A former football star who was the highest paid center in the NFL walked away from his lucrative career in sports to feed the needy (video below).
Jason Brown signed a $37.5 million contract with the St. Louis Rams in 2009. He was drafted 124th overall in 2005, playing nine seasons in the NFL before getting cut by the Rams in 2012, according to Business Insider.
Five years later, at the age of 29, Brown had earned over $25 million of that contract. His career was far from over and several teams were interested in signing him, including an offer from the Baltimore Ravens.
But he walked away from it all to become a farmer in Louisburg, North Carolina, despite protests from everyone around him.
“My agent, he told me, ‘You’re making the biggest mistake of your life,'” Brown told CBS. “And I looked right back at him and I said, ‘No I am not.'”
Now, his main job is to grow sweet potatoes and other vegetables for the needy. The former NFL star has donated 46,000 pounds of sweet potatoes and 10,000 pounds of cucumbers this fall.
“When you see them pop out of the ground, man it’s the most beautiful thing you could ever see,” he said of harvesting the sweet potatoes.
Brown went to the University of North Carolina, but didn’t know the first thing about agriculture. He learned how to run his 1,000-acre farm by watching YouTube videos on how to grow crops.
First Fruit Farm’s mission is to donate the first fruits of every harvest to food pantries feeding the hungry, according to Good News Network.
Just three months after her split from Ben Affleck, J.Lo was spotted holding hands with a dashing new addition to her security team.
While some fans are already speculating about romance, many are crossing their fingers that this blond protector doesn’t become her next big relationship headline.
Since Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez announced their split in August 2024, both have been experiencing some post-relationship transformations.
JLo had LASIK eye surgery and says she’s “excited” to be “flying on her own,” while her ex has been experimenting with his hair follicles.
A striking new bodyguard
But the question is, will Ben be even more rattled by the latest buzz surrounding his ex-wife?
Many tabloids are now talking about J.Lo’s newest addition to her security team.
While these rumors might be speculative, they gained significant traction when Jennifer Lopez was seen with a striking new bodyguard shortly after her split from Ben Affleck. During her visit to London on Thursday, the Bronx diva was spotted holding hands with a young, blond man who seemed to have Scandinavian features.
The 55-year-old star was all smiles as she held onto the stern-looking guard while stepping out of a large black SUV, even though she was wearing modest kitten-heel boots, a stylish black hat, and a small purse.
Jennifer Lopez arriving at a photocall for “Unstoppable” on November 07, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Neil Mockford/GC Images)
Of course, the Daily Mail couldn’t resist pointing out how the bodyguard bore a striking resemblance to a young Alexander Skarsgård. According to the British newspaper, each time the security guard is spotted with Lopez, he’s dressed in a gray blazer adorned with a silver lapel pin marked ”PG.”
”He is a new addition to her security team, but he is not the only one. She has several security guards around her whenever she goes out, they are just hard to see,” a source told DailyMail.com.
Who is that well-built hunk?
This isn’t the first time this well-built hunk has caught people’s attention. He was also spotted with Jenny From The Block in New York City on November 3, accompanying her as she made her way to a high-rise building. According to Daily Mail, this new bodyguard was not a part of her team when she was wed to Ben Affleck in July 16, 2022.
Jennifer Lopez’s commitment to security is nothing short of meticulous – she loves feeling protected. For the past 25 years, Lopez has consistently relied on a team of bodyguards, often employing Israeli security professionals along with a number of female bodyguards.
Lopez’s detail is known for its presence even during routine activities — whether she’s heading to the gym or making appearances at high-profile events. With the cost of an elite bodyguard reaching anywhere between $1,000 to $1,500 per hour, it’s clear that her safety comes at a premium.
While the Bronx-born star’s life is constantly under the public’s watchful eye, she continues to exude confidence and grace, supported by a top-tier security team.
A memorable instance
Her security entourage, however, hasn’t been without its share of controversies and headlines. In 2004, one of Lopez’s bodyguards, Nathan Butts, faced an investigation for robbery after allegedly seizing a memory card from a partygoer’s camera at a South Beach nightclub, suspecting they had taken unauthorized photos of the singer.
The early 2000s were particularly colorful, as one of her guards was allegedly fired in 2001 for attempting to smuggle marijuana and hashish across the U.S.-Canada border The drugs were discovered by a canine unit that detected the substances hidden in the guard’s socks.
Despite the drama, Lopez’s security detail often draws attention not just from paparazzi but from the public as well.
A memorable instance occurred in 1999 at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
Neil Mockford/GC Images
As Jennifer Lopez stepped out of her limo at the front entrance of the Cincinnati Art Museum, she made quite the entrance draped in a luxurious fur coat and carrying her tiny poodle, which sported a diamond tiara. Lopez had hoped to walk her dog and tour the museum, but with pets prohibited inside, the pampered pooch had to stay outside under the watchful eye of her bodyguard.
While Lopez indulged in some shopping inside, the museum’s security team couldn’t resist the spectacle. “All the male guards came to the front to look at Jennifer Lopez,” manager Debbie Molzberger shared with The Cincinnati Enquirer. “All of the women went outside to see her dog and talk with her bodyguard.”
”Better get the hats ready, ladies”
After Jennifer Lopez was recently spotted holding hands with her new, dashing bodyguard, the internet had plenty to say. One particularly sharp observation making the rounds was, “She can’t live without a man. She needs to focus on her kids. Children always come first, not the other way around.”
Of course, when it comes to Lopez’s well-documented love life, it’s hard not to smirk and wonder if this time will be any different. Because between the Bennifer eras, J.Lo has certainly filled her timeline with a who’s who of romantic interests.
Before rekindling her romance with Ben Affleck, Lopez had a high-profile relationship with New York Yankees icon Alex Rodriguez, complete with a dazzling engagement ring that unfortunately never led to wedding bells. And who could forget her brief 2016 relationship with rapper Drake that fizzled out within the year?
Jennifer Lopez leaving a UK Special Screening of “Unstoppable” at Cineworld Leicester Square on November 05, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Neil Mockford/GC Images)
Then there was her on-again, off-again two-and-a-half-year “fun fling” with backup dancer Casper Smart, followed by a decade-long marriage to singer Marc Anthony, and her first whirlwind chapter with Affleck. Add in her memorable two-year romance with Diddy and her very first marriage to actor Ojani Noa in 1997, and you’ve got a love story with more twists than a rom-com.
So, if history is any indication, some are already playfully suggesting, “Better get the hats ready, ladies—I feel a wedding invitation coming soon!”
Jokes aside, we all hope that J.Lo is doing well and finds some peace and quiet after all the drama. With her undeniable talent and charisma, she deserves happiness and stability, whether she’s holding hands with a bodyguard or simply enjoying life with her family.
Mother-daughter relationships are complex, eliciting a special set of emotions reserved only for the mother-daughter couple. Even the healthiest of relationships can be at times fraught with real challenges.
A healthy mother-daughter relationship is one that allows for closeness and togetherness for independence and space. It’s caring and loving and fun and silly. This changes at every age and stage from childhood to adulthood.
A mother daughter relationship is whatever you choose to make it! But, unfortunately, this was not the case with this mother and her 15-year-old daughter. Read the full story here ▶
Kasey Simmons is on a mission it to make you smile.”It’s selfish really,” Simmons said. “When people smile, I feel better. It lightