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

Clifton-Fairfax Station, VA
Breaking News
Armed Maryland Mail Thief Used USPS Master Key Before Wild Fairfax Station Chase: Feds Armed Maryland Mail Thief Used USPS Master Key Before Wild Fairfax Station Chase: Feds Armed Maryland Mail Thief Used USPS Master Key Before Wild Fairfax Station Chase: Feds
Armed Maryland Mail Thief Used USPS Master Key Before Wild Fairfax Station Chase: Feds One key. Hundreds of mailboxes. A Maryland man who federal prosecutors say stole mail from a Fairfax Station post office collection box while armed with a loaded handgun has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison after a getaway that ended with a crashed car, a foot chase, and a trove of stolen mail. Jose Arnulfo Reyes, 27, of Oxon Hill, was sentenced Thursday, July 9, to one year and 10 months in federal prison for mail theft and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, authorities announced. According to court documents, Reyes and another person drove to the Fairfax Station Po…

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
Maryland Teen Walking Again Days After Severe Neck, Spinal Cord Injury On Family Vacation Maryland Teen Walking Again Days After Severe Neck, Spinal Cord Injury On Family Vacation Maryland Teen Walking Again Days After Severe Neck, Spinal Cord Injury On Family Vacation
Maryland Teen Walking Again Days After Severe Neck, Spinal Cord Injury On Family Vacation One dive changed everything. Now, less than two weeks after suffering a severe neck injury and spinal cord injury during a family vacation in Florida, a Maryland teenager is already back on his feet, taking his first steps toward what his family hopes will be a full recovery. Centreville resident Landon Brown was seriously injured on Saturday, June 27, while spending the day on the water with his family. According to a fundraiser organized by longtime family friend Nicole Herman, Brown had been enjoying what had been a safe, familiar tradition for hours, jumping from a local bridge into th…

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by Zak Failla
Germantown, MD
Breaking News
Man Who Shot Driver, Dumped Body In Germantown Woods Faces Life Without Parole Man Who Shot Driver, Dumped Body In Germantown Woods Faces Life Without Parole Man Who Shot Driver, Dumped Body In Germantown Woods Faces Life Without Parole
Man Who Shot Driver, Dumped Body In Germantown Woods Faces Life Without Parole He thought he was giving three people a ride. Instead, prosecutors say Delondre Sawyer was shot in the back of the head while he was behind the wheel, stripped naked, dragged into the woods, and left to die. A Maryland jury has now convicted the man prosecutors say pulled the trigger. Quinnton Eric Brown, 39, of no known address, was found guilty Wednesday, July 8, following an eight-day trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court of murder and now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the state's attorney's office. The killing unfolded in the early morning hou…

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by Zak Failla
College Park, MD
Breaking News
Firefighter Hurt As Massive Overnight Kettering House Fire Sends Flames Through Roof Firefighter Hurt As Massive Overnight Kettering House Fire Sends Flames Through Roof Firefighter Hurt As Massive Overnight Kettering House Fire Sends Flames Through Roof
Firefighter Hurt As Massive Overnight Kettering House Fire Sends Flames Through Roof The flames were already punching through the roof by the time firefighters arrived. A massive house fire tore through a Maryland home overnight, leaving one resident displaced and sending a firefighter to the hospital before the blaze was finally brought under control. Firefighters were called shortly after 1 a.m. on Thursday, July 9, to the 10900 block of Trafton Drive in Kettering, where crews found a two-story single-family home with heavy fire showing through the roof, according to the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department. The fire in Prince George's County. Prince George…

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by Zak Failla
Hagerstown, MD
Breaking News
Woman Captured In Hagerstown Murder Case As Police Continue Hunt For Second Suspect (UPDATED) Woman Captured In Hagerstown Murder Case As Police Continue Hunt For Second Suspect (UPDATED) Woman Captured In Hagerstown Murder Case As Police Continue Hunt For Second Suspect (UPDATED)
Woman Captured In Hagerstown Murder Case As Police Continue Hunt For Second Suspect (Updated) One of the two people accused of a deadly holiday weekend shooting in Maryland is now in custody. A Hagerstown woman wanted in the killing of 30-year-old Dalonte Dametrius Young was arrested without incident on Thursday, July 9, while the second murder suspect remains at large, police announced. Cierra Candice Bryant, 39, was taken into custody in Hagerstown by members of the Hagerstown Police Department with assistance from the Washington County Special Response Team, according to investigators. Young was found suffering from a gunshot wound around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 5, in the firs…

