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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

Police & Fire
Murder Suspect Served Warrant From Hospital Bed After Woman Fatally Stabbed: Police Murder Suspect Served Warrant From Hospital Bed After Woman Fatally Stabbed: Police
Murder Suspect Served Warrant From Hospital Bed After Woman Fatally Stabbed: Police Detectives didn't find the suspect hiding. They found him in a hospital bed. A Maryland man accused of fatally stabbing Shonda Singleton, 56, inside a Baltimore home was served with a first-degree murder warrant while being treated at an area hospital, according to police. Baltimore investigators identified the suspect as Toi Stukes, 50, who will be transferred to the Central Booking Intake Facility once he is released from medical care.  Police have not said why Stukes was hospitalized. The murder happened shortly before 1:40 p.m. on June 20, when officers were called to a home in …

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
12-Year-Old Maryland Girl Killed In Bicycle Crash Identified By Police (UPDATED) 12-Year-Old Maryland Girl Killed In Bicycle Crash Identified By Police (UPDATED)
12-Year-Old Maryland Girl Killed In Bicycle Crash Identified By Police (Updated) A name now accompanies the heartbreak. The 12-year-old Maryland girl who was killed after falling from her bicycle into the path of a dump truck has been identified as Sanvika Selluka, Howard County Police announced a day after she was fatally struck. The fatal crash happened around 1:55 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, in the 2000 block of Daniels Road in Ellicott City. Police said Sanvika was riding her bicycle in the roadway when she fell into the path of a 2004 Sterling LT9500 dump truck. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The dump truck driver was not injured and remained at the scene w…

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by Zak Failla
News
Virginia Man Repeatedly Abused Child Under 13, Filmed It On Multiple Cell Phones: Feds Virginia Man Repeatedly Abused Child Under 13, Filmed It On Multiple Cell Phones: Feds
Virginia Man Repeatedly Abused Child Under 13, Filmed It On Multiple Cell Phones: Feds Samuel Flores de Dios didn't just abuse a child. He recorded it. The Mexican national living in Virginia illegally admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing a child under the age of 13 over the course of two months last year, federal authorities announced on Wednesday. Now, he will spend decades in prison. According to DHS, on at least four occasions between February and March 2025, he brought a victim under the age of 13 to the bedroom of an apartment he was renting in Fredericksburg, sexually abused the victim, and recorded it on cellphones positioned around the bedroom. One of the cell p…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Off-Duty Virginia Officer Arrested After Assaulting Person He Knew: Police Off-Duty Virginia Officer Arrested After Assaulting Person He Knew: Police
Off-Duty Virginia Officer Arrested After Assaulting Person He Knew: Police The one wearing the badge ended up in handcuffs. A Virginia police officer has been arrested and charged with malicious wounding after investigators say he assaulted someone he knew while off duty inside an Arlington home. Vincent Baglio, 31, of Arlington, was arrested Tuesday, June 30, following an investigation by the Arlington County Police Department into an alleged assault that happened more than a month earlier. According to police, the incident occurred on May 24 while Baglio was off duty. Investigators say Baglio and the victim, who are known to each other, were inside a residence…

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by Zak Failla
Lifestyle
Rare Document From 1776 Going On Display In Virginia Just In Time For Fourth Of July Rare Document From 1776 Going On Display In Virginia Just In Time For Fourth Of July
Rare Document From 1776 Going On Display In Virginia Just In Time For Fourth Of July History has a funny way of showing up right on time. Just days before the Fourth of July, Virginia residents will have a rare chance to see an original document created as the American Revolution was unfolding, one that captures a remarkable turning point in the fight for independence. In Leesburg, the Thomas Balch Library has acquired the original March 11, 1776, bond appointing Philip Noland as sheriff of Loudoun County, a document historians say offers an extraordinary glimpse into Virginia's break from British rule. The manuscript is more than 250 years old. It formally pledged Noland…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
This Burglary Suspect Really Thought Jumping Off A Roof Was The Best Option. He Was Wrong. This Burglary Suspect Really Thought Jumping Off A Roof Was The Best Option. He Was Wrong.
This Burglary Suspect Really Thought Jumping Off A Roof Was The Best Option. He Was Wrong. Ademu Cummings took his best shot at getting away after a series of burglaries in Maryland. It ended with the 58-year-old Silver Spring man in the hospital. Cummings is now facing charges after allegedly breaking into the same property and attempting to outrun officers with a bold leap off of a Montgomery County rooftop, police say. It ended poorly. On Wednesday, July 1, the Montgomery County Department of Police announced that Cummings has been arrested following a string of burglaries reported last month. The investigation began on Monday, May 25, when officers responded to the facilit…

