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NEW YORK TIMES: Ushered in amid promises that it would save taxpayers money and deter drug users, a Florida law requiring drug tests for people who seek welfare benefits resulted in no direct savings, snared few drug users and had no effect on the number of applications, according to recently released state data. This week, Georgia instituted a nearly identical law, with supporters saying it would foster greater personal responsibility and save money. From July through October in Florida — the four months when testing took place before Judge Scriven’s order — 2.6 percent of the state’s cash assistance applicants […]

We LOL’d and you will, too. Guaranteed. Or my name ain’t Nathan Arizona. H/T Scot D.

BILLBOARD: If you haven’t heard, Tupac was at Coachella on Sunday night! No, the rumors of the rapper being alive and in hiding aren’t true; the rumors that Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were going to re-create Pac as a hologram during their headlining performance on Sunday night were accurate, though, as the West Coast titans unveiled the radical visual midway through their set and let Faux-Pac perform “Hail Mary” and “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” before drifting back into the ether. The crowd had no idea what to do with the hologram. For one, its arrival came after Dre […]

INQUIRER: The Inquirer’s investigation of the climate of pervasive violence in Philadelphia’s public schools Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the profession’s most prestigious honor. The award is the 19th Pulitzer Prize for the 183-year-old newspaper and its first since 1997. The seven-part series, “Assault on Learning,” revealed that violence in city schools was widespread and underreported, with 30,000 serious incidents over the last five school years. Those findings were later corroborated by a Philadelphia School District blue-ribbon panel on safety, spurred an overhaul of incident reporting in the district, and prompted the hiring of a state-funded safe-schools […]

FRESH AIR Sadakat Kadri is an English barrister, a Muslim by birth and a historian. His first book, The Trial, was an extensive survey of the Western criminal judicial system, detailing more than 4,000 years of courtroom antics. In his new book, Heaven on Earth, Kadri turns his sights east, to centuries of Shariah law. The first parts of his book describe how early Islamic scholars codified — and then modified — the code that would govern how people lead their daily lives. Kadri then turns to the modern day, reflecting on the lawmakers who are trying to prohibit Shariah […]

Set to play Citizens Bank on September 2nd. Ticket go on sale Saturday at 10 AM.

INQUIRER: But the RV got no farther than King of Prussia, the man testified, when Smith said the vehicle had mechanical problems and they would have to stay overnight in a nearby Holiday Inn. There the two boys spent the afternoon playing cards with their pastor, drinking Southern Comfort liquor and sodas.Later that day, the man testified, Smith began chasing them around the room putting ice cubes down their underwear. When it came time for bed, the man continued, Smith told them to sleep naked because their clothes were wet. While his friend slept on the floor, the man testified, […]

RAW STORY: A WikiLeaks press release states, “‘The World Tomorrow’ is a collection of twelve interviews featuring an eclectic range of guests, who are stamping their mark on the future: politicians, revolutionaries, intellectuals, artists and visionaries. The world’s last five years have been marked by an unrelenting series of economic crises and political upheavals. But they have also given rise to the eruption of revolutionary ferment in the Middle East and to the emergence of new protest movements in the Euro-American world. In Julian’s words, the aim of the show is ‘to capture and present some of this revolutionary spirit […]

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Singer and songwriter Robin Gibb — who with his brothers, Maurice and Barry, made up the Bee Gees — is gravely ill in a London hospital, according to British media reports.Although past reports have said he was battling liver cancer, Gibb has not acknowledged that publicly. Until recently Gibb, 62, seemed to be making what he called a “spectacular” recovery from surgery to remove a growth from his colon. Then, late last month he was hospitalized for intestinal surgery. According to the Sun newspaper, which cited a family friend Saturday, he now is in a coma. MORE

BY ZIVIT SHLANK At its most reductionist, music is essentially a series of variations on the same, identifiable twelve tones. However, there are structural, rhythmic, melodic and harmonic shifts that make each style of music distinct. With respect to jazz, you can look to Miles Davis’ modal experiments; Ornette Coleman’s harmolodic approach; Thelonious Monk’s quirky explorations between the notes. Three unique voices, all of who achieved the seemingly impossible; they created modern music that was both interesting and accessible. For some musicians, the search continues to tap into new approaches, permutations and tunings that dig deeper. Saxophonist, composer and educator […]