Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Investigative Journalist , Georgia
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon has traveled the globe in his pursuit to shine a light on important public issues and hold the powerful accountable. Alessandro’s journalism career began in Southeast Asia, where he covered the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia. There, he detailed the scourge of illicit narcotics on poor communities, chronicled the ecological security of the Mekong River and Tonle Sap Lake, and exposed the black-market trade of historical manuscripts pilfered from pagodas. Alessandro arrived in Georgia after working as an investigative reporter for the USA Today network in Florida, where his coverage of a combat veteran's death in police custody won state, regional and national press awards. Alessandro earned his bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Southern California. He enjoys cooking for his friends and learning about other cultures.
Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (State Affairs)
Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (State Affairs)
Georgians can compare the successes and failures of most government services when deciding where to live, but residents can’t easily know if their police department has a good track record when it comes to killing or seriously injuring people. Without authoritative data to inform better police practices, criminal justice reform is difficult to c...
Credit: Beau Evans (State Affairs)
Credit: Beau Evans (State Affairs)
Why is Georgia Spending Millions on a Task Force to Fight Criminal Gangs?
August 25, 2021
5 min read
A recent spate of homicides, in Atlanta in particular, has contributed to a general sense of unease over public safety in Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp has blamed criminal gangs as the main driver.Notorious national and transnational gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, the Central American gang MS-13 and the white nationalist gangs Ghostface Gangsters a...
Credit: Georgia House Budget and Research Office
Credit: Georgia House Budget and Research Office
Three years ago a ransomware attack hobbled the city of Atlanta, ultimately costing the city as much as $17 million. Two years ago an attack on the Department of Public safety meant that the Georgia State Patrol couldn’t access incident reports stored digitally. This past June Savannah’s largest hospital system had to revert to paper records aft...
Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (State Affairs)
Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (State Affairs)
Vic Reynolds leads the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), overseeing a nearly $280 million annual budget, directed towards law enforcement, assisting local police with criminal investigations through resources such as the crime lab and funding the state’s medical examiners.The GBI will also investigate officer-involved shootings and other se...
Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (State Affairs)
Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (State Affairs)
Georgia’s film tax credit is massive. How big? What Hollywood got in tax credits in 2019 was more than what the state spent on the Department of Public Health, and the combined budgets for State Troopers and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.No other state, including California and New York, spends as much as Georgia on incentives for the ente...
Illustration by Brittney Phan
Illustration by Brittney Phan
Georgia has been facing a shortage of nurses for years, but it’s a problem that has only grabbed headlines because of the COVID-19 pandemic that brought harrowing tales of overworked healthcare workers struggling to keep up with record amounts of death.The state's low vaccination rate, still below 50% of the eligible population, only adds to the...
Photo Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Photo Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Georgia's Governor has Nearly $5 Billion in Pandemic Relief to Spend. How Will He Use It?
November 11, 2021 4 min read
It’s been eight months since the American Rescue Plan (ARP) granted Georgia billions of dollars to spend. Where $4.8 billion worth of the money will go is up to one man: Gov. Brian Kemp. In most states, the legislature controls the distribution of federal funds. Georgia is just one of five states where the governor is left with sole discretion o...
House Speaker David Ralston calls to order the ...
House Speaker David Ralston calls to order the ...
Redistricting, the once-in-a-decade ritual that wrapped up this week in Georgia, may seem like political insider-baseball, and even the name might make your eyes glaze over. But the process, beset by accusations of gerrymandering and a lack of transparency, is hugely important: it determines the political future of your state, county and city fo...
Photo Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Photo Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Meet Tim Echols, Vice-chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission
December 22, 2021 5 min read
Tim Echols could be running a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Texas right now. Instead, he’s the vice-chair of a powerful state regulatory agency that keeps watch over big gas-and-electric companies like Georgia Power.
Illustration by Brittney Phan (State Affairs)
Illustration by Brittney Phan (State Affairs)
As half of Georgia's infrastructure nears its unofficial expiration date, businesses are pushing to increase the weight limits of trucks on Georgia roads. Already Georgia’s booming population and economic growth have put an unforeseen strain on infrastructure. It could be a crisis in the making if officials don’t act on the data.
Credit: Beau Evans (State Affairs)
Credit: Beau Evans (State Affairs)
As the Peach State moves past 2021, State Affairs took a moment to reflect on what events of the past year are most likely to have a continued impact on Georgia’s people, politics, and policy in 2022. From the pandemic to tax policy, a lot has impacted citizens across the state.
Vials of COVID-19 vaccine. Credit: U.S. Army Na...
Vials of COVID-19 vaccine. Credit: U.S. Army Na...
State Affairs tried answering the question: what is the measurable cost of nearly half of us in Georgia choosing not to be vaccinated? Since June, when vaccines were widely available, that figure likely exceeds $460 million in the direct cost of preventable hospitalizations.