JLo Handing Vegas Money to Puerto Rico

She'll be giving $1M from her ongoing residency
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 25, 2017 1:23 PM CDT
Jennifer Lopez Comes to Aid of Family's Native Puerto Rico
Jennifer Lopez announces her new hurricane recovery efforts for Puerto Rico Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017 in New York. She pledge to donate time and money help the recovery efforts.    (Michael Noble Jr.)

Jennifer Lopez has pledged $1 million toward hurricane relief efforts in her family's native Puerto Rico. Lopez announced during a news conference with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday that she would give money from her ongoing Las Vegas residency to various charities in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Lopez says she's also enlisting the help of her boyfriend, former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, and her ex-husband, Marc Anthony, reports the AP.

The 48-year-old Lopez was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents. She says she still has family on the island that she has yet hear from. Fellow singer Ricky Martin has donated $100,000 to the relief effort and launched an online fundraiser. Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee is sending four truckloads of supplies donated by his fans. On the political front, CNN reports that officials are describing the situation in blunt terms to the White House and Congress. "We need something tangible, a bill that actually answers to our need right now," says Governor Ricardo Rosselló. "Otherwise, there will be ... a massive exodus to the [mainland] United States." (Farmers say "there is no more agriculture" on the island.)

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