Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

[email protected]

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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

Alexandria, VA
Breaking News
4-Year-Old Found Underwater After Neighbors Rush Into Virginia Pond To Save Him (DEVELOPING) 4-Year-Old Found Underwater After Neighbors Rush Into Virginia Pond To Save Him (DEVELOPING)
4-Year-Old Found Underwater After Neighbors Rush Into Virginia Pond To Save Him (Developing) Three calls came in over 10 frantic minutes in Virginia. The last one sent everyone racing toward a pond. It began at approximately 10:15 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 17, when a Fauquier County resident called 911 after spotting a small child walking across his property on security cameras, according to the sheriff's office. The boy's parents called next to report their 4-year-old missing. Then a neighbor several hundred yards up the street called with the most alarming report yet: He had seen a small child jump into a pond. A deputy who had already reached the property where the boy was first s…

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by Zak Failla
Sterling, VA
Breaking News
$400K Camel Caravan Gets Corralled After Strange Shipment Arrives At Dulles Airport: CBP $400K Camel Caravan Gets Corralled After Strange Shipment Arrives At Dulles Airport: CBP
$400K Camel Caravan Gets Corralled After Strange Shipment Arrives At Dulles Airport: CBP A $400,000 shipment of bogus Camel cigarettes just went up in smoke in Virginia. US Customs and Border Protection officers seized 2,250 cartons of counterfeit Camels at Washington Dulles International Airport that could have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if authenticated, federal authorities announced on Friday, Aug. 21. The shipment initially arrived from Singapore in July, with 45 boxes labeled “Camel Yellow Cigarettes,” destined for an address in Miami. Each box contained 50 cartons of Camel-branded cigarettes. According to officials, CBP officers detained …

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by Zak Failla
Hyattsville, MD
Breaking News
Hyattsville Teen Charged As Adult After Stabbing Coworker During Workplace Dispute: Sheriff Hyattsville Teen Charged As Adult After Stabbing Coworker During Workplace Dispute: Sheriff
Hyattsville Teen Charged As Adult After Stabbing Coworker During Workplace Dispute: Sheriff A 17-year-old in Maryland is being charged as an adult after an argument turned physical, according to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. Shortly before 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, deputies were called to the 7200 block of Bank Court in Frederick to investigate a reported stabbing. Upon arrival, investigators say they found a man suffering from multiple stab wounds to his arm, chest, and stomach. He was taken to an area hospital for treatment and listed in stable condition on Friday, Aug. 21. It is alleged that Hyattsville resident Darwin Orlando Martinez-Serrano got into a ve…

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by Zak Failla
Manassas, VA
Breaking News
Woodbridge Food Lion Worker Groped, Grabbed By Wanted Virginia Man During Shift, Police Say Woodbridge Food Lion Worker Groped, Grabbed By Wanted Virginia Man During Shift, Police Say
Woodbridge Food Lion Worker Groped, Grabbed By Wanted Virginia Man During Shift, Police Say A late-night shift at a Virginia grocery store took a disturbing turn. Officers were called to the Food Lion on Dillingham Square in Woodbridge at 9:09 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, after a 35-year-old employee reported being sexually assaulted inside the store, according to Prince William County Police. Investigators say the woman was working when she was approached by a man later identified as 41-year-old Dumfries resident Matthew Stephen Porcelli. During the encounter, Porcelli allegedly touched the employee inappropriately and grabbed her arm before leaving the area in a vehicle, police s…

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by Zak Failla
Rockville, MD
Breaking News
4-Year-Old Survives Rockville Crash That Killed Mom, Leaving Dad To Raise Him Alone 4-Year-Old Survives Rockville Crash That Killed Mom, Leaving Dad To Raise Him Alone
4-Year-Old Survives Rockville Crash That Killed Mom, Leaving Dad To Raise Him Alone At just 4 years old, Adam Bouziri's whole world changed in a matter of seconds while walking with his mother along a Maryland roadway. He survived. She did not. Bouziri remains hospitalized following the crash in Rockville on Monday, Aug. 17, which claimed the life of 44-year-old Raoudha Khelifi. Now his family is facing a new future they never could have planned for. Khelifi was walking with her son near Chapman Avenue and Twinbrook Parkway at approximately 8:25 p.m. when they were struck by a vehicle, Montgomery County Police said. Both were rushed to an area hospital, where …

