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

Towson, MD
Breaking News
Baltimore Woman Admits Stealing Identities To Hijack Maryland Unemployment Claims: Feds Baltimore Woman Admits Stealing Identities To Hijack Maryland Unemployment Claims: Feds Baltimore Woman Admits Stealing Identities To Hijack Maryland Unemployment Claims: Feds
Baltimore Woman Admits Stealing Identities To Hijack Maryland Unemployment Claims: Feds Katrina McCant had the kind of access most fraudsters could only dream about. Working inside Maryland's unemployment system, the 41-year-old Baltimore woman could approve documents, remove fraud holds and make changes to claims. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal prosecutors say she used those privileges to line her own pockets. McCant pleaded guilty on Monday, Aug. 10, in Maryland federal court to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after admitting she exploited her job with a state contractor to steal unemployment benefits and help others get fraudulent claims paid.…

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by Zak Failla
Silver Spring, MD
Breaking News
Silver Spring Restaurant Bathroom Ambush Ends With Accused Attacker Caught In DC: Police Silver Spring Restaurant Bathroom Ambush Ends With Accused Attacker Caught In DC: Police Silver Spring Restaurant Bathroom Ambush Ends With Accused Attacker Caught In DC: Police
Silver Spring Restaurant Bathroom Ambush Ends With Accused Attacker Caught In DC: Police The man accused of turning a trip to a Maryland restaurant bathroom into a bloody ambush has been caught. Mark Reginald Melton, 34, was arrested in Washington, DC, weeks after investigators say he followed a man into the restroom at The Angry Jerk in Silver Spring and stabbed him multiple times, Montgomery County Police officials announced on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The victim was left fighting for his life. The attack happened around 10:34 p.m. on Friday, July 10, at the restaurant in the 8200 block of Georgia Avenue, where investigators say Melton walked into the men's bathroom, attacked the v…

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by Zak Failla
Manassas, VA
Breaking News
Woman Catches Man With Phone Under Her Bathroom Stall At Manassas Hotel: Police Woman Catches Man With Phone Under Her Bathroom Stall At Manassas Hotel: Police Woman Catches Man With Phone Under Her Bathroom Stall At Manassas Hotel: Police
Woman Catches Man With Phone Under Her Bathroom Stall At Manassas Hotel: Police A trip to the bathroom took a disturbing turn when a phone suddenly appeared beneath the stall. An 18-year-old woman was inside a restroom at the Tempo by Hilton hotel at in the 9800 block of Discovery Boulevard in Manassas on Monday, Aug. 10, when she spotted the device and realized someone may have been filming her, according to the Prince William County Police Department. She didn't stay inside the stall. The woman came out and confronted the stranger, police said. Following a brief encounter, the man walked out of the bathroom and fled the hotel through a side door. He was gone by th…

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by Zak Failla
Westminster, MD
Your Community
Lightning Strike Caused $300K In Damage At This Westminster Home Lightning Strike Caused $300K In Damage At This Westminster Home Lightning Strike Caused $300K In Damage At This Westminster Home
Lightning Strike Caused $300K In Damage At This Westminster Home One lightning strike was apparently all it took to send flames ripping through the roof of a Maryland home. The fire broke out around 4:15 p.m. during the thunderstorms that rocked the region on Monday, Aug. 10.  The blaze was reported inside a home in the 800 block of Countf Falme Court in Westminster, where crews arrived to find flames tearing through the upper portion of the house. It quickly became an all-hands effort. Approximately 60 firefighters converged on the Carroll County home as crews attacked the fire, which investigators say had taken hold in the roof and attic. They …

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by Zak Failla
Triangle-Dumfries, VA
Breaking News
Shooter Sought After Triangle Teen Killed During Virginia Quinceañera Fight: Police Shooter Sought After Triangle Teen Killed During Virginia Quinceañera Fight: Police Shooter Sought After Triangle Teen Killed During Virginia Quinceañera Fight: Police
Shooter Sought After Triangle Teen Killed During Virginia Quinceañera Fight: Police A celebration meant to mark a milestone ended with a 16-year-old boy dead and his killer on the run. Samuel Ojeda, of Triangle, has been identified as the teen fatally shot during an altercation at a quinceañera in Virginia on Saturday, Aug. 8, according to the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office. The shooting happened at a rural property at 11770 Bowery Lane near Catlett, where deputies arrived at approximately 9:30 p.m. after callers reported a noisy outdoor party and the sound of gunfire. When deputies got there, they found a large crowd celebrating a quinceañera. They also determined the…

