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

Sterling, VA
Breaking News
Coast Guard Pilots Make First Single-Engine Landing At DCA With DHS Secretary Aboard Coast Guard Pilots Make First Single-Engine Landing At DCA With DHS Secretary Aboard Coast Guard Pilots Make First Single-Engine Landing At DCA With DHS Secretary Aboard
Coast Guard Pilots Make First Single-Engine Landing At DCA With DHS Secretary Aboard The pilots who safely brought a disabled Coast Guard jet back to the ground in Virginia had never done it before. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Coast Guard pilots told him after Wednesday, Sept. 2's emergency landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that it was their first time landing on a single engine. “The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single engine landing feel routine,” Mullin said in a post on X. “No panic, just straight professionalism.” The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single engine landing feel routine. No panic, jus…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
DC Stranger Tried Striking Up Conversation Before Violent Carjacking In Arlington, Police Say DC Stranger Tried Striking Up Conversation Before Violent Carjacking In Arlington, Police Say DC Stranger Tried Striking Up Conversation Before Violent Carjacking In Arlington, Police Say
DC Stranger Tried Striking Up Conversation Before Violent Carjacking In Arlington, Police Say She followed her victim all the way to the car. A 26-year-old District woman is behind bars in Virginia after police say she threatened a woman, stole her keys and took off in her vehicle during a Sunday night carjacking in Arlington. Leah Elaine Johnson approached the woman from behind as she walked through the Colonial Village neighborhood shortly before 5 p.m. on Aug. 31, according to Arlington County Police on Wednesday. At first, Johnson allegedly tried to strike up a conversation. The woman kept walking toward her vehicle. Johnson followed. Then came the threat, police say. Inves…

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Rambo Left A Virginia Shelter Healthy, 2 Months Later He Was Beaten, Broken And Dumped: PETA Rambo Left A Virginia Shelter Healthy, 2 Months Later He Was Beaten, Broken And Dumped: PETA Rambo Left A Virginia Shelter Healthy, 2 Months Later He Was Beaten, Broken And Dumped: PETA
Rambo Left A Virginia Shelter Healthy, 2 Months Later He Was Beaten, Broken And Dumped: PETA Rambo looked like a different dog two months later. The tiny Yorkshire terrier had been healthy and bright-eyed when he was adopted from a Virginia shelter in May.  By the night of Wednesday, July 29, he was found dumped in a Norfolk field with broken bones, traumatic injuries, and so much fear that he panicked when people came near him, according to PETA. Now Rambo is dead, and a reward of up to $10,000 is being offered to find whoever abused him. A witness told PETA that a woman believed to be in her 30s pulled Rambo from a carrier near Armistead Avenue and East 24th Street, left h…

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by Zak Failla
Towson, MD
Breaking News
Police Activity Shuts Down I-695 Outer Loop In Maryland As Traffic Backs Up (DEVELOPING) Police Activity Shuts Down I-695 Outer Loop In Maryland As Traffic Backs Up (DEVELOPING) Police Activity Shuts Down I-695 Outer Loop In Maryland As Traffic Backs Up (DEVELOPING)
Police Activity Shuts Down I-695 Outer Loop In Maryland As Traffic Backs Up (Developing) The Beltway came to a standstill in Maryland on Wednesday afternoon. All three travel lanes of the I-695 Outer Loop were shut down in Baltimore County shortly after 2 p.m. on Sept. 2 due to police activity, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation. The incident was reported shortly before 2:15 p.m. past Exit 11A for I-95, near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. All three Outer Loop travel lanes were closed, along with both shoulders and the right exit ramp, according to the alert. The Inner Loop remained open. Traffic cameras showed a long line of vehicles backed up behind t…

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by Zak Failla
Taneytown-Union Bridge, MD
Your Community
Dog Kills Aggressive Raccoon That Tests Positive For Rabies In Taneytown, Officials Say Dog Kills Aggressive Raccoon That Tests Positive For Rabies In Taneytown, Officials Say Dog Kills Aggressive Raccoon That Tests Positive For Rabies In Taneytown, Officials Say
Dog Kills Aggressive Raccoon That Tests Positive For Rabies In Taneytown, Officials Say This dog picked a fight with the wrong raccoon. An aggressive raccoon killed by a dog in Maryland later tested positive for rabies, prompting health officials to warn that other pets or people may have encountered the infected animal before its death. Carroll County Animal Control was called to the area near York Street and the Route 140 crossing in Taneytown on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 27, after the dog killed the raccoon, according to the county Health Department. Testing later confirmed the raccoon was rabid. Now health officials are trying to determine whether anyone else cross…

