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

Lexington Park, MD
Breaking News
Former Maryland Teacher Sexually Abused, Exploited Student While On School Staff: Sheriff Former Maryland Teacher Sexually Abused, Exploited Student While On School Staff: Sheriff Former Maryland Teacher Sexually Abused, Exploited Student While On School Staff: Sheriff
Former Maryland Teacher Sexually Abused, Exploited Student While On School Staff: Sheriff A former educator in Maryland who preyed on a student is facing a host of charges following his arrest, authorities announced. Chance Michael Hogue was taken into custody following a weeks-long investigation into reports of sexual abuse involving a child in Wicomico County. According to the sheriff's office, detectives developed evidence that Hogue sexually abused and exploited the victim during the time he was employed by Wicomico County Public Schools. The victim was a student at Wicomico High School, where Hogue was employed as a teacher. Investigators determined that Hogue began …

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by Zak Failla
Sterling, VA
Breaking News
Khat's Going On? Nearly 2,400 Pounds Seized In Wild Run Of Busts At Dulles, BWI Airports Khat's Going On? Nearly 2,400 Pounds Seized In Wild Run Of Busts At Dulles, BWI Airports Khat's Going On? Nearly 2,400 Pounds Seized In Wild Run Of Busts At Dulles, BWI Airports
Khat's Going On? Nearly 2,400 Pounds Seized In Wild Run Of Busts At Dulles, BWI Airports At this point, khat smugglers seem determined to keep DMV airport officers busy. Another 764 pounds of the leafy stimulant turned up in passenger luggage at Washington Dulles International Airport on Thursday, Aug. 20, leading to two arrests and pushing a remarkable recent run of seizures at Dulles and BWI to nearly 2,400 pounds, according to US Customs and Border Protection. CBP officers assigned to Dulles International Airport discovered 764 pounds of khat, a controlled substance, in the suitcases of two men arriving from overseas. CBP This time, two men allegedly arrived separate…

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by Zak Failla
Lutherville-Timonium, MD
Breaking News
Multiple Patients Hospitalized After Possible Mercury Spill In Lutherville (DEVELOPING) Multiple Patients Hospitalized After Possible Mercury Spill In Lutherville (DEVELOPING) Multiple Patients Hospitalized After Possible Mercury Spill In Lutherville (DEVELOPING)
Multiple Patients Hospitalized After Possible Mercury Spill In Lutherville (Developing) Something potentially hazardous sent multiple people to the hospital in Maryland on Friday afternoon. Baltimore County firefighters responded to the 8600 block of Tower Bridge Way in Lutherville for a reported hazardous materials incident involving a possible mercury spill on Aug. 28, according to the department. Multiple patients were transported from the scene for evaluation and decontamination, fire officials said. Exactly how many people were taken to the hospital and their conditions, were not immediately disclosed. Officials also have not said what led to the possible spill, how…

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by Zak Failla
Aberdeen, MD
Breaking News
$80K Discovery Lands Aberdeen Man Behind Bars After Months-Long Drug Probe: Sheriff $80K Discovery Lands Aberdeen Man Behind Bars After Months-Long Drug Probe: Sheriff $80K Discovery Lands Aberdeen Man Behind Bars After Months-Long Drug Probe: Sheriff
$80K Discovery Lands Aberdeen Man Behind Bars After Months-Long Drug Probe: Sheriff More than $80,000 worth of drugs are off the streets, and a suspected dealer is behind bars following a months-long investigation in Maryland. Aberdeen resident Kevin G. Scott Jr., 35, is facing a host of charges following a probe into reports of illegal narcotics being distributed from an apartment complex in June, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. Detectives identified Scott as the primary suspect during the investigation and developed probable cause to search him and his home, the sheriff's office said. On Tuesday, Aug. 25, members of the Harford County Task Force execut…

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by Zak Failla
Elkton, MD
Breaking News
Woman Found Dead In Cecilton Home Was Asphyxiated; Man Now Charged With Her Murder: Police Woman Found Dead In Cecilton Home Was Asphyxiated; Man Now Charged With Her Murder: Police Woman Found Dead In Cecilton Home Was Asphyxiated; Man Now Charged With Her Murder: Police
Woman Found Dead In Cecilton Home Was Asphyxiated; Man Now Charged With Her Murder: Police What began as a medical emergency in Maryland is now a murder case. Jason Timothy Simpson, 28, of Cecilton, was arrested Thursday morning, nearly 10 weeks after 28-year-old Ashley Silverman was found dead inside a home on West Main Street, Maryland State Police announced Friday. The case dates back to around 1:45 a.m. on June 18, when troopers from the Maryland State Police North East Barrack were called to the 100 block of West Main Street for a report of a person in medical distress. Inside, they found Silverman. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Simpson was also at the residence w…

