Weatherman and morning TV co-host Al Roker has revealed that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will be undergoing surgery to have his prostate removed.
"It's a good news-bad news kind of thing," Roker said Friday on NBC's "Today." "Good news is we caught it early. Not great news is that it's a little aggressive, so I'm going to be taking some time off to take care of this."
Roker revealed he got the diagnosis Sept. 29. It began with a routine physical when his doctor discovered he had an elevated prostate-specific antigen in his bloodwork. That led to him getting an MRI, followed by a biopsy, to confirm his diagnosis.
The 66-year-old TV personality urged others at risk — particularly Black men — to ensure they see a doctor and get the proper checkups to stop a cancer that is very treatable if detected early.
"The problem for African Americans is that any number of reasons from genetics to access to health care, and so we want to make it available and let people know they got to get checked," Roker said.
Roker, a father of three, was by himself when he received the diagnosis. That made his wife, ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts, upset. "I feel badly, because I didn't tell Deborah to come with me," he said. "In hindsight, boy I wish I'd told her to come."
California governor signs law to protect children from social media addiction
California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday.
California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children's access to social media, but they have faced challenges in court.
The California law will take effect in a state home to some of the largest technology companies in the world. Similar proposals have failed to pass in recent years, but Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law in 2022 barring online platforms from using users' personal information in ways that could harm children. It is part of a growing push in states across the country to try to address the impacts of social media on the well-being of children.
"Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children — isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom said in a statement. "With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits."
The law bans platforms from sending notifications without permission from parents to minors between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, when children are typically in school. The legislation also makes platforms set children's accounts to private by default.
Opponents of the legislation say it could inadvertently prevent adults from accessing content if they cannot verify their... Read More