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by Zak Failla
Columbia, MD
Breaking News
Motorcyclist Killed Trying To Pass Transit Bus On Route 32 In Columbia: Police Motorcyclist Killed Trying To Pass Transit Bus On Route 32 In Columbia: Police Motorcyclist Killed Trying To Pass Transit Bus On Route 32 In Columbia: Police
Motorcyclist Killed Trying To Pass Transit Bus On Route 32 In Columbia: Police A motorcyclist was killed in Maryland after police say an attempt to pass a transit bus on Route 32 ended in a violent crash late Wednesday night. The collision happened around 10:39 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, on the eastbound lanes of the highway between Route 29 and Shaker Drive in Howard County, according to police. Investigators say the rider was operating a 2024 Suzuki GSX1300 eastbound when they attempted to pass a transit bus traveling in the same direction. The motorcycle struck the passenger side of the bus, causing the rider to lose control and leave the roadway. The motorcyclist…

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by Zak Failla
Bel Air, MD
Breaking News
Rabid Fox May Have Exposed People, Pets In Bel Air, Health Officials Warn Rabid Fox May Have Exposed People, Pets In Bel Air, Health Officials Warn Rabid Fox May Have Exposed People, Pets In Bel Air, Health Officials Warn
Rabid Fox May Have Exposed People, Pets In Bel Air, Health Officials Warn Maryland health officials are warning that a rabid fox may have exposed people and pets after testing positive for the virus near a Bel Air neighborhood. The fox was found near the 2500 block of Cullum Road in Harford County, where the Health Department said Thursday, July 9, that anyone who had direct contact with the animal, or whose pets may have interacted with it, should call officials for follow-up. The Harford County Health Department received confirmation from the Maryland Department of Health that the fox tested positive for rabies. Officials emphasized that simply seeing a fox is…

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by Zak Failla
Pikesville, MD
Breaking News
33 Hospitalized After MTA Bus Slams Into FedEx Office, Hits 7 Vehicles In Pikesville (UPDATED) 33 Hospitalized After MTA Bus Slams Into FedEx Office, Hits 7 Vehicles In Pikesville (UPDATED) 33 Hospitalized After MTA Bus Slams Into FedEx Office, Hits 7 Vehicles In Pikesville (UPDATED)
33 Hospitalized After MTA Bus Slams Into FedEx Office, Hits 7 Vehicles In Pikesville (Updated) The numbers keep climbing. At least 33 people were ultimately taken to hospitals after an MTA bus slammed into a FedEx Office, crashed into seven other vehicles, and trapped two people in Maryland, according to updated information released late Wednesday night by the Baltimore County Fire Department. The crash happened shortly after 6:10 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, in the 1500 block of Reisterstown Road in Pikesville, where the bus left a trail of mangled vehicles before crashing into the storefront and triggering a second-alarm mass casualty incident. 1500 block of Reisterstown Road…

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by Zak Failla
Chesapeake City, MD
Your Community
Maryland Teen Nearly Used State-Record Fish As Bait Before Realizing What He'd Caught Maryland Teen Nearly Used State-Record Fish As Bait Before Realizing What He'd Caught Maryland Teen Nearly Used State-Record Fish As Bait Before Realizing What He'd Caught
Maryland Teen Nearly Used State-Record Fish As Bait Before Realizing What He'd Caught Cooper Clark almost threw away a record-setting catch. Instead, a Maryland teenager wound up in the state record books after a fish he and his crew planned to use as bait turned out to be the biggest false albacore ever officially landed in Maryland's Atlantic Division. The catch came on Friday, July 3, off Ocean City at an offshore fishing spot known as the Jackspot, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Clark, 19, and his fishing party were trolling for bluefin tuna with skirted ballyhoo when Clark hooked what everyone assumed was a small tuna. It wasn't. The fish …

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Obituaries
'I Lost My Son': Family Honors 19-Year-Old Taken By 'Senseless Violence' In DC 'I Lost My Son': Family Honors 19-Year-Old Taken By 'Senseless Violence' In DC 'I Lost My Son': Family Honors 19-Year-Old Taken By 'Senseless Violence' In DC
'I Lost My Son': Family Honors 19-Year-Old Taken By 'Senseless Violence' In DC A DC mother is living every parent's worst nightmare. Instead of planning her 19-year-old son's future, Latoya Bolar is planning his funeral after what she calls an act of "senseless violence" stole his life before it had the chance to truly begin. Her son, Turray Simms, was fatally shot early Monday morning, July 6, leaving behind a grieving family now asking for help to lay him to rest and begin putting the pieces back together. "My family and I are devastated by this horrific, unexpected tragedy," Bolar wrote in an online fundraiser. "I recently lost my son, Turray Simms, on July 6 to s…

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by Zak Failla
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