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Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

zfailla@dailyvoice.com

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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

Police & Fire
Man Killed By Police After Stabbing 91-Year-Old In Woodbridge Senior Home: No Charges Filed Man Killed By Police After Stabbing 91-Year-Old In Woodbridge Senior Home: No Charges Filed
Man Killed By Police After Stabbing 91-Year-Old In Woodbridge Senior Home: No Charges Filed A deadly police shooting at a Virginia retirement community that left one man dead will not result in criminal charges, prosecutors announced. On Friday, June 27, the Prince William County Police Department confirmed that Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth found no wrongdoing by officers who fatally shot Joseph Anthony Cassell, 26, following a violent knife attack on his 91-year-old relative at the Westminster at Lake Ridge senior living community. The shooting happened on April 26, in the 12100 block of Clipper Drive in Woodbridge. Cassell reportedly attacked the elderly woman inside a r…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Freed Killer Sent Back To Prison For Threatening Witness In Drug Case: Frederick Officials Freed Killer Sent Back To Prison For Threatening Witness In Drug Case: Frederick Officials
Freed Killer Sent Back To Prison For Threatening Witness In Drug Case: Frederick Officials A convicted Maryland murderer who once received a life sentence is heading back to prison — this time for threatening a witness from behind bars after getting caught with drugs in Frederick County. Milton Jerome Stewart, 58, of Baltimore, was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Friday, June 27, for witness intimidation and obstruction of justice, officials said. Stewart had been found guilty of first-degree murder in Baltimore City in 2006 and was sentenced to life in prison. He was released in November 2021. Then, in March 2024, Stewart was arrested in Frederick County after deputies pulle…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
$22K In Cocaine, Fentanyl Seized During Carroll County Drug Ring Takedown, Officials Say $22K In Cocaine, Fentanyl Seized During Carroll County Drug Ring Takedown, Officials Say
$22K In Cocaine, Fentanyl Seized During Carroll County Drug Ring Takedown, Officials Say Two people are behind bars months after investigators uncovered a major drug and firearms operation in Maryland, authorities announced. Antonio Alfonso Liason, 38, and Jessica Brooke Smith, 47, both of Westminster, were arrested earlier this month, after detectives executed search warrants at six locations across Carroll County and Baltimore City, according to the Carroll County Drug and Firearms Trafficking Task Force. The takedown followed a six-month-long investigation that targeted the trafficking of large quantities of narcotics in and around the Carroll corridor and surrounding areas,…

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by Zak Failla
News
Doctor From Upper Marlboro Who Ran 45-State Pill Mill In DC Learns Prison Fate Doctor From Upper Marlboro Who Ran 45-State Pill Mill In DC Learns Prison Fate
Doctor From Upper Marlboro Who Ran 45-State Pill Mill In DC Learns Prison Fate A Maryland physician will spend nearly two decades behind bars for handing out addictive opioids to patients he barely examined — in what federal officials say was a massive pill mill operation that spanned the entire country. Ndubuisi Joseph Okafor, 65, of Upper Marlboro, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of illegally prescribing powerful drugs like oxycodone and promethazine with codeine to people using fake names — and collecting cash for each visit. The sentencing was announced by US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and follows Okafor’s March 21 conv…

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by Zak Failla
Schools
High School Students Fall Through Grate During Campus Tour At Virginia Tech High School Students Fall Through Grate During Campus Tour At Virginia Tech
High School Students Fall Through Grate During Campus Tour At Virginia Tech A campus tour turned chaotic when 10 high school students visiting Virginia Tech fell through a utility grate, university officials said. Ten high schoolers from Washington County Public Schools fell approximately six feet through a collapsed utility grate during a tour of Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus on Wednesday morning, June 26, 2025, officials said. The group had been observing Pamplin Hall when the incident happened near the atrium windows, officials said. The students were able to get themselves out. Emergency responders quickly arrived and assessed the students.  Seven we…

