NEW YORK (AP)—A defiant Rep. Charles Rangel brushed aside questions about an ongoing ethics investigation June 6 as he announced his re-election campaign for the seat he has held since 1971.

“They can fire their best shot, but they just can’t walk over success, right?” Rangel told cheering supporters at Boricua College in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood.

MAKING ANNOUNCEMENT—U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., at the podium, smiles as Gov. David Paterson, second from right, and others join him during an event where Rangel announced his campaign for re-election to the 15th Congressional District June 6, in New York.

NEWBERRY, S.C. (AP)—Two men who worked at a South Carolina poultry processing plant had spent most of the day together June 1, hanging out late into the evening, maybe rehashing their long shifts.

By the next morning, one of the men—who was Black—was dead, shot to death and then dragged behind a pickup truck for more than 10 miles down a country road. The other—a White man—was in jail, charged with murder, and authorities were investigating the death as a possible hate crime.

ARRESTED—This undated booking photo provided by the Newberry Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina, shows Gregory Collins.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Legendary late soul musician Isaac Hayes may get a commemorative stretch of highway in his home state of Tennessee.

ISAAC HAYES

A measure to designate a section of Interstate 40 the “Isaac Hayes Memorial Highway” passed the state Senate unanimously June 3. The House approved it without opposition in April.

The commemorative stretch would be near Memphis, where Hayes had a home until he died of a stroke in 2008 at the age of 65. He was raised in Tipton County, north of Memphis.

by Karen Hawkins

GARY, Ind. (AP)—Michael Jackson’s father and Gary officials announced plans June 2 to move ahead with a long-delayed performing arts center to help revitalize the late singer’s hometown, drawing cautious optimism from residents who say they’ve heard this song many times before.

MICHAEL ­JACKSON

Work on the $300 million museum and performing arts center could begin as early as next year, said Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, acknowledging this isn’t the first time city officials have made promises about the project.

Jackson left Gary as a child and visited just once, in June 2003, to announce plans for the center.