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by Zak Failla
News
Maryland Boy Breathes On His Own Again After Rare Stroke Turned Beach Trip Into Nightmare Maryland Boy Breathes On His Own Again After Rare Stroke Turned Beach Trip Into Nightmare
Maryland Boy Breathes On His Own Again After Rare Stroke Turned Beach Trip Into Nightmare Conor Bailey should be spending his summer on the soccer field. Instead, the Maryland boy has spent the past two weeks fighting his way back from a rare stroke that struck without warning during a beach trip. Now, his family is celebrating one of his biggest milestones yet. His family announced on Wednesday, July 1, that the young soccer player is officially breathing on his own without oxygen after suffering a rare basilar artery stroke in mid-June. "We are so excited to share another huge milestone," organizer Erin Sidelinker wrote in a GoFundMe update. "Conor is officially off oxygen! …

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Residents Sent To Burn Centers As Massive Two-Alarm Fire Rips Through Virginia Apartments Residents Sent To Burn Centers As Massive Two-Alarm Fire Rips Through Virginia Apartments
Residents Sent To Burn Centers As Massive Two-Alarm Fire Rips Through Virginia Apartments A two-alarm blaze tore through the roof of a Virginia apartment building, sending several people to burn centers while crews worked to knock down the flames on Wednesday morning. Early on July 1, first responders in Prince William County and Fairfax County were called to the 12000 block of Ripple Creek Court in Woodbridge, where multiple reports of a massive blaze that broke out in the back of a multi-unit apartment building before sunrise. Before firefighters arrived, officers with the Prince William County Police Department alerted residents and helped several occupants safely evacuate th…

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by Zak Failla
Politics
DOJ Sues Virginia To Block New AR-15 Ban, Calls Law Unconstitutional DOJ Sues Virginia To Block New AR-15 Ban, Calls Law Unconstitutional
DOJ Sues Virginia To Block New AR-15 Ban, Calls Law Unconstitutional Virginia's new assault weapons law is already headed to federal court. The US Department of Justice sued the Commonwealth on Wednesday, July 1, alleging the state's newly enacted ban on the commercial purchase and sale of many AR-15-style rifles violates the Second Amendment. They are also asking a federal judge to block enforcement of key portions of the law. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Richmond, names both the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Virginia Department of State Police as defendants, arguing the law criminalizes the sale and purchase of rifles "owned by millions o…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Virginia Teen Shot Himself, Then Called 911 To Report Robbery That Never Happened: Police Virginia Teen Shot Himself, Then Called 911 To Report Robbery That Never Happened: Police
Virginia Teen Shot Himself, Then Called 911 To Report Robbery That Never Happened: Police One teen's robbery story unraveled almost as quickly as it began. A 19-year-old Virginia resident who called 911 claiming he had been robbed and shot by strangers is now facing criminal charges after investigators say he accidentally shot himself in the hand instead. The bizarre chain of events unfolded shortly after 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday, June 30, when officers were called to a home in the 10400 block of Bermuda Lane in the Manassas area after Jaydon Isaiah Aloumouati reported that unknown men had robbed him and shot him, according to Prince William County police. It didn't take long for d…

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by Zak Failla
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