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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

Traffic
Driver Sought After Man Is Struck By Two Vehicles, Killed On Richnond Highway: Fairfax Police Driver Sought After Man Is Struck By Two Vehicles, Killed On Richnond Highway: Fairfax Police
Driver Sought After Man Is Struck By Two Vehicles, Killed On Richnond Highway: Fairfax Police A man was hit by two vehicles and killed before sunrise Thursday on a busy stretch of Richmond Highway in Northern Virginia, and police are now trying to identify the second driver involved. The crash happened around 3 a.m. on Thursday, June 18, near Fort Hunt Road in the Huntington area, according to Fairfax County Police. Investigators say the adult victim was struck by one vehicle, then hit by a second. He was pronounced dead at the scene. One driver stayed. The other did not. Now, detectives with the department's Crash Reconstruction Unit are working to determine exactly what hap…

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by Zak Failla
News
54 Pounds From LA, AK-Style Rifle In DC: 'Spot Manager' Sentenced In Marijuana Pipeline Case 54 Pounds From LA, AK-Style Rifle In DC: 'Spot Manager' Sentenced In Marijuana Pipeline Case
54 Pounds From LA, Ak-style Rifle In DC: 'Spot Manager' Sentenced In Marijuana Pipeline Case A convicted felon caught returning to Maryland with more than 54 pounds of marijuana in his luggage after a cross-country trip to Los Angeles has been sentenced in federal court, prosecutors announced. Robert Spriggs, 38, of Washington, DC, was sentenced on Thursday, June 18, to 30 months in prison for his role in a marijuana trafficking conspiracy that moved drugs from California to the Baltimore-Washington region and for illegally possessing multiple firearms. Federal investigators say Spriggs and his associates spent months shuttling between Los Angeles and the DMV, building a marijuana …

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by Zak Failla
News
Daycare Worker Accused Of Sexually Abusing Two 3-Year-Old Girls At Manassas Facility: Police Daycare Worker Accused Of Sexually Abusing Two 3-Year-Old Girls At Manassas Facility: Police
Daycare Worker Accused Of Sexually Abusing Two 3-Year-Old Girls At Manassas Facility: Police A daycare worker in Northern Virginia is behind bars following an extensive investigation into alleged sexual assaults involving young girls, authorities announced. Joseph Matthew Brown, 38, who has no fixed address, is facing multiple counts of aggravated sexual battery for allegedly inappropriately touching two 3-year-old girls at the Children of America daycare facility on Liberia Avenue in Manassas, according to the Prince William County Police Department. Police say detectives concluded their investigation on Thursday, June 18, into sex abuse that was reported between June 2025 and Apr…

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by Zak Failla
Obituaries
Baltimore Community Raising Funds To Bring Slain Senegal Native Cheikh Dieng Home Baltimore Community Raising Funds To Bring Slain Senegal Native Cheikh Dieng Home
Baltimore Community Raising Funds To Bring Slain Senegal Native Cheikh Dieng Home What began as a late-night apartment fire investigation in Baltimore's Cherry Hill neighborhood has become a heartbreaking effort to bring a husband and father home. Cheikh Dieng, a 31-year-old Senegal native who came to the United States in search of a better life, is being remembered by friends and family after he was found dead inside his apartment following a fire on Round Road earlier this month. Now, loved ones are raising money to return him to Senegal, where they hope he can be laid to rest surrounded by family. Baltimore Police and firefighters were called to the 2300 block of Rou…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
10 Days After Trail Shooting, Baltimore County Officer Walks Out Of Shock Trauma (WATCH) 10 Days After Trail Shooting, Baltimore County Officer Walks Out Of Shock Trauma (WATCH)
10 Days After Trail Shooting, Baltimore County Officer Walks Out Of Shock Trauma (Watch) The Maryland police officer shot while chasing an armed suspect along the Milford Mill Gwynn Falls Trail is finally heading home. Officer P. Catalfamo was released from the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center on Wednesday evening, June 17, Baltimore County Police announced, 10 days after he was critically wounded in the line of duty in Pikesville. Officers lined the halls of the hospital as Catalfamo was escorted out, surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues who had been rooting for his recovery since the June 7 shooting. Catalfamo was struck while responding to a call about an indecen…