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Oily Rags Spontaneously Combust, Spark Fredericksburg House Fire: Officials Oily Rags Spontaneously Combust, Spark Fredericksburg House Fire: Officials Oily Rags Spontaneously Combust, Spark Fredericksburg House Fire: Officials
Oily Rags Spontaneously Combust, Spark Fredericksburg House Fire: Officials No match. No candle. No electrical spark. A pile of oily rags was enough to ignite a Virginia house fire on Sunday morning, according to fire officials. The flames broke out shortly after 7 a.m. on Aug. 31 at an occupied home in the 1200 block of Stafford Avenue in Fredericksburg, prompting a response from city firefighters and crews from Spotsylvania and Stafford counties. Everyone inside managed to get out on their own before firefighters arrived. No injuries were reported, and a secondary search confirmed nobody remained inside. The fire in Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg Fi…

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by Zak Failla
Triangle-Dumfries, VA
Breaking News
Man Who Followed 15-Year-Old Through Dumfries Target Arrested At Manassas Home: Police Man Who Followed 15-Year-Old Through Dumfries Target Arrested At Manassas Home: Police Man Who Followed 15-Year-Old Through Dumfries Target Arrested At Manassas Home: Police
Man Who Followed 15-Year-Old Through Dumfries Target Arrested At Manassas Home: Police He didn't stay unidentified for long. One day after a 15-year-old girl was followed through a Virginia Target by a man who exposed himself to her, police say they tracked their suspect to his home. Joel Robert Stevenson, 29, of Manassas, was arrested at his home on Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to the Prince William County Police Department. Stevenson is accused of following the teen through the Target at Fortuna Center Plaza in Dumfries shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31. Investigators say the girl was inside the store with acquaintances when she noticed a man she didn't know. Then …

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Forget Walter White: ‘BarbaraWhite’ Drug Case Began With Fatal Arlington Overdose Forget Walter White: ‘BarbaraWhite’ Drug Case Began With Fatal Arlington Overdose Forget Walter White: ‘BarbaraWhite’ Drug Case Began With Fatal Arlington Overdose
Forget Walter White: ‘BarbaraWhite’ Drug Case Began With Fatal Arlington Overdose The name sounded more like a “Breaking Bad” knockoff than an alleged darknet drug operation. Two Florida brothers accused of operating under the moniker “BarbaraWhite” were arrested after a fatal overdose in Virginia sparked a federal investigation, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The investigation began following a fatal overdose in Arlington, prosecutors said. What investigators say they ultimately uncovered stretched hundreds of miles south to Jacksonville. Vladislav Chernyshov, 35, and his younger brother, Stanislav Chernyshov, 30, allegedly …

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by Zak Failla
Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
Reported Shooting At Virginia Elementary School Prompts Evacuation, Lockdowns (DEVELOPING) Reported Shooting At Virginia Elementary School Prompts Evacuation, Lockdowns (DEVELOPING) Reported Shooting At Virginia Elementary School Prompts Evacuation, Lockdowns (DEVELOPING)
Reported Shooting At Virginia Elementary School Prompts Evacuation, Lockdowns (Developing) Cops flocked to an elementary school in Virginia after a shooting was reported Wednesday morning. Federal agents joined local and state authorities at Westwood Hills Elementary School in Waynesboro on Wednesday, Sept. 2, after what the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives described as a "reported shooting incident." The emergency unfolded Wednesday morning at the Rosser Avenue school, prompting a massive law enforcement response and the evacuation of students and staff. By 10:30 a.m., the Augusta County Sheriff's Office said the incident had been "contained and secured" and …

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by Zak Failla
Lusby, MD
Obituaries
'So Happy, So Innocent, So Small': Maryland Family Mourns Ezra Oliva-McMillan 'So Happy, So Innocent, So Small': Maryland Family Mourns Ezra Oliva-McMillan 'So Happy, So Innocent, So Small': Maryland Family Mourns Ezra Oliva-McMillan
'So Happy, So Innocent, So Small': Maryland Family Mourns Ezra Oliva-McMillan A Maryland family is facing the unimaginable after losing one of its smallest members. Ezra Davon Oliva-McMillan died on Thursday, Aug. 27, leaving behind a mother struggling to find the words, a father mourning his "happiest little man in the world," and a big sister who was rarely seen without him. The Lusby family is now raising money to lay Ezra to rest as tributes pour in for a little boy remembered for a smile that came easily and a laugh that was impossible to miss. "He was so happy, so innocent, so small," his mother, Sanaa Oliva, wrote after her son's death. "He was my everything.…

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by Zak Failla
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