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

Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
Student Reports Gun At Maryland Elementary School, Sparking Lockdown, Massive Response: Sheriff Student Reports Gun At Maryland Elementary School, Sparking Lockdown, Massive Response: Sheriff
Student Reports Gun At Maryland Elementary School, Sparking Lockdown, Massive Response: Sheriff A report of a gun can change the mood of a school in seconds. That happened Friday morning, Sept. 4, when a student's report of someone apparently carrying a firearm sent a Maryland elementary school into lockdown and brought three law enforcement agencies rushing to the campus. The scare began around 10:30 a.m. at Pinehurst Elementary School in Salisbury, where the student told officials they had seen someone with what appeared to be a gun, according to the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office. Classroom doors were secured. Students and staff were told to stay quiet and in place. Outside, de…

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by Zak Failla
Laurel, MD
Breaking News
Laurel Truck Driver Dies After Freightliner Slams Into Wooden Poles, Trees: Police Laurel Truck Driver Dies After Freightliner Slams Into Wooden Poles, Trees: Police
Laurel Truck Driver Dies After Freightliner Slams Into Wooden Poles, Trees: Police A Maryland truck driver's afternoon route ended in a deadly crash. At approximately 3:05 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3, Anne Arundel County Police officers were called to Swamp Circle Road near Muddy Creek Road in West River, where a commercial truck had crashed. Investigators say 34-year-old Laurel resident Keith Whitley Haines was driving a 1999 Freightliner FL70 north on Swamp Circle Road when he failed to negotiate a curve. The truck went completely off the right side of the road and struck several wooden poles, police said. It didn't stop there. The Freightliner then traveled back acros…

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by Zak Failla
Annapolis, MD
Breaking News
Labor Day Weekend Starts With A Bang As 70 MPH Winds, Tornadoes Threaten DC, Maryland, Virginia Labor Day Weekend Starts With A Bang As 70 MPH Winds, Tornadoes Threaten DC, Maryland, Virginia
Labor Day Weekend Starts With A Bang As 70 MPH Winds, Tornadoes Threaten DC, Maryland, Virginia Labor Day weekend may start with a bang across Maryland and Virginia. A round of potentially severe thunderstorms is bearing down on the DMV on Friday, Sept. 4, bringing the threat of damaging winds, hail, flash flooding and even a couple of possible tornadoes before conditions begin to improve for the holiday weekend. The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for much of the region through 9 p.m. on Friday, including parts of Maryland, Virginia and DC. National Weather Service Damaging winds are expected to be the biggest concern as storms drop southeast out of wes…

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by Zak Failla
Manassas, VA
Breaking News
Manassas Cable Technician Sexually Assaulted 63-Year-Old Inside Gainesville Home, Police Say Manassas Cable Technician Sexually Assaulted 63-Year-Old Inside Gainesville Home, Police Say
Manassas Cable Technician Sexually Assaulted 63-Year-Old Inside Gainesville Home, Police Say A 63-year-old woman was waiting for a scheduled cable installation. Instead, she was sexually assaulted by the technician in Virginia, police say. Luis Enrique Falconi Revilla, 65, is behind bars following an investigation into an alleged sexual assault in Gainesville earlier this year, according to the Prince William County Police Department. Revilla, a Manassas resident, was taken into custody on Tuesday following the probe into a sexual assault that was reported to have occurred in a home in the 7300 block of Yountville Drive. Police say the woman was inside her home for a scheduled cab…

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
Investigators Followed A Foul Smell Into Maryland Woods And Found Something Worse, AG Says Investigators Followed A Foul Smell Into Maryland Woods And Found Something Worse, AG Says
Investigators Followed A Foul Smell Into Maryland Woods And Found Something Worse, AG Says Something smelled off in the Maryland woods, and investigators say they soon found out why. A septic company employee is facing criminal charges after allegedly dumping sewage from a company truck onto a wooded property near a residential area in Wicomico County, Attorney General Anthony Brown announced on Friday, Sept. 4. Terry Adrian Handy Jr., of Eden, was charged last month with two counts each of illegal discharge of a pollutant and unlawful disposal of sewage. The case began in October, when the Wicomico County Health Department was called to a property near Price & Son Septic Se…

