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

Severn, MD
Breaking News
No Lights, No Helmet Before High-Speed Motorcycle Crash Outside Severn Dunkin': Police No Lights, No Helmet Before High-Speed Motorcycle Crash Outside Severn Dunkin': Police No Lights, No Helmet Before High-Speed Motorcycle Crash Outside Severn Dunkin': Police
No Lights, No Helmet Before High-Speed Motorcycle Crash Outside Severn Dunkin': Police No lights. No helmet. A 25-year-old motorcyclist was critically injured in Maryland late Wednesday night after police say he was speeding when he slammed into an SUV turning into a Dunkin' location. The crash happened at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 near Annapolis Road and Parkside Boulevard in Severn, according to the Anne Arundel County Police Department. Investigators say the 25-year-old Severn man was riding a 2020 Dong Fing CSR motorcycle east on Annapolis Road at a high rate of speed when a 2016 Ford Escape began turning left into the Dunkin' in the 2700 block. The motorcycle…

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
Speed, Alcohol Eyed After Passenger Ejected, Killed In Maryland Rollover Crash: Sheriff Speed, Alcohol Eyed After Passenger Ejected, Killed In Maryland Rollover Crash: Sheriff Speed, Alcohol Eyed After Passenger Ejected, Killed In Maryland Rollover Crash: Sheriff
Speed, Alcohol Eyed After Passenger Ejected, Killed In Maryland Rollover Crash: Sheriff One person never made it out alive. A passenger was ejected and killed in a violent Maryland rollover crash on Wednesday evening, Sept. 16, while two others escaped with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, authorities said. Wicomico County Sheriff's deputies and Mardela Volunteer Fire Department crews were called to the area of Norris Twilley Road and Norfolk Drive in Delmar at approximately 5:14 p.m. following reports of an injury crash. Investigators say the vehicle went off the road and overturned multiple times. One of the passengers was thrown from the vehicle dur…

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by Zak Failla
Adelphi-Langley Park, MD
Breaking News
33 Years Later, Man Charged With Murder Of 10-Year-Old Adelphi Boy Junior Burdynski In Maryland 33 Years Later, Man Charged With Murder Of 10-Year-Old Adelphi Boy Junior Burdynski In Maryland 33 Years Later, Man Charged With Murder Of 10-Year-Old Adelphi Boy Junior Burdynski In Maryland
33 Years Later, Man Charged With Murder Of 10-Year-Old Adelphi Boy Junior Burdynski In Maryland For 33 years, no one had been charged with killing Junior Burdynski. That changed this week when Maryland investigators said a new sex abuse case led them to a witness who told detectives what happened to the 10-year-old boy on the day he vanished in 1993. Prince George's County Police announced on Thursday, Sept. 17, that 61-year-old Joseph Lynch has been charged with murdering George "Junior" Burdynski Jr., who disappeared while riding his bicycle in his Brentwood neighborhood. Junior Burdynski Prince George's County Police His body has never been found. Junior was last seen on …

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by Zak Failla
Rockville, MD
Breaking News
Worker's Arm Trapped In Industrial Mixer As Shock Trauma Team Rushes To Rockville (DEVELOPING) Worker's Arm Trapped In Industrial Mixer As Shock Trauma Team Rushes To Rockville (DEVELOPING) Worker's Arm Trapped In Industrial Mixer As Shock Trauma Team Rushes To Rockville (DEVELOPING)
Worker's Arm Trapped In Industrial Mixer As Shock Trauma Team Rushes To Rockville (Developing) A worker got caught in an industrial mixer at a Maryland business on Thursday afternoon. The accident was reported at Omega 3 Nutrition in the 1300 block of East Gude Drive near Southlawn Lane in Rockville on Sept. 17, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer. Firefighters were called to the manufacturing business shortly before 3:30 p.m. for a reported traumatic injury involving a worker whose extremity had become entangled in machinery. Officials later said the worker's arm and hand were actively trapped in what was described as an industrial mixe…

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by Zak Failla
Lanham-Seabrook, MD
Breaking News
Lanham Rideshare Driver Took Teen Passenger To Parking Lot, Raped Her In Maryland: Police Lanham Rideshare Driver Took Teen Passenger To Parking Lot, Raped Her In Maryland: Police Lanham Rideshare Driver Took Teen Passenger To Parking Lot, Raped Her In Maryland: Police
Lanham Rideshare Driver Took Teen Passenger To Parking Lot, Raped Her In Maryland: Police A rideshare driver who allegedly raped and kidnapped a teenage passenger has been apprehended, police say. Now, members of the Montgomery County Police Department are worried there may be other victims. Lanham resident Abdoulaye Dia is facing a host of charges following an investigation into an alleged sexual assault. According to police, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, first responders were called to an area hospital to investigate a reported rape that occurred earlier in the day. Officers spoke with the victim, a teenage girl under the age of 18, who reported that she had been raped by an Empower…

