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

Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Rhode Island Shooter Made It 500 Miles Before Marshals Found 'Miracle Baby' In Virginia Rhode Island Shooter Made It 500 Miles Before Marshals Found 'Miracle Baby' In Virginia Rhode Island Shooter Made It 500 Miles Before Marshals Found 'Miracle Baby' In Virginia
Rhode Island Shooter Made It 500 Miles Before Marshals Found 'Miracle Baby' In Virginia Tyquan Johnson made hundreds of miles from home. Then his run came to an end in Virginia. The manhunt for a shooting suspect ended in Virginia when a 19-year-old Rhode Island man was tracked down by federal investigators after two people were shot in Newport, authorities announced. Johnson was taken into custody around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 29, by members of the US Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force in Newport News.  Investigators with the Newport Police Department say Johnson fled south following a shooting on Sunday, July 19, that left two people injured. Off…

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by Zak Failla
Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Search Enters Third Day For Missing Potomac River Swimmer Near Sandy Landing Search Enters Third Day For Missing Potomac River Swimmer Near Sandy Landing Search Enters Third Day For Missing Potomac River Swimmer Near Sandy Landing
Search Enters Third Day For Missing Potomac River Swimmer Near Sandy Landing More than two days after one swimmer made it safely to shore and another disappeared beneath the river's powerful current, Maryland rescue crews were back on the water Thursday morning, July 30, hoping to bring the search to an end. The latest operation resumed around daybreak on Thursday near Spotzbergen Rock, just south of Sandy Landing in Montgomery County, where an approximately 25-year-old man vanished around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue's Swift Water Rescue Team returned with boats equipped with sonar and search dogs after crews spent hours combing …

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by Zak Failla
Odenton, MD
On Your Side
$1M Powerball Ticket Sold At Odenton Royal Farms As $707M Jackpot Keeps Climbing $1M Powerball Ticket Sold At Odenton Royal Farms As $707M Jackpot Keeps Climbing $1M Powerball Ticket Sold At Odenton Royal Farms As $707M Jackpot Keeps Climbing
$1M Powerball Ticket Sold At Odenton Royal Farms As $707M Jackpot Keeps Climbing One number stood between someone in Maryland and a life that would've looked very different. Instead, they're walking away a newly minted millionaire. The winning Powerball ticket was sold Wednesday, July 29, at the Royal Farms on Annapolis Road in Odenton, Anne Arundel County, according to the Maryland Lottery. The ticket matched the first five numbers drawn, 30, 36, 40, 42 and 57, but missed the Powerball number, 2, costing the winner the massive jackpot. Not that a million dollars is a bad consolation prize. The lucky player has 182 days from the drawing to claim the seven-figure payo…

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by Zak Failla
Annandale, VA
Breaking News
Annandale Man Shot After Attempting To Disarm Officer During Search, Police Say Annandale Man Shot After Attempting To Disarm Officer During Search, Police Say Annandale Man Shot After Attempting To Disarm Officer During Search, Police Say
Annandale Man Shot After Attempting To Disarm Officer During Search, Police Say Nehemia Fuentes Banegas had already stabbed himself. Then he vanished into the woods. The bizarre chain of events ended Tuesday morning, July 28, when Fairfax County police say the 26-year-old Annandale man suddenly burst from thick brush, grabbed an officer's handgun and was shot during the struggle. It all began around 9:57 a.m. at a home in the 7000 block of Sutter Lane, where officers responded to a domestic dispute involving Fuentes Banegas. By the time officers arrived, investigators said Fuentes Banegas had armed himself with two knives, accidentally stabbed himself with one an…

