Swayze has cancer

Actor and dancer Patrick Swayze, star of such hit films as "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost," has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but is responding well to treatment, his publicist said yesterday. The 55-year-old performer was working during his treatments, publicist Annett Wolf said, dismissing reports in the tabloid media that portrayed him in grave condition with only weeks to live. Wolf issued a written statement from his physician, Dr. George Fisher, that said: "Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment. All of the reports stating the time frame of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic." Wolf said Swayze deeply appreciated the "outpouring of support and concern" he has received from the public. (Reuters)

Four years after they disbanded, the guys from Phish are getting a lifetime achievement awards from the Jammys - but don't get your hopes up about a reunion. The annual awards show honors the best in improvisational music. It's not clear whether all the band members - Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Page McConnell - will show up May 7 in New York. (AP)

The state of New York fined the corporation of Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken $25,000 for not carrying workers' compensation insurance. Alan Franken Inc. was fined in 2006 for failure to carry the insurance from June 2002 to March 2005. "If there's a mistake by the Frankens it was an inadvertent mistake," said his spokesman, Andy Barr. (AP)

"I feel I was born to have this girl." Actress Salma Hayek, talking to People about her 5-month-old daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault.