Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer

People

A representative for Patrick Swayze says he is being treated for pancreatic cancer but is well enough to continue working. The "Dirty Dancing" actor, 55, has a very limited amount of disease and appears to be responding well to treatment, according to Dr. George Fisher, Swayze's physician. The doctor's prognosis was included in a statement released Wednesday.

House for sale

Humorist Garrison Keillor put his historic St. Paul, Minn., home up for sale, a few weeks after a dispute with his neighbor over her building plans ended up in court. In January, Keillor and his wife sued next-door neighbor Lori Anderson to stop her from building a two-story garage-and-studio addition to her house that they said would "obstruct the access of light and air" to their property. The suit was settled through mediation about a week later.

By the numbers

25 million to one

The Zimbabwe currency tumbled to a record low of 25 million for a single U.S. dollar Wednesday. Currency dealers said uncertainties ahead of elections scheduled March 29 and the world's highest inflation rate of 100,500 percent annually led holders of hard currency to hang on to their money while the central bank pumped more local cash into the market for election costs.

Perks for 8-plus

Turkmenistan's president hopes to start a baby boom in the gas-rich former Soviet nation with a plan to reward women who give birth to eight or more children — a one-time bonus and lifetime perks, state media reported Wednesday. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov approved the measure in a decree entitling the mothers to a single $250 payment, as well as free utilities, public transportation and dental care for life.

Passage

Donald S. Lopez, 84, a World War II fighter ace who became a test pilot and spacecraft engineer and had a significant role in planning the National Air and Space Museum, died March 3 at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., after a heart attack.

Today in History

1836: The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.

1857: The United States Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Scott, a slave, was not a U.S. citizen and could not sue for his freedom in federal court.

1944: U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II.

2003: A somber President Bush readied the nation for war against Saddam Hussein, hurling some of his harshest invectives yet at the Iraqi leader during a prime-time news conference.

Today's Birthdays

TV personality Ed McMahon, 85. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, 82. Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 81. Singer Mary Wilson (The Supremes), 64. Actor-director Rob Reiner, 61. Actor Tom Arnold, 49. Actress Moira Kelly, 40. Actress Amy Pietz, 39. Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, 36. Rapper Beanie Sigel, 34. Rapper Bubba Sparxxx, 31. Actor Dillon Freasier (Film: "There Will Be Blood"), 12.

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