 BY DOUG GRAHAM | Staff writer Takeshia Dixon told a judge Tuesday about the day detectives knocked on the door with the news that her oldest child had been shot to death. "All I can remember was screaming and passing out," she said about learning about the fate of 19-year-old Jamone Williams Jr. "I lost a part of me that day that I can never get back." Her testimony came at the hearing where Darryl Variste Jr. was sentenced to life without parole for the slaying. The day brought out emotional words from both sides.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we can do it,” says Brandon Fontenot. The new principal of Capitol High School urged the community to exercise patience as the high school takes shape, but expressed confidence the job can be done. "We are going to be successful,” the 17-year veteran in public education in Louisiana said at a gathering with the school’s governance committee.
Looking for a good read? Your local library has the solution. As a way to highlight National Library Week, we turned to Louisiana librarians who told which books they love best. Here are their 35 choices. | 
