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

Woodbridge, VA
Breaking News
3 Killed After SUV Slams Into Oxygen Tank Truck On I-66, Drivers Charged: Virginia State Police 3 Killed After SUV Slams Into Oxygen Tank Truck On I-66, Drivers Charged: Virginia State Police
3 Killed After SUV Slams Into Oxygen Tank Truck On I-66, Drivers Charged: Virginia State Police Three people are dead. Now two drivers are facing charges. Virginia State Police confirmed on Monday, Sept. 7, that reckless driving charges have been filed following a fiery crash that killed all three people inside a Honda Pilot on I-66 a day earlier. The crash happened around 4:10 p.m. Sunday on the westbound I-66 Express Lanes near mile marker 64.3 in Fairfax. At 4:10 p.m., VSP responded to a fatal, multi-vehicle crash on westbound I-66 in the express lanes at the 64.2-mile marker in Fairfax County. Troopers are currently working on identifying the deceased and notifying next of ki…

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by Zak Failla
Woodbridge, VA
Breaking News
She Was In Her Third Trimester When A Virginia Driver Hit Her And Kept Going In Woodbridge: PD She Was In Her Third Trimester When A Virginia Driver Hit Her And Kept Going In Woodbridge: PD
She Was In Her Third Trimester When A Virginia Driver Hit Her And Kept Going In Woodbridge: PD She was in her third trimester when a driver hit her and kept going. A 24-year-old pregnant woman and a 28-year-old man were walking through a parking lot in Woodbridge at around 9:42 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3, when they were struck by a dark-colored pickup truck, according to the Prince William County Police Department. The driver never stopped. Both victims were rushed to an area hospital with injuries from the crash, but doctors were also fighting for another life. The woman, who police said was in her third trimester of pregnancy, underwent an emergency procedure that resulted in her …

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by Zak Failla
Germantown, MD
Breaking News
Germantown Dad's Broken Light Led To Traffic Stop, ICE Detention, Family Says Germantown Dad's Broken Light Led To Traffic Stop, ICE Detention, Family Says
Germantown Dad's Broken Light Led To Traffic Stop, ICE Detention, Family Says A broken vehicle light shouldn't turn a family's life upside down. But a traffic stop in Maryland ended with the Aquino family's sole provider in ICE custody, leaving his wife and five children without the man they say has spent years holding their household together. The Germantown family says Aquino was stopped by police over a faulty light on his vehicle. That stop ended with him in federal custody. The family believes he was unfairly targeted. Their future is uncertain. It remains unclear why ICE took Aquino into custody, his family says, and they are unsure why he remains detain…

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by Zak Failla
Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
Trooper Takes The Hit To Stop Wrong-Way Driver From Reaching Motorists In Maryland: State PD Trooper Takes The Hit To Stop Wrong-Way Driver From Reaching Motorists In Maryland: State PD
Trooper Takes The Hit To Stop Wrong-Way Driver From Reaching Motorists In Maryland: State PD A suspected impaired driver turned a Maryland highway into Toad's Turnpike Saturday night. Cambridge resident Joshua Jorette, 36, is facing charges following a chaotic sequence of events that saw him drive the wrong way on Route 13 for miles before crashing into a Maryland State Police cruiser whose driver took one for the team. Shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, troopers received multiple reports of a Ford pickup truck heading north in the southbound lanes of the Salisbury Bypass. Then things got curious. A trooper near the Johnson Road overpass located the vehicle and attemp…

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by Zak Failla
Jessup, MD
Breaking News
Driver Hits Maryland Police Cruiser, Takes Off Before Deadly Crash Mile Away In Jessup: AG Driver Hits Maryland Police Cruiser, Takes Off Before Deadly Crash Mile Away In Jessup: AG
Driver Hits Maryland Police Cruiser, Takes Off Before Deadly Crash Mile Away In Jessup: AG A hit-run involving a Maryland police cruiser turned deadly about a mile down the road. It began around 2:17 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 6, when a 2018 Infiniti Q60 struck an occupied Howard County Police Department vehicle that was parked in the 7100 block of Montevideo Road in Jessup, police said. The Infiniti didn't stop. An officer pursued the fleeing car for approximately a mile before it ran off the road and slammed into a retaining wall, according to the Maryland Attorney General's Office. One person inside the Infiniti was pronounced dead at the scene. Two others survived and were take…

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by Zak Failla
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
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