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by Zak Failla
Woodbridge, VA
Breaking News
Belt Buckle Beating Leaves Man Hospitalized After Woodbridge Restaurant Argument: Police Belt Buckle Beating Leaves Man Hospitalized After Woodbridge Restaurant Argument: Police Belt Buckle Beating Leaves Man Hospitalized After Woodbridge Restaurant Argument: Police
Belt Buckle Beating Leaves Man Hospitalized After Woodbridge Restaurant Argument: Police Talk about getting belted. A late-night argument inside a Virginia restaurant took a bizarre turn when a patron allegedly pulled off his belt and used the buckle to beat another man before taking off, police said. Officers were called to Almita’s Restaurant at 13418 Occoquan Road in Woodbridge shortly after 1 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 14, after the unusual encounter left a 30-year-old man injured. Police say the victim was inside the restaurant when he was approached by a man he didn’t know. Whatever was said between the two apparently struck a nerve. The verbal altercation escalated, and th…

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by Zak Failla
Annapolis, MD
Breaking News
Maryland Helicopter Crews Train To Pluck Stranded Animals From Places Rescuers Can't Reach Maryland Helicopter Crews Train To Pluck Stranded Animals From Places Rescuers Can't Reach Maryland Helicopter Crews Train To Pluck Stranded Animals From Places Rescuers Can't Reach
Maryland Helicopter Crews Train To Pluck Stranded Animals From Places Rescuers Can't Reach Not every rescue comes with two legs. Maryland helicopter crews spent Wednesday, Sept. 9, at Aberdeen Proving Ground learning how to reach and evacuate animals when disaster leaves them stranded somewhere traditional ground crews cannot go. The exercise brought together the Maryland Helicopter Aquatic Response Team, Maryland State Police Aviation Command, Maryland Army National Guard, Maryland Task Force 1 and Harford County Animal Control. The mission was straightforward: prepare for the animals that can get caught in the same floods, storms and other natural or man-made disasters that se…

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by Zak Failla
Annapolis, MD
Breaking News
115 MPH, 115 Months: Maryland Fugitive Gets Matching Prison Term After I-81 Chase: DOJ 115 MPH, 115 Months: Maryland Fugitive Gets Matching Prison Term After I-81 Chase: DOJ 115 MPH, 115 Months: Maryland Fugitive Gets Matching Prison Term After I-81 Chase: DOJ
115 MPH, 115 Months: Maryland Fugitive Gets Matching Prison Term After I-81 Chase: DOJ One month behind bars for every mile per hour. A Philly fugitive wanted out of Maryland who hit 115 mph while fleeing police in Virginia will now spend 115 months in federal prison, prosecutors announced on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Corey Frances Potter, 30, was sentenced following a February chase on I-81 that tore through a work zone before ending with his vehicle overturned in the median in Rockingham County. And what investigators found after the crash only made things worse. Potter was heading north from Roanoke toward Winchester when law enforcement caught up with him and attempted a tra…

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by Zak Failla
Silver Spring, MD
Breaking News
Silver Spring Driver Hit 84 MPH Before Killing Elderly Woman Heading Home From Church Silver Spring Driver Hit 84 MPH Before Killing Elderly Woman Heading Home From Church Silver Spring Driver Hit 84 MPH Before Killing Elderly Woman Heading Home From Church
Silver Spring Driver Hit 84 MPH Before Killing Elderly Woman Heading Home From Church Nineteen years of Jesica Argueta's sentence won't be spent behind bars. The 24-year-old Maryland driver who was going more than twice the speed limit when she caused a crash that killed an 85-year-old woman heading home from church has been ordered to serve just one year in prison. Jesica Argueta, 24, of Silver Spring, was sentenced on Wednesday, Sept. 16, to 20 years, with all but one year suspended, following her guilty plea in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The sentence comes more than a year after a violent morning rush-hour crash that left Josephine Gieske fighting for her life. …

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by Zak Failla
Reston, VA
Breaking News
Covered In Blood, Dog Hair: Reston Man Stabbed His Dog 14 Times, Sheriff Says Covered In Blood, Dog Hair: Reston Man Stabbed His Dog 14 Times, Sheriff Says Covered In Blood, Dog Hair: Reston Man Stabbed His Dog 14 Times, Sheriff Says
Covered In Blood, Dog Hair: Reston Man Stabbed His Dog 14 Times, Sheriff Says A 34-year-old Virginia man whose dog jumped out of his vehicle in Maryland is facing charges after putting the animal down by stabbing it more than a dozen times. Deputies from the Frederick County Sheriff's Office were met with a grisly scene early on Thursday morning, when they found Reston resident Erfan Behnam on the side of the road covered in blood and dog hair. Shortly before 2 a.m. on Sept. 17, deputies were called to the 7900 block of Hollow Road when a passerby reported a disabled vehicle along the roadside with a driver who claimed he had run over his dog, killing it. The t…

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by Zak Failla
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