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
5-Year-Old Girl Dead, Man Airlifted After Maryland Shooting: State Police (DEVELOPING) 5-Year-Old Girl Dead, Man Airlifted After Maryland Shooting: State Police (DEVELOPING) 5-Year-Old Girl Dead, Man Airlifted After Maryland Shooting: State Police (DEVELOPING)
5-Year-Old Girl Dead, Man Airlifted After Maryland Shooting: State Police (Developing) A 5-year-old girl is dead. A man was airlifted with gunshot wounds. Now Maryland State Police are trying to determine what happened inside a home before dawn. Troopers were called to a residence in the 3900 block of Ocean Gateway in Linkwood at approximately 2:17 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, where they found the girl and a 30-year-old man suffering from suspected gunshot wounds. The child did not survive. The man was flown by a Maryland State Police Aviation Command helicopter to a trauma center for treatment. His condition was not immediately released. What led to the shooting remains unclear…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Second Child Abused Just One Week Before DC Man's Arrest: Feds Second Child Abused Just One Week Before DC Man's Arrest: Feds Second Child Abused Just One Week Before DC Man's Arrest: Feds
Second Child Abused Just One Week Before DC Man's Arrest: Feds The youngest was just 8 years old. And prosecutors say the alleged abuse continued until days before an arrest. Antonio Simpson, 31, of Washington, DC, was indicted on 12 counts on Monday, Aug. 10, in a child sexual abuse case involving two children who were 8 and 9 years old when the alleged abuse began, federal prosecutors announced. The allegations span more than a year. And according to the indictment, Simpson allegedly had access to one of the children through someone responsible for her care. Prosecutors say Simpson was the partner of an adult who had a duty or responsibility for th…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Emergency Button Activated Inside Jail Cell Before Arlington Inmate Dies (DEVELOPING) Emergency Button Activated Inside Jail Cell Before Arlington Inmate Dies (DEVELOPING) Emergency Button Activated Inside Jail Cell Before Arlington Inmate Dies (DEVELOPING)
Emergency Button Activated Inside Jail Cell Before Arlington Inmate Dies (Developing) An emergency call from inside a jail cell ended with an inmate dead at a Virginia hospital. Tyrone Hines, 62, died Monday, Aug. 10, after suffering what officials described as an apparent medical emergency while being held at the Arlington County Detention Facility. It started at approximately 7:49 a.m., when a deputy was alerted by an emergency call button activated from inside Hines' cell. The deputy went to check on him and found Hines experiencing an apparent medical emergency, according to the Arlington County Sheriff's Office. Medical staff were immediately summoned and began emerge…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Atlantic Ocean Wasn't Big Enough To Save DC Shadow Fleet Captain From Coast Guard Atlantic Ocean Wasn't Big Enough To Save DC Shadow Fleet Captain From Coast Guard Atlantic Ocean Wasn't Big Enough To Save DC Shadow Fleet Captain From Coast Guard
Atlantic Ocean Wasn't Big Enough To Save DC Shadow Fleet Captain From Coast Guard Turns out the Atlantic Ocean wasn't quite big enough to get away. Avtandil Kalandadze, 47, was sentenced in Washington, DC, to 10 months in federal prison after leading the US Coast Guard on a weeks-long pursuit while captaining a shadow fleet tanker used to transport sanctioned oil, federal prosecutors announced. When he's finished serving his sentence, he'll be deported. Kalandadze, of the Republic of Georgia, was the master of the motor tanker Bella 1, which transported approximately 1.8 million barrels of Iran-origin oil to Asia between September and late December 2025, according to hi…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Black Eye To Molotov Cocktail: DC Dad Hit With 30-Count Indictment Black Eye To Molotov Cocktail: DC Dad Hit With 30-Count Indictment Black Eye To Molotov Cocktail: DC Dad Hit With 30-Count Indictment
Black Eye To Molotov Cocktail: DC Dad Hit With 30-Count Indictment A protective order was supposed to keep him away. Prosecutors say the violence only got worse. District resident Tavante Robinson, 26, was ordered held on Monday, Aug. 10, after being arraigned on a sweeping 30-count indictment tied to an alleged campaign of violence that stretched from March 2025 through July 2026. And according to prosecutors, it started with a black eye on a 4-year-old boy. The child's mother returned home on March 14, 2025, and noticed that her son had the injury, according to court documents. A witness told investigators that Robinson became upset with the 4-year-old…

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by Zak Failla
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