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

Silver Spring, MD
Breaking News
Maryland Mom Detained At ICE Check-In Weeks After Husband Was Taken In Montgomery County Maryland Mom Detained At ICE Check-In Weeks After Husband Was Taken In Montgomery County Maryland Mom Detained At ICE Check-In Weeks After Husband Was Taken In Montgomery County
Maryland Mom Detained At ICE Check-In Weeks After Husband Was Taken In Montgomery County They came to America hoping to build a better life for their children. Now those children are facing life without either parent at home. Jessica Yojana Hernandez Quintano was detained during a scheduled ICE check-in on Thursday, Aug. 6, according to the Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective, leaving her three children without either parent after her husband, Samuel, was previously taken into federal immigration custody. Their children are 19, 16, and 10. "Instead of being allowed to return home to her children, she was detained," organizers wrote in an update to a GoFundMe campaign …

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by Zak Failla
Silver Spring, MD
Your Community
Shaq Attack: Big Chicken Goes Standalone In Maryland With First Restaurant Shaq Attack: Big Chicken Goes Standalone In Maryland With First Restaurant Shaq Attack: Big Chicken Goes Standalone In Maryland With First Restaurant
Shaq Attack: Big Chicken Goes Standalone In Maryland With First Restaurant Maryland's chicken game just got a whole lot bigger. Shaquille O'Neal's Big Chicken is celebrating the grand opening of its first standalone Maryland restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 8, at Waugh Chapel Towne Centre in Gambrills, bringing the NBA Hall of Famer's larger-than-life menu to Anne Arundel County after first testing local appetites inside Baltimore's CFG Bank Arena. And they're marking the occasion with some free food. The first 100 customers in line at 1407 South Main Chapel Way will get three chicken tenders and four signature dipping sauces for free, a nod to O'Neal's iconic No. 34…

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by Zak Failla
Ashburn, VA
Breaking News
Police Got Call About Withheld Guns Days Before Bieniemy's Wife Was Shot In Ashburn: Report Police Got Call About Withheld Guns Days Before Bieniemy's Wife Was Shot In Ashburn: Report Police Got Call About Withheld Guns Days Before Bieniemy's Wife Was Shot In Ashburn: Report
Police Got Call About Withheld Guns Days Before Bieniemy's Wife Was Shot In Ashburn: Report The trouble at the Bieniemy family home apparently started well before the gunfire. Two days before the wife of former Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was shot inside their Ashburn home, a caller at the address told police that his parents were withholding his firearms, according to records obtained by The Athletic. On Sunday, July 26, 27-year-old Elijah Zion Bieniemy was arrested after his mother, Mia Bieniemy, 57, was shot inside the family home in the 20000 block of Northpark Drive in Loudoun County, authorities said. Elijah Bieniemy was charged with malicious …

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by Zak Failla
Montgomery Village, MD
Breaking News
WATCH: Bodycam Reveals Tense Gaithersburg Bus Stop Standoff Before Six Cops Kill Armed Man WATCH: Bodycam Reveals Tense Gaithersburg Bus Stop Standoff Before Six Cops Kill Armed Man WATCH: Bodycam Reveals Tense Gaithersburg Bus Stop Standoff Before Six Cops Kill Armed Man
Watch: Bodycam Reveals Tense Gaithersburg Bus Stop Standoff Before Six Cops Kill Armed Man The waiting was over. Newly released body-worn camera footage shows the tense final minutes before six police officers opened fire on 46-year-old Elliott Powers at a Maryland bus stop last month, ending a prolonged confrontation that began with reports of a man carrying a handgun. The footage was released by the Maryland Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division on Friday, Aug. 7, nearly a month after Powers, a Rockville resident, was killed in Gaithersburg. Officers from the Montgomery County and Gaithersburg police departments were called to the bus stop in the 9600 block of…

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by Zak Failla
Germantown, MD
Breaking News
'Shocking Crash': County Exec Speaks Out After Kids In Stolen Kia Kill Man In Germantown 'Shocking Crash': County Exec Speaks Out After Kids In Stolen Kia Kill Man In Germantown 'Shocking Crash': County Exec Speaks Out After Kids In Stolen Kia Kill Man In Germantown
'Shocking Crash': County Exec Speaks Out After Kids In Stolen Kia Kill Man In Germantown This one stuck with him. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, who acknowledges he doesn't often address crime in his newsletter, is speaking out about the shocking Maryland crash involving young adolescents in a stolen Kia that killed Virginia resident Vance Payne. "I don't often talk about crimes in this newsletter, but this week I felt it was important to address the shocking crash in Germantown involving young adolescents driving a stolen car that killed a Virginia man in Germantown," Elrich wrote on Friday, Aug. 7. The crash he's talking about left a gruesome scene at the intersect…