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by Zak Failla
Sterling, VA
Breaking News
$20B Overhaul Planned At Dulles Airport: Here's What To Expect $20B Overhaul Planned At Dulles Airport: Here's What To Expect $20B Overhaul Planned At Dulles Airport: Here's What To Expect
$20B Overhaul Planned At Dulles Airport: Here's What To Expect Dulles International Airport is getting a makeover unlike anything in its history. Virginia's busiest international airport is set for a sweeping transformation under a new $20 billion-plus plan announced Wednesday, July 29, that promises new terminals, expanded flight capacity, faster security, improved baggage handling and the eventual retirement of some of the airport's oldest facilities. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority joined President Donald Trump, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and United Airlines executives at the White House to unveil the partnership, which offic…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Bomb Threat Shuts Down Main Street Area In Virginia Town (DEVELOPING) Bomb Threat Shuts Down Main Street Area In Virginia Town (DEVELOPING) Bomb Threat Shuts Down Main Street Area In Virginia Town (DEVELOPING)
Bomb Threat Shuts Down Main Street Area In Virginia Town (Developing) A bomb threat has brought a large police response to a Virginia downtown, forcing evacuations and closing off part of Main Street. The threat was reported just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, July 29, when someone called the Fauquier County Emergency Communications Center to report a bomb threat targeting a business in Warrenton, according to the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office. Civilian evacuations have been completed, and law enforcement officers have begun clearing the area for any potential threats, authorities said. The area remains closed as of the sheriff's office's latest update, issued …

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by Zak Failla
Greenbelt, MD
Breaking News
WATCH: Bodycam Released In Maryland In-Custody Death After Greenbelt Crash WATCH: Bodycam Released In Maryland In-Custody Death After Greenbelt Crash WATCH: Bodycam Released In Maryland In-Custody Death After Greenbelt Crash
Watch: Bodycam Released In Maryland In-Custody Death After Greenbelt Crash The moments leading up to a Maryland man's death while in police custody are now public. The Maryland Attorney General's Office on Wednesday, July 29, released body-worn camera footage from Greenbelt police officers who responded after 40-year-old Michael MacDougall crashed off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Prince George's County earlier this month. The video, released by the Independent Investigations Division, captures officers arriving after US Park Police had already detained and handcuffed MacDougall following the crash. In the video, MacDougall can be seen lying in the grass no…

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by Zak Failla
Hagerstown, MD
Breaking News
Cross-Country Fugitive Finally Faces Fate In Hagerstown Murder Case Cross-Country Fugitive Finally Faces Fate In Hagerstown Murder Case Cross-Country Fugitive Finally Faces Fate In Hagerstown Murder Case
Cross-Country Fugitive Finally Faces Fate In Hagerstown Murder Case Raymond Garfield Campbell III made it all the way to California. He should have kept going. Nearly six years after a Hagerstown man was gunned down in broad daylight, the fugitive who fled across the country after the killing has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Raymond Garfield Campbell III received two consecutive life sentences plus another 35 years on Tuesday, July 28, after a judge sentenced him for the October 2020 murder of 40-year-old Daynard Johnson, the Washington County State's Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Prosecutors said Campbell followed Joh…

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by Zak Failla
Mechanicsville, MD
Breaking News
Mechanicsville Mom 'Ready To FIGHT' After Aggressive Breast Cancer Diagnosis Mechanicsville Mom 'Ready To FIGHT' After Aggressive Breast Cancer Diagnosis Mechanicsville Mom 'Ready To FIGHT' After Aggressive Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Mechanicsville Mom 'Ready To Fight' After Aggressive Breast Cancer Diagnosis The people who know Maegan Showalter all seem to tell the same story: she's the one who shows up. The Maryland wife, mother and friend has spent years celebrating others, lending a hand without being asked, and helping carry people through life's hardest moments.  Now, after an aggressive breast cancer diagnosis turned her own life upside down, an entire community is trying to return the favor. Showalter received the news from her doctors in June. Since then, the Mechanicsville mother has begun weekly chemotherapy and immunotherapy, with multiple surgeries still ahead. The trea…

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by Zak Failla
Woodbridge, VA
Breaking News
Teen's Hair Slashed During Attack On Elementary School Basketball Court In Woodbridge: Police Teen's Hair Slashed During Attack On Elementary School Basketball Court In Woodbridge: Police Teen's Hair Slashed During Attack On Elementary School Basketball Court In Woodbridge: Police
Teen's Hair Slashed During Attack On Elementary School Basketball Court In Woodbridge: Police A robbery is one thing. Having your hair slashed with a knife is another. A 17-year-old boy was cut on the hand and had his hair sliced during an early morning robbery on the basketball courts at an elementary school, according to Prince William County Police. The attack happened around 10:08 a.m. on Sunday, July 26, at King Elementary School in the Woodbridge area. Police said the teen was on the courts when three acquaintances approached him. What happened next was unexpected. Investigators said two of the group assaulted and robbed the victim. During the attack, one of the suspect…

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by Zak Failla
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