Ends In Tragedy For 41-Year-Old Charles County Man: Sheriff
Sunday Night Drive Ends In Tragedy For 41-Year-Old Charles County Man: Sheriff A Sunday night drive ended in tragedy for a 41-year-old man in Maryland. Daniel Corbett Wagner, of White Plains, was killed shortly after 8:20 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14 when his vehicle went off Billingsley Road and struck a tree, according to the Charles County Sheriff's Office. Officers were called to the 8400 block of Billingsley Road, where investigators determined Wagner had been traveling west when he left the roadway. Emergency crews responded, but Wagner was pronounced dead at the scene. He was alone in the vehicle. Investigators have not said what caused Wagner to leave the road,…

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by Zak Failla
Annapolis, MD
Breaking News
Curtis Bay Man Mentioned 'Prison' Before Detectives Told Him His Wife Was Dead: Prosecutors Curtis Bay Man Mentioned 'Prison' Before Detectives Told Him His Wife Was Dead: Prosecutors Curtis Bay Man Mentioned 'Prison' Before Detectives Told Him His Wife Was Dead: Prosecutors
Curtis Bay Man Mentioned 'Prison' Before Detectives Told Him His Wife Was Dead: Prosecutors Cedric Callaway had an explanation for why his wife was missing. It didn't hold up for long. The 51-year-old Curtis Bay man was sentenced on Tuesday, Sept. 15 in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to life in prison, with all but 40 years suspended, for murdering his wife, 44-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Bundy, whose body was found covered with tires in a Brooklyn Park alley in May 2025. Callaway pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Aug. 13, the fourth day of his jury trial. The case began shortly after 9 a.m. on May 23, 2025, when police and firefighters were called to Alley 79 and Disney …

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Bookkeeper Of 40+ Years Stole $205K From Virginia Business For Amazon Buys, Feds Say Bookkeeper Of 40+ Years Stole $205K From Virginia Business For Amazon Buys, Feds Say Bookkeeper Of 40+ Years Stole $205K From Virginia Business For Amazon Buys, Feds Say
Bookkeeper Of 40+ Years Stole $205K From Virginia Business For Amazon Buys, Feds Say She kept the books for more than 40 years. Then, according to federal prosecutors, she went shopping. Angela Sue Conley, 60, pleaded guilty in Virginia to wire and mail fraud after admitting to stealing more than $200,000 from the Bristol business where she worked, according to federal court documents. And Conley's shopping list was something special. High heels. Earrings. Pool covers. You name it. In all, prosecutors say she bought 474 items from Amazon while carrying out a five-year scheme that turned her longtime employer's bank account into her own piggy bank. Conley had worked as th…

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by Zak Failla
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