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by Zak Failla
Upper Marlboro, MD
Breaking News
District Heights. Father Supplied Son With Fentanyl Before $1.7M Maryland Drug Bust, Feds Say District Heights. Father Supplied Son With Fentanyl Before $1.7M Maryland Drug Bust, Feds Say District Heights. Father Supplied Son With Fentanyl Before $1.7M Maryland Drug Bust, Feds Say
District Heights. Father Supplied Son With Fentanyl Before $1.7M Maryland Drug Bust, Feds Say Like father, like son, federal prosecutors say. A Maryland father and son are facing federal charges after a months-long fentanyl investigation culminated on Thursday, Aug. 27, with searches that allegedly turned up approximately $1.7 million worth of drugs, according to the US Attorney's Office. Rashad Deondre Hicks, 36, of Largo, and his father, Lawrence Alonzo Hicks, 62, of District Heights, were arrested following an investigation that prosecutors say began in January. Investigators initially set their sights on the younger Hicks, who authorities believed was moving large quantities of…

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by Zak Failla
Woodbridge, VA
Breaking News
17 Years, Thousands Of Videos: Woodbridge Man Admits Secretly Filming Kids In Bathroom: Feds 17 Years, Thousands Of Videos: Woodbridge Man Admits Secretly Filming Kids In Bathroom: Feds 17 Years, Thousands Of Videos: Woodbridge Man Admits Secretly Filming Kids In Bathroom: Feds
17 Years, Thousands Of Videos: Woodbridge Man Admits Secretly Filming Kids In Bathroom: Feds For nearly two decades, children inside a Virginia home had no idea they were being watched. Jackson Quentin Crocker, 54, of Woodbridge, admitted in federal court on Thursday, Aug. 27, that he secretly recorded minors inside his bathroom for years, ultimately creating thousands of videos, according to federal prosecutors. Crocker, a former employee of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sexual abuse material. The hidden recordings dated back to at least March 2008. According to court…

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by Zak Failla
Silver Spring, MD
Obituaries
'Gentle Giant': Beloved MCPS Bus Driver Remembered After Heart Attack On Final Route 'Gentle Giant': Beloved MCPS Bus Driver Remembered After Heart Attack On Final Route 'Gentle Giant': Beloved MCPS Bus Driver Remembered After Heart Attack On Final Route
'Gentle Giant': Beloved Mcps Bus Driver Remembered After Heart Attack On Final Route Tuesday morning, Rodney Givens was right where generations of Maryland schoolchildren had come to expect him. Behind the wheel. Hours later, the longtime Montgomery County Public Schools bus driver, husband, father and union leader was gone after suffering what his family says was a heart attack while driving his bus on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Givens was driving MCPS Route 4105 when the medical emergency struck shortly after 3 p.m., according to his family and police. The bus crashed into a utility pole near Central Avenue and Route 355. There were no students aboard, and nobody else was in…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Your Community
Virginia's Justus Kelley Makes History As First Mother To Win Miss USA Virginia's Justus Kelley Makes History As First Mother To Win Miss USA Virginia's Justus Kelley Makes History As First Mother To Win Miss USA
Virginia's Justus Kelley Makes History As First Mother To Win Miss USA Virginia waited more than half a century for another Miss USA. The wait ended in historic fashion on Thursday, Aug. 27, when Miss Virginia USA Justus Kelley was crowned Miss USA 2026 during the 75th edition of the pageant in Miami. Kelley, 31, became the first mother and first married woman to win the Miss USA title, according to People and Business Insider. She is also reportedly the first woman in her 30s to win. And she ended quite the drought back home. Kelley became the first woman representing Virginia to win Miss USA since Deborah Shelton took the crown in 1970, according to B…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
DOJ Says George Washington University Medical School Discriminated By Race In Admissions DOJ Says George Washington University Medical School Discriminated By Race In Admissions DOJ Says George Washington University Medical School Discriminated By Race In Admissions
DOJ Says George Washington University Medical School Discriminated By Race In Admissions George Washington University is facing a serious accusation from the Justice Department. Federal civil rights investigators announced on Thursday, Aug. 27, that they found the DC-based university's School of Medicine and Health Sciences intentionally discriminated based on race when deciding who would get into its 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. According to the Justice Department, the medical school's admissions practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and ran afoul of the US Supreme Court's 2023 ruling barring race-based admissions in higher education. Investigators sa…

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by Zak Failla
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