SAYREVILLE, N.J. – Jon Bon Jovi went home Monday to present a $1 million check from his band to a fund to help New Jersey recover from superstorm Sandy. The rocker joined Gov. Chris Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie to announce the donation during a ­ceremony where the native son rocker got bigger cheers than the popular governor.

"My being here is not political," Bon Jovi said in front of the borough hall in this central New Jersey town. "It's emotional."

Bon Jovi has been highly visible in his home state since the storm hit. Days after the October 2012 storm, he visited his washed-out hometown, a flood-prone blue-collar community along the Raritan River. It was the town's third devastating flood in three years.

He was a headliner of a relief concert and is, along with Bill Bradley, Bruce Springsteen and others, a co-chairman of the storm relief fund. Bon Jovi, who said that he thought playing local block parties as a teenager meant he'd made the big time, thanked the people of his hometown for their good deeds after the storm.

"The unsung heroes are the volunteers who without notice helped house, feed, clothe and just comfort," he said.

Heinz Kerry is in fair condition

Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Secretary of State John Kerry, who was hospitalized over the weekend after apparently suffering a seizure, was upgraded to fair condition from critical on Monday, the State Department said.

Kerry

"She is undergoing further evaluation and Secretary of State John Kerry, her son, and other family members remain with Mrs. Heinz Kerry at the hospital in Boston, as they have been since she became ill," Glen Johnson, a spokesman for Kerry, said in a statement. "The family is touched by the outpouring of well wishes." Heinz Kerry, 74, was stricken while staying at the family's vacation home on Nantucket on Sunday.

Singer Randy travis hospitalized: Country music singer Randy Travis was in critical condition Monday in a Dallas hospital, a day after he was hospitalized with viral cardiomyopathy. A news release from the singer's publicist said Travis was admitted on Sunday. No other details were available Monday. The illness is a continuation of a tough run for the 54-year-old singer. Travis pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in January following his arrest last year when he was found naked after crashing his Pontiac Trans Am. He was sentenced to two years of probation, fined $2,000 and given a 180-day suspended jail sentence.

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