Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

[email protected]

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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
From Work To ICU: Virginia Woman Critically Injured Walking Home In Winter Storm From Work To ICU: Virginia Woman Critically Injured Walking Home In Winter Storm From Work To ICU: Virginia Woman Critically Injured Walking Home In Winter Storm
From Work To ICU: Virginia Woman Critically Injured Walking Home In Winter Storm A winter storm turned a routine trip home into a nightmare for a young Virginia woman who was struck by a vehicle while trying to get home from work amid dangerous conditions. ShiAnn Graves was critically injured during the storm after unsafe roads and sidewalks forced her into harm’s way, leaving her fighting for her life in a Richmond hospital and a community holding its breath. Family members say Graves was walking home from work when she was hit during the severe weather, which left much of the region coated in snow and ice. She was rushed to the hospital and placed in the ICU, where s…

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by Zak Failla
Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Where Is Nancy Strohmeyer? Police Renew 10-Year-Old Germantown Cold Case Where Is Nancy Strohmeyer? Police Renew 10-Year-Old Germantown Cold Case Where Is Nancy Strohmeyer? Police Renew 10-Year-Old Germantown Cold Case
Where Is Nancy Strohmeyer? Police Renew 10-Year-Old Germantown Cold Case Ten years after she vanished without a trace, detectives are again asking the public for help in finding a Maryland woman whose disappearance has never been explained. Nancy Eillen Strohmeyer, who was 66 years old at the time, was reported missing out of Germantown in February 2016 after she stopped communicating with family and could not be found inside her home, according to Montgomery County police. Strohmeyer lived in the 13100 block of Millhaven Place, where investigators say she last spoke with a family member by phone at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. She was never heard …

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by Zak Failla
Centreville, VA
Breaking News
Centreville Snowplow Driver Killed In Violent Route 7 Crash With Pickup In Loudoun County Centreville Snowplow Driver Killed In Violent Route 7 Crash With Pickup In Loudoun County Centreville Snowplow Driver Killed In Violent Route 7 Crash With Pickup In Loudoun County
Centreville Snowplow Driver Killed In Violent Route 7 Crash With Pickup In Loudoun County A snowplow driver was killed Monday afternoon after a violent crash with a pickup truck on a busy Virginia roadway, officials said. The deadly collision happened around 4 p.m. on Feb. 2, along Leesburg Pike (Route 7) at Blue Ridge Mountain Road in Bluemont, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators said the crash involved a commercial motor vehicle equipped with a snowplow and salt spreader and a pickup truck. The driver of the commercial vehicle, Juan Ferman, 38, of Centreville, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities confirmed. A second person inside the pick…

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Virginia Family Left With Nothing After Overnight Fire Destroys Childhood Home Virginia Family Left With Nothing After Overnight Fire Destroys Childhood Home Virginia Family Left With Nothing After Overnight Fire Destroys Childhood Home
Virginia Family Left With Nothing After Overnight Fire Destroys Childhood Home A Virginia family is starting over from scratch after a late-night house fire tore through their home, leaving five people displaced and wiping out nearly everything they owned. The fire broke out just before midnight on Friday, Jan. 30, at a home in the 2500 block of Pipers Gap Road, where crews arrived to find the residence already heavily involved, according to the Galax Fire Department. By the time the flames were knocked down hours later, the damage was complete. The Frost family lost their home in the Virginia fire. Galax Fire Department The house — a childhood home filled wi…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Your Community
Tiny Trunk, Huge News: National Zoo Welcomes First Baby Asian Elephant In 25 Years (VIDEO) Tiny Trunk, Huge News: National Zoo Welcomes First Baby Asian Elephant In 25 Years (VIDEO) Tiny Trunk, Huge News: National Zoo Welcomes First Baby Asian Elephant In 25 Years (VIDEO)
Tiny Trunk, Huge News: National Zoo Welcomes First Baby Asian Elephant In 25 Years (Video) It's a girl!  For the first time in nearly 25 years, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is celebrating the birth of an Asian elephant, after a healthy female calf arrived in the early morning hours on Monday, Feb. 2, officials announced. The calf was born at 1:15 a.m. inside the Elephant Barn to first-time mother Nhi Linh, 12, following a 21-month pregnancy, according to the Zoo. The father is Spike, 44, whose genes — like Nhi Linh’s — are considered critical to strengthening the endangered species’ genetic diversity. “This birth fills us with profo…