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by Zak Failla
News
Nepali Leader In DC Area Faces Stage 4 Cancer Battle After Brain Surgery Nepali Leader In DC Area Faces Stage 4 Cancer Battle After Brain Surgery
Nepali Leader In DC Area Faces Stage 4 Cancer Battle After Brain Surgery The Washington, DC-area Nepali community is coming together in support of a beloved cultural leader whose cancer diagnosis has shaken those she’s uplifted for more than a decade. Mahima Shakya, a pillar of the Nepali-American community in the DC region, is fighting for her life after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that has spread to her brain and spinal cord, according to a fundraiser created by the America Nepal Paramparagat Bouddha Dharma Sangha (ANPBDS). On May 27, Shakya underwent emergency brain surgery and has spent the last several weeks in the hospital navigating a difficu…

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by Zak Failla
News
Six Virginia Toddlers Drown In Pools Since Memorial Day, State Health Officials Warn Six Virginia Toddlers Drown In Pools Since Memorial Day, State Health Officials Warn
Six Virginia Toddlers Drown In Pools Since Memorial Day, State Health Officials Warn Six young children have drowned in Virginia swimming pools since Memorial Day — and the summer has barely started, health officials say. The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) confirmed that six children under the age of five have died in swimming pool drownings across the state since late May, exceeding the total number of young child pool deaths in each of the last three years. “We join with the families and communities grieving the loss of these young lives,” said State Health Commissioner Karen Shelton, MD. “These numbers are heartbreaking. Swimming and playing in pools can be fun, pa…

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by Zak Failla
News
$573K In Fake Rolexes, Designer Shades Seized Before Hitting Pennsylvania Streets: Feds $573K In Fake Rolexes, Designer Shades Seized Before Hitting Pennsylvania Streets: Feds
$573K In Fake Rolexes, Designer Shades Seized Before Hitting Pennsylvania Streets: Feds Not so fast. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in faux Rolexes and fake designer sunglasses didn’t make it past customs in Pittsburgh. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Pittsburgh intercepted a shipment of fake Rolex watches and knockoff luxury sunglasses valued at over half a million dollars before they could hit the streets, federal officials announced Thursday, June 26. The package, arriving from the United Arab Emirates and mislabeled as “Empty Poly Bag Ladies Hand Bag,” was flagged on April 27.  When officers opened it, they found 13 counterfeit Rolex watches and…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Man Dies After Being Restrained By Police During Mental Health Crisis In Baltimore: Officials Man Dies After Being Restrained By Police During Mental Health Crisis In Baltimore: Officials
Man Dies After Being Restrained By Police During Mental Health Crisis In Baltimore: Officials A Maryland man died after being restrained by police officers during a mental health crisis in Baltimore, according to state investigators. The Independent Investigations Division (IID) of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General is now reviewing the incident, which unfolded around 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24, at the intersection of West Franklin Street and North Franklintown Road, officials said. According to investigators, a man approached a Baltimore Police officer stopped at a traffic light in a marked cruiser. Investigators said the man appeared to be suffering from a mental healt…

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by Zak Failla
Traffic
Pedestrian Killed In Early Morning Crash In Maryland, State Police Say Pedestrian Killed In Early Morning Crash In Maryland, State Police Say
Pedestrian Killed In Early Morning Crash In Maryland, State Police Say A Maryland man was fatally struck while walking along a dark stretch of road in Worcester County, police said. Dehart Herbert Lamb, Jr., 69, of Snow Hill, was hit and killed in the area of Route 12 (Snow Hill Road) and Carmean Road early Friday morning, according to Maryland State Police. First responders were called just after 4:20 a.m. on June 27, where Lamb was pronounced dead at the scene by Snow Hill EMS, troopers said. The driver involved in the crash remained on the scene. Investigators said impairment is not believed to be a factor at this time. According to police, Lamb was walki…

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by Zak Failla
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