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Thursday, may 1

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

Business

Bread Recalled After Glass Found On Loaves In Pennsylvania, 5 Other States, FDA Says Check your freezer — a Maryland-based bakery has issued a multi-state bread recall after glass was found on top of frozen loaves, federal officials say. Three types of frozen bread shipped to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and three other states are being recalled after fragments of glass were discovered on top of the products, according to a new alert from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bread was produced by Upper Crust Bakery LP, headquartered on Holladay Tyler Road in Glenn Dale, Maryland. No injuries had been as of late April, officials said, but the firm voluntar…

by Zak Failla

04/30/2025

Obituaries

Suitland Mom Of 7 Mourned After Boyfriend Kills Her In Shooting: ‘She Had A Beautiful Spirit’ Neri Moreno Gratini was a mother of seven, full of love and joy. Now her loved ones are grieving an unimaginable loss. Family and friends are mourning the death of Moreno Gratini, a devoted mother who police say was shot and killed by her boyfriend in her Maryland home before he turned the gun on himself while fleeing police on the Capital Beltway. Officers with Prince George’s County Police responded to the couple’s Suitland home shortly after 4:15 a.m. on April 28 for a reported shooting. Inside, they found Moreno Gratini suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced d…

by Zak Failla

04/30/2025

Police & Fire

After A Life Of Service, Retired Baltimore Officer Faces Hardest Fight Yet: Losing His Leg He spent his career protecting others — now his family is hoping the community will rally to help him. A retired Baltimore City police officer is facing one of the hardest fights of his life following a surgical amputation of his right leg, and his daughters are asking for help. Mark Perzan recently underwent the life-changing surgery after complications related to a long-term infection, prompting his daughter, Brittany Perzan, to launch a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for home renovations, medical equipment and post-surgical care. “Our dad is a retired Baltimore City police officer and…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

Politics

Twice-Deported Man Accused Of Abducting, Strangling Woman In Virginia: ICE Wilmer Ramos-Giron was deported — twice. He came back — again. Now he's accused of choking and abducting a woman in Virginia. A Guatemalan national who was previously deported twice is in custody again after being arrested in Chantilly and charged with abduction, assault, and felony strangulation, federal officials announced. Wilmer Ramos-Giron, 34, was taken into custody on April 24 by officers from ICE Washington, DC and the Virginia State Police, according to ICE. Ramos-Giron, who has a past federal firearms conviction, had already been deported from the US in 2012 and again in 2020, bu…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

Police & Fire

Woman Used Threatening Note To Rob Annandale Bank Before Being Apprehended, Police Say She handed over a note — and walked out with cash. An Alexandria woman is facing charges after allegedly robbing a bank in Fairfax County using a threatening note, police said. Vicky Vien Phung, 36, was arrested Monday after detectives linked her to a robbery at a bank in the 7000 block of Little River Turnpike in Annandale, according to Fairfax County Police. Officers responded to the bank at around noon on April 28, after a woman entered, handed a note to the teller, and demanded money. The note, police said, included a threat to harm the teller if they didn’t comply — though no weapon w…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

Traffic

What Happens When Drivers Ignore 344 Tickets? DC Suing Brandywine Man To Find Out He racked up nearly five speeding tickets a week — now he’s being taken to court. A Maryland man with more than 300 traffic tickets — including 61 for flying more than 30 MPH over the speed limit — is being sued by the DC Attorney General for what officials are calling one of the most dangerous traffic records in recent memory. Charles V. Sanders Jr., of Brandywine, owes $187,200 in unpaid fines tied to 344 traffic citations in DC, most of them for excessive speeding, according to Attorney General Brian Schwalb. From March 2021 to July 2022, Sanders averaged nearly five speeding violations…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

Politics

Maryland AG Brown Fights Trump Over Elimination Of Key AmeriCorps Services Thousands of Marylanders could lose access to education, housing, environmental programs, and senior services after the Trump administration abruptly gutted AmeriCorps, Attorney General Anthony Brown said Tuesday. On Tuesday, April 29, Brown announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to dismantle AmeriCorps — a move that wiped out more than $12 million in Maryland-based programs overnight. “This is a direct attack on the communities that rely on national service to survive and thrive,” Brown said in a statement. “In Maryland alone, programs that educate children,…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

Obituaries

Virginia Woman Killed In Crash Remembered For Love Of Animals, Art, Nature A community is mourning a young woman known for her creativity, love of animals, and bright spirit after she was tragically killed in a Virginia crash. Alysia Marie Coffelt, 28, of Edinburg, died Friday, April 25, from injuries she sustained in a three-vehicle crash along John Marshall Highway, Virginia State Police said. The crash happened at 8:35 a.m. just east of Back Road when a Ford F-250 crossed the double solid yellow centerline, sideswiping a Subaru Outback and then colliding head-on with the Toyota Camry Coffelt was driving. Coffelt, who was not wearing a seatbelt, died at t…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

Schools

Woodbridge Teen Secretly Filmed Girls, Inappropriately Touched Classmate At School: Police A Virginia high school student is facing serious charges after authorities say he secretly recorded female classmates and inappropriately touched one during the school day. On Tuesday, April 29, a 17-year-old from Woodbridge was arrested after a School Resource Officer’s investigation at C.D. Hylton High School in Prince William County, police announced. The officer was first notified on April 22 that a student had been filming others without their consent inside the school, located on Spriggs Road in Woodbridge. According to the Prince William County Police Department, the probe found tha…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

News

Sex Trafficker Instructed Victim To Abuse 4-Year-Old From Behind Bars In Frederick A Maryland man will spend decades behind bars after grooming and sex trafficking a woman, then advising his victim to sexually abuse a child from jail, authorities announced. Arcelius Dunbar Lyle, 57, of Hagerstown, was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to sex abuse of a minor and sex trafficking in Frederick. According to the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office, an investigation into sex trafficking determined that Lyle met his victim at work and began grooming her shortly after that. Prosecutors said that he trafficked her for approximately seven months&n…

by Zak Failla

04/29/2025

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