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

Germantown, MD
Breaking News
ICE Wants Germantown Driver Accused Of Killing Mother, Daughter In Wrong-Way I-270 Crash ICE Wants Germantown Driver Accused Of Killing Mother, Daughter In Wrong-Way I-270 Crash
ICE Wants Germantown Driver Accused Of Killing Mother, Daughter In Wrong-Way I-270 Crash The fallout from a deadly wrong-way crash in Maryland has now reached federal immigration officials. Days after the Saturday, Aug. 29 crash on I-270 in Montgomery County killed a mother and daughter, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer against the driver charged in their deaths, the Department of Homeland Security announced. Jose Antonio Caballero-Nolasco, 32, of Germantown, is an El Salvadoran national who DHS says entered the United States illegally at an unknown date and location. ICE lodged the detainer on Tuesday, Sept. 1, asking Maryland officials not to release …

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by Zak Failla
Manassas, VA
Breaking News
'Everyone Screamed And Ran': Deadly First Friday Shooting Leaves Manassas Reeling 'Everyone Screamed And Ran': Deadly First Friday Shooting Leaves Manassas Reeling
'Everyone Screamed And Ran': Deadly First Friday Shooting Leaves Manassas Reeling A community tradition built around music, food and friends left a Virginia community waking up to grief. Gunshots rang out during First Friday in Old Town Manassas on Sept. 4, leaving a teen girl dead and a 21-year-old man hospitalized, police and city officials confirmed. The shooting led to a massive police response and forced attendees at the event to scatter before a reunification site was established at the Farmers Market lot. No gunman has been identified or apprehended. By Saturday morning, residents were trying to make sense of how quickly one of the city's signature nights had tu…

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by Zak Failla
Hagerstown, MD
Breaking News
Who Torched This Maryland Church? ATF Offers $5K Reward As Arson Hunt Heats Up Who Torched This Maryland Church? ATF Offers $5K Reward As Arson Hunt Heats Up
Who Torched This Maryland Church? ATF Offers $5K Reward As Arson Hunt Heats Up Someone deliberately set fire to a Maryland church, investigators say. Now, nearly a month later, federal authorities are putting up cash to find whoever did it. The Aug. 5 fire at the Church of the Nazarene on Houston Branch Road in Federalsburg has been ruled arson following an extensive investigation by the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, officials announced on Friday, Sept. 4. ATF is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible. The fir…

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by Zak Failla
Towson, MD
Breaking News
Passenger's Racist Outburst Ends With Duct Tape, Zip Ties And Surprise Maryland Stop: Reports Passenger's Racist Outburst Ends With Duct Tape, Zip Ties And Surprise Maryland Stop: Reports
Passenger's Racist Outburst Ends With Duct Tape, Zip Ties And Surprise Maryland Stop: Reports An American Airlines flight was diverted to Maryland after a passenger was reportedly duct-taped and zip-tied to his seat following a violent mid-flight outburst. Flight 618 was headed from Dallas-Fort Worth to Newark late Thursday, Sept. 3, when it was diverted to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Anne Arundel County because of what the airline called a "disruptive customer." By the time the plane landed, the passenger had reportedly been duct-taped and zip-tied to his seat. TMZ, citing eyewitnesses, reported that the man appeared drunk when he began yelling …

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Déjà Vu: Fredericksburg Cop's Traffic Stop Takes Familiar Turn Just Four Hours Later Déjà Vu: Fredericksburg Cop's Traffic Stop Takes Familiar Turn Just Four Hours Later
Déjà Vu: Fredericksburg Cop's Traffic Stop Takes Familiar Turn Just Four Hours Later Four hours. Two runners. Three guns. One Virginia cop. What started with a traffic stop around noon on Sunday, Aug. 30 turned into the first of two foot chases Officer Ruggiere would find himself in before his shift was four hours old. The first came in the 400 block of Bridgewater Street in Fredericksburg, where Ruggiere stopped a brown Mercury for a traffic violation, police said. As the officer checked the driver's information, a 17-year-old passenger grabbed a black bag from inside the car and made a run for it. Ruggiere took off after him. The chase ended on Fall Hill Avenue, where …

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Kentucky Man Hauled Hundreds Of Miles To Virginia After Online Trail Leads To Minor: Sheriff Kentucky Man Hauled Hundreds Of Miles To Virginia After Online Trail Leads To Minor: Sheriff
Kentucky Man Hauled Hundreds Of Miles To Virginia After Online Trail Leads To Minor: Sheriff A Kentucky man was taken hundreds of miles from home to face charges in Virginia following a sexual assault investigation involving a minor. Bowling Green resident Cody Chaffin, 29, has been extradited back to the East Coast following a lengthy probe into his interactions online with a minor, according to the Culpeper County Sheriff's Office. In June, detectives received a report of a possible sexual assault involving a minor, and it was later determined that the child had been solicited and exploited online. Most of the contact took place through Tumblr, investigators said. Whi…

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Search For Suspect In Virginia Massage Worker Rapes Ends With Police Pursuit, Sheriff Says Search For Suspect In Virginia Massage Worker Rapes Ends With Police Pursuit, Sheriff Says
Search For Suspect In Virginia Massage Worker Rapes Ends With Police Pursuit, Sheriff Says The search ended with a chase. Cesar Mario Torres Juarez, the Virginia man accused in two rapes involving massage workers nearly six months apart, was captured Friday morning, Sept. 4, following a brief vehicle pursuit, according to the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office. The chase began around 7:30 a.m. in Spotsylvania County and ended with the 30-year-old being taken into custody. The arrest came after authorities had been searching for Juarez in connection with attacks reported at massage businesses on the same block of Plank Road. The first was reported on March 12 at a Spotsylvania…

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by Zak Failla
Fairfax, VA
Breaking News
WATCH: Armed Burglar Caught Scaling Groveton Building To Reach Third-Floor Apartment WATCH: Armed Burglar Caught Scaling Groveton Building To Reach Third-Floor Apartment
Watch: Armed Burglar Caught Scaling Groveton Building To Reach Third-Floor Apartment Recognize him? A man in Northern Virginia did his best Spider-Man impression and scaled a building before brandishing a gun in an apartment, according to police. The Fairfax County Police Department released video on Friday, Sept. 4, of a bold burglar who was caught on camera climbing the side of a Groveton building before a burglary. Shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, officers were called to an apartment in the 3500 block of Robert E. Lee Place when a victim reported that an unknown man broke in and busted out a firearm. The incident remains under investigation in Fair…

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by Zak Failla
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
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