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by Zak Failla
Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Friday Traffic Nightmare Builds After Crash Shuts I-270 Lanes, Exit Ramp (DEVELOPING) Friday Traffic Nightmare Builds After Crash Shuts I-270 Lanes, Exit Ramp (DEVELOPING)
Friday Traffic Nightmare Builds After Crash Shuts I-270 Lanes, Exit Ramp (Developing) The Friday afternoon ride through Maryland hit an early snag. A two-vehicle crash on southbound I-270 before Exit 12 for Watkins Mill Road in Montgomery County was tying up traffic on Aug. 21, shutting down half of the highway's travel lanes and the exit ramp heading toward DC. The crash was reported at approximately 11:45 a.m., according to Maryland's CHART traffic system. Two of the four southbound travel lanes were closed as responders worked at the scene. The right deceleration lane leading toward Watkins Mill Road was also blocked, along with the right shoulder and the southbound exi…

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by Zak Failla
Bowie, MD
Breaking News
Gunfire Rocks 'Historic' Bowie Neighborhood, Leaving Woman With Critical Injuries: Police Gunfire Rocks 'Historic' Bowie Neighborhood, Leaving Woman With Critical Injuries: Police
Gunfire Rocks 'Historic' Bowie Neighborhood, Leaving Woman With Critical Injuries: Police The man wanted for a shooting that left a mother in critical condition in a historic Maryland neighborhood has been apprehended, authorities announced. Kimball Alton Hinton Jr., 41, is facing a host of charges following a reported shooting in Bowie on Thursday afternoon that sent a woman to the hospital with serious injuries. Officers from the Bowie Police Department were called to investigate reports of shots fired around 4:20 p.m. on Aug. 20 in the 8500 block of Myrtle Avenue. Upon arrival, they found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound to her upper body. She was rushed to an area hos…

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by Zak Failla
Woodbridge, VA
Breaking News
Fake Cop? Manassas Man Busted After Trying To Enter Secured Police Station Fake Cop? Manassas Man Busted After Trying To Enter Secured Police Station
Fake Cop? Manassas Man Busted After Trying To Enter Secured Police Station Matthew Bailey Thompson picked the wrong place and the wrong time to pose as a police officer in Virginia. On Wednesday, Aug. 19, officers from the Prince William County Police Department were called to investigate a person claiming to be a cop attempting to enter a secured area of the agency's Central District Station in Woodbridge. It was determined that Thompson, 45, allegedly drove up to a rear gate at the facility and claimed to be an officer attempting to enter the secured area. Thompson was denied entry and left. He was arrested the following day during the investigation and charged…

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by Zak Failla
Waldorf, MD
Your Community
$50K Powerball Ticket Sold In Waldorf Misses $1M Prize By One Number $50K Powerball Ticket Sold In Waldorf Misses $1M Prize By One Number
$50K Powerball Ticket Sold In Waldorf Misses $1M Prize By One Number A Powerball player in Maryland came one number away from a much bigger payday. The $50,000 winning ticket from the Wednesday, Aug. 19 drawing was sold at Korner Liquors on Old Washington Road in Waldorf, according to the Maryland Lottery. The player matched four of the five white balls plus the Powerball, good for the game's third-tier prize. The winning numbers were 10-21-58-61-64, with Powerball 17. Had that ticket matched the fifth white ball instead of the Powerball, it would have been worth $1 million. Matching all five white balls and the Powerball would have delivered the jackpot. …

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
DC Sex Offender Who Ditched Ankle Monitor, Fled Maryland Halfway House Learns Prison Fate DC Sex Offender Who Ditched Ankle Monitor, Fled Maryland Halfway House Learns Prison Fate
DC Sex Offender Who Ditched Ankle Monitor, Fled Maryland Halfway House Learns Prison Fate A sex offender from DC who escaped federal custody in Maryland while serving time at a halfway house is heading back to prison. Ronnie Holmes, 42, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for escaping from federal custody and failing to register as a sex offender, authorities announced. In June 2013, Holmes was convicted of sex trafficking a child and then received a 168-month sentence, followed by five years of supervised release.  As a result of the conviction, Holmes is a Tier II sex offender and is required to register for 25 years. In January 2025, after serving …

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by Zak Failla
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