by Jenny Barchfield

PARIS (AP)—Fashion’s most famous aficionado, music star Kanye West, turned pro on Saturday with a luxurious hard-edged women’s collection that bucked all the stereotypes about celebrity designers.

West has been a front-row fixture at fashion shows for years, but industry insiders had greeted news that he was planning to launch a line of his own with a more than hefty dose of skepticism and plenty of barbed quips about how it would surely be Lindsay Lohan’s leggings line all over again.

BUCKING STEREOTYPES—Rap singer Kanye West acknowledges applause at the end of his spring-summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

So, it was with slightly humbled wonder that the fashion editors, stylists and journalists hand-picked to attend Saturday’s late-night spring-summer 2012 show greeted the sophisticated, highly designed looks on the catwalk.

Records from more than 70 police agencies in the state that participate in the Electronic Traffic Information Exchange show 4,021 warnings and 5,227 citations have been issued to drivers who failed to use a hands-free device since the ban went into effect in October 2010. More than half of those warnings and citations were issued by state troopers.

NEW YORK (AP)—Americans talk skinny but eat fat.

No matter that First Lady Michelle Obama has been on a crusade for a year and a half to slim down the country. Never mind that some restaurants have started listing calories on their menus. Forget even that we keep saying we want to eat healthy. When Americans eat out, we order burgers and fries anyway.

1775—Slaves and free Blacks are officially barred by the Council of Officers from joining the Continental army to help fight for American independence from England. Nevertheless, a significant number of Blacks had already become involved in the fight and would distinguish themselves in battle. Additional Blacks were barred out of fear, especially in the South, that they would demand freedom for themselves if White America became free from Britain.

1941—National Black political leader and two-time candidate for president of the United States Jesse Jackson was born on this day in Greenville, S.C. After the 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson, who was one of his top aides, would become the nation’s most prominent and influential civil rights leader.

JESSE JACKSON