The FBI is investigating allegations that a public works department supervisor in Jefferson Parish intimidated black workers by displaying in his office two nooses, a bullwhip and a dart board with a black man as the bull's eye.

By Waldron, Clarence When Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6 recently left jail, he had a stranger to thank. Dr. Stephen C.

Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday the Jena Six case shows the government needs to do more to combat racism far beyond a small Louisiana town where charges filed after a school fight garnered national attention.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton says Congress should expand hate crime laws to deal more forcefully with noose-hanging incidents like the one in the Jena Six case in order to squelch what he called a sharp rise in racism.

By ADAM GOLDMAN NEW YORK - Investigators on Wednesday were looking into whether a noose hanging from the door of a black professor at Columbia University was the work of disgruntled students or even a fellow professor.