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by Zak Failla
Frederick, MD
Breaking News
Ijamsville Home Collapses In Overnight Fire As Flames Rip Through Snow-Covered Neighborhood Ijamsville Home Collapses In Overnight Fire As Flames Rip Through Snow-Covered Neighborhood Ijamsville Home Collapses In Overnight Fire As Flames Rip Through Snow-Covered Neighborhood
Ijamsville Home Collapses In Overnight Fire As Flames Rip Through Snow-Covered Neighborhood A quiet, snow-covered neighborhood in Maryland turned into a wall of fire overnight when a two-story home erupted in flames, partially collapsing as firefighters fought the blaze in freezing conditions. Crews were dispatched around 4 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, to the 3000 block of Desmond Place in Ijamsville, where heavy fire was already showing from both floors of the single-family home, Frederick County Fire & Rescue said. The Frederick County fire. Frederick County Fire and Rescue Photos from the scene show flames ripping through the structure as ladders were raised, hose lines we…

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by Zak Failla
College Park, MD
Your Community
Winter Refuses To Quit: Schools Still Closed, Delayed Again For Tuesday In Maryland Winter Refuses To Quit: Schools Still Closed, Delayed Again For Tuesday In Maryland Winter Refuses To Quit: Schools Still Closed, Delayed Again For Tuesday In Maryland
Winter Refuses To Quit: Schools Still Closed, Delayed Again For Tuesday In Maryland If this winter were a guest, it would’ve already overstayed its welcome. More than a week after the first snowstorm hit the region, schools across Maryland and Virginia are still dealing with closures and delays, with students facing yet another disrupted day on Tuesday, Feb. 3. What started with snow on Sunday, Jan. 25, has turned into a drawn-out battle with ice, frozen back roads, and temperatures that simply refuse to cooperate — keeping buses off the roads and classrooms dark well into February. As of 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 2, districts confirmed that lingering icy conditions and u…

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Weather
Maryland Storm Turns Assateague Beach Into Frozen Cliffs And Crumbling Sand Slabs (PHOTOS) Maryland Storm Turns Assateague Beach Into Frozen Cliffs And Crumbling Sand Slabs (PHOTOS) Maryland Storm Turns Assateague Beach Into Frozen Cliffs And Crumbling Sand Slabs (PHOTOS)
Maryland Storm Turns Assateague Beach Into Frozen Cliffs And Crumbling Sand Slabs (Photos) A powerful coastal storm didn’t just rough up Maryland’s shoreline — it peeled it back. State officials are warning visitors to steer clear of large sections of Assateague State Park after frozen sand cliffs collapsed and broke apart along the beach following the spate of recent winter weather, authorities said. The aftermath of the storms at Assateague State Park. Maryland DNR The damage was most severe near the Youth Group Beach and the F Loop crossover at Assateague State Park, where beach erosion carved steep drop-offs and left massive slabs of frozen sand scattered along the sh…

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by Zak Failla
National Interest
Virginia Au Pair Love Triangle Ends With Guilty Verdict In Double Murder Case Virginia Au Pair Love Triangle Ends With Guilty Verdict In Double Murder Case Virginia Au Pair Love Triangle Ends With Guilty Verdict In Double Murder Case
Virginia Au Pair Love Triangle Ends With Guilty Verdict In Double Murder Case A Virginia jury has delivered a unanimous guilty verdict in a double murder case rooted in a secret relationship and a plot that prosecutors said ended in bloodshed inside a family home. Brendan Banfield was found guilty of multiple charges, including aggravated murder, in connection with the February 2023 killings of his wife and a stranger inside a Fairfax County home following a lengthy trial that drew national attention. Following a three-week trial, the verdict was returned after jurors deliberated for approximately nine hours, according to reports, bringing an end to a trial cent…

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by Zak Failla
Columbia, MD
Breaking News
Teen Convicted Of 'Senseless' Double Fatal Columbia Mall Shooting: Prosecutors Teen Convicted Of 'Senseless' Double Fatal Columbia Mall Shooting: Prosecutors Teen Convicted Of 'Senseless' Double Fatal Columbia Mall Shooting: Prosecutors
Teen Convicted Of 'Senseless' Double Fatal Columbia Mall Shooting: Prosecutors A Maryland teenager has been found guilty in a double homicide that left two teens dead outside the Columbia Mall, nearly a year after the shooting stunned the community. Emmetson Zeah, 19, was convicted following a bench trial in Howard County Circuit Court for the February 2025 shooting deaths of two teens near the mall, prosecutors announced Friday. The gunfire erupted just before 6 p.m. on Feb. 22, 2025, in the parking lot and bus stop area near Lidl along Little Patuxent Parkway, where police found one victim dead at the scene. The second victim was rushed to the University of Marylan…

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by Zak Failla
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