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by Zak Failla
Traffic
Bus Never Slowed Before Deadly I-95 Crash In Stafford That Killed Five, NTSB Finds Bus Never Slowed Before Deadly I-95 Crash In Stafford That Killed Five, NTSB Finds
Bus Never Slowed Before Deadly I-95 Crash In Stafford That Killed Five, NTSB Finds The bus driver charged in Virginia's deadliest crash of the year never slowed before plowing into a line of traffic on I-95 in Stafford County, according to newly released findings from federal investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday, June 18, that the E&P Travel motorcoach was traveling south through Stafford shortly after 2:30 a.m. on May 29 when it encountered a line of traffic backed up behind an overnight work zone near mile marker 146.6. It never slowed. Instead, investigators say, the bus crashed into the rear of a Chevrolet Suburban and an Acura MD…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Armed, Dangerous Suspect Sought In Fatal Shooting Of Towson University Student In Baltimore Armed, Dangerous Suspect Sought In Fatal Shooting Of Towson University Student In Baltimore
Armed, Dangerous Suspect Sought In Fatal Shooting Of Towson University Student In Baltimore The man Baltimore County detectives say gunned down a 22-year-old Towson University student in broad daylight is still on the loose. Now they're asking the public to help find him. On Thursday, June 18, investigators identified 33-year-old Reginald T. Gray Jr. as the suspect wanted in connection with the Friday, June 5, killing of Nasir Majied, who was fatally shot along York Road. Nearly two weeks after the shooting, detectives say Gray remains at large. Reginald T. Gray Jr. Baltimore Police Department Authorities released Gray's photo along with images of the silver 2007 Nissan …

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by Zak Failla
Schools
Brooke Grove Elementary Student One Of Two Nationwide To Earn AAA Honor For Saving Child Brooke Grove Elementary Student One Of Two Nationwide To Earn AAA Honor For Saving Child
Brooke Grove Elementary Student One Of Two Nationwide To Earn AAA Honor For Saving Child Not many Maryland fifth graders can boast about earning national accolades. Brooke Grove Elementary School student Matthew Geiger laughs at that idea. The safety patrol member in Montgomery County was recognized as one of only two students in the country to receive a prestigious national AAA honor after stepping in during a potentially dangerous situation outside his school earlier this year. Back in March, during a busy morning arrival at Brooke Grove Elementary, Matthew spotted a distracted younger student walking toward the path of an oncoming vehicle. While other students kept moving,…

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by Zak Failla
News
DC Gunman Carjacked Victim 'For Sport,' Left Death Threat 'Ringing In His Ears': Feds DC Gunman Carjacked Victim 'For Sport,' Left Death Threat 'Ringing In His Ears': Feds
DC Gunman Carjacked Victim 'For Sport,' Left Death Threat 'Ringing In His Ears': Feds Avery Ricardo Robinson didn't get far after a violent carjacking in Northwest DC last year. Now, he's heading to prison. The 26-year-old District resident has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison following a harrowing carjacking that left his victim scarred, according to the US Attorney's Office. According to court documents, on Sept. 20, 2025, Robinson rode his bicycle up to a 2017 Nissan Altima near the 1400 block of Park Road NW, pulled out a weapon, and demanded his victim's belongings, including his car keys. Robinson forced the victim at gunpoint to throw his cellphone to t…

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by Zak Failla
News
Where Is George? Odenton Man Missing After Leaving For Glen Burnie Gym (DEVELOPING) Where Is George? Odenton Man Missing After Leaving For Glen Burnie Gym (DEVELOPING)
Where Is George? Odenton Man Missing After Leaving For Glen Burnie Gym (Developing) A Maryland family is desperately searching for a 46-year-old man who vanished nearly a week ago after leaving home for a routine trip to the gym and never arriving. George Shorter Jr., of Odenton, was last seen on the morning of Thursday, June 11, when he left his home headed to Gold's Gym in Glen Burnie, according to Anne Arundel County Police and family members. What happened next remains a mystery. Shorter never made it to the gym, family members said. He also never showed up for work and has not been heard from since leaving home. His disappearance has prompted a growing search effort…

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by Zak Failla
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