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by Zak Failla
Bowie, MD
Your Community
Bowie DoorDash Driver Had One Delivery Left Before His Night Took A Devastating Turn Bowie DoorDash Driver Had One Delivery Left Before His Night Took A Devastating Turn
Bowie DoorDash Driver Had One Delivery Left Before His Night Took A Devastating Turn One last delivery was supposed to end a night of work for a Maryland DoorDash driver. Instead, William Koroma says it ended with his car totaled in a serious crash on Church Road in Bowie, leaving him without the vehicle he depended on to make a living. Koroma said he was on his way to make his final delivery of the night when his brakes failed, and he crashed. Photos shared after the wreck show the devastating aftermath, with the front of Koroma's vehicle crushed and mangled. Still, he walked away. Koroma said he was grateful to have survived and that nobody else was seriously injured i…

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by Zak Failla
Stafford, VA
Obituaries
Army Vet 'Red Beard' Dies In Crash Before November Wedding: 'Damn Good Man, Good Soldier' Army Vet 'Red Beard' Dies In Crash Before November Wedding: 'Damn Good Man, Good Soldier'
Army Vet 'Red Beard' Dies In Crash Before November Wedding: 'Damn Good Man, Good Soldier' A new chapter was just beginning for Derek Volkmer and his family in Maryland. The Glen Burnie Army veteran was preparing to marry his fiancée, Jen, in November, while building a life with two young children, Jae and Jax, who friends say adored the man they called Dad. Instead, the family is mourning “Red Beard.” Volkmer, 40, was killed on Thursday, Sept. 3, while working as a tractor-trailer driver in Virginia, according to friends and Virginia State Police. The fatal crash happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. on I-95 in Stafford County, where a tractor-trailer ran off the roadway, struck …

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by Zak Failla
Middle River, MD
Breaking News
She Gave Baltimore County Officers Her Knife, Then Officers Say She Reached For Another Weapon She Gave Baltimore County Officers Her Knife, Then Officers Say She Reached For Another Weapon
She Gave Baltimore County Officers Her Knife, Then Officers Say She Reached For Another Weapon She gave up one weapon. Police say she then reached for another. A woman remains in critical condition on Friday, Sept. 4, a day after a Baltimore County Police officer shot her during an early-morning encounter in Maryland. The shooting was reported around 6 a.m. on Thursday in the 1000 block of Carroll Island Road in Middle River, where officers had been sent to find an armed woman wanted in connection with an assault. Police found her sitting inside a vehicle parked near the end of the road. What happened next is now under investigation by the Maryland Attorney General's Independent In…

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by Zak Failla
Bowie, MD
Your Community
Thief Steals Bowie Landscaper's Livelihood As Community Steps Up To Help Him Bounce Back Thief Steals Bowie Landscaper's Livelihood As Community Steps Up To Help Him Bounce Back
Thief Steals Bowie Landscaper's Livelihood As Community Steps Up To Help Him Bounce Back A thief picked the wrong landscaper to mess with in Maryland. Doug Halloran makes his living keeping lawns around the Bowie community in shape through his aptly named Lawbusters Lawn Service, but now he's the one looking for an assist after his mower was stolen. The theft left Halloran without a piece of equipment he depends on for work and prompted a friend to launch a fundraiser to help replace it. Halloran is a familiar face beyond the lawns he maintains. He's also a member of the Bowie Lions Club and has earned a reputation for giving his time back to the community, according to GoFun…

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
Woman Killed During Argument That Escalated Inside Maryland Home: State Police Woman Killed During Argument That Escalated Inside Maryland Home: State Police
Woman Killed During Argument That Escalated Inside Maryland Home: State Police An argument inside a Maryland home turned deadly Thursday night, police say. Shortly after 8 p.m. on Sept. 3, Maryland State Police troopers were called to a home in the 400 block of Ethels Way in Salisbury, where they found 29-year-old Jordan Holt suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. She never made it out. Holt was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, according to state police. Investigators say Holt had been arguing with 29-year-old Salisbury resident Gage Mitchell inside the home when the confrontation escalated. That's when Mitchell allegedly shot her and fled, police sai…

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by Zak Failla
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