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by Zak Failla
Towson, MD
Breaking News
Baltimore County Fraudster Admits Raiding COVID, Key Bridge Relief Programs: AG Baltimore County Fraudster Admits Raiding COVID, Key Bridge Relief Programs: AG Baltimore County Fraudster Admits Raiding COVID, Key Bridge Relief Programs: AG
Baltimore County Fraudster Admits Raiding COVID, Key Bridge Relief Programs: AG COVID contracts. Key Bridge relief. Unemployment benefits. Prosecutors say a Maryland businessman found his way into all three, stealing more than $417,000 from the state while trying to pocket nearly $93,000 more. Windsor Mill resident Walter O'Riley Poindexter, 51, pleaded guilty in Baltimore County Circuit Court to eight charges tied to a series of fraud schemes that stretched from 2020 through 2024, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced. And no single program was apparently enough. Poindexter admitted to three counts of procurement fraud and one count of bribery stemming f…

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by Zak Failla
Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Man Killed, Five Hospitalized After Saturday Morning Crash In Montgomery County (DEVELOPING) Man Killed, Five Hospitalized After Saturday Morning Crash In Montgomery County (DEVELOPING) Man Killed, Five Hospitalized After Saturday Morning Crash In Montgomery County (DEVELOPING)
Man Killed, Five Hospitalized After Saturday Morning Crash In Montgomery County (Developing) A quiet Saturday morning in Maryland turned deadly before most people had finished breakfast. A man was killed, and five others were hospitalized following a two-vehicle crash reported at approximately 7:22 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8, in the 24000 block of Ridge Road outside Damascus in Montgomery County, according to police. The wreck involved a silver Ford Transit van and a black Chrysler Pacifica minivan. And the first reports from the scene were grim. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews were initially called to the area near Cedar Grove Elementary School and Hawkes Road for …

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Obituaries
Virginia Deputy, Dad Of 3 Killed While Helping At Crash Remembered For Selfless Final Act Virginia Deputy, Dad Of 3 Killed While Helping At Crash Remembered For Selfless Final Act Virginia Deputy, Dad Of 3 Killed While Helping At Crash Remembered For Selfless Final Act
Virginia Deputy, Dad Of 3 Killed While Helping At Crash Remembered For Selfless Final Act Burlie W. Duvall III could have kept driving. Instead, the Virginia deputy turned around to help strangers after a serious crash on Thursday, Aug. 6, a decision that would cost the husband and father of three his life. Duvall, an Appomattox County Sheriff's Office deputy who was still attending the Central Virginia Criminal Justice Academy, was killed while assisting at the crash scene, according to his department and tributes from those who knew him. The circumstances surrounding Duvall's death remain under investigation, and officials have not released additional details about exactly…

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by Zak Failla
Springfield, VA
Breaking News
Lorton Teen Accused Of Firing Handgun Near Springfield Homes Released After Arrest: Police Lorton Teen Accused Of Firing Handgun Near Springfield Homes Released After Arrest: Police Lorton Teen Accused Of Firing Handgun Near Springfield Homes Released After Arrest: Police
Lorton Teen Accused Of Firing Handgun Near Springfield Homes Released After Arrest: Police A gunshot near several Virginia homes ended with an 18-year-old behind bars. He didn't stay there long. Amen Giorgis, 18, of Lorton, was arrested after allegedly firing a handgun into the ground in a West Springfield neighborhood at approximately 5:43 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, according to Fairfax County Police. Witnesses told officers that Giorgis was among a group of men gathered in the 5000 block of Hall Street when he allegedly fired the weapon near several homes. Then everyone took off. The group split up and left the neighborhood in separate vehicles before police arrived, investig…

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by Zak Failla
Waldorf, MD
Breaking News
14-Year-Old Airlifted After Pair Jumps Out Of Car, Opens Fire In Waldorf: Sheriff 14-Year-Old Airlifted After Pair Jumps Out Of Car, Opens Fire In Waldorf: Sheriff 14-Year-Old Airlifted After Pair Jumps Out Of Car, Opens Fire In Waldorf: Sheriff
14-Year-Old Airlifted After Pair Jumps Out Of Car, Opens Fire In Waldorf: Sheriff A Maryland teenager's afternoon walk ended with a flight to the hospital. The 14-year-old was walking near St. Thomas Drive and Alderman's Place in Waldorf when a car approached at approximately 3:27 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, according to the Charles County Sheriff's Office. Then two people got out. Both opened fire, investigators said, striking the teen in the leg before the victim was airlifted to a hospital. The injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, according to the sheriff's office. What sparked the shooting remains unclear. Detectives said Friday, Aug. 7, that they are pur…

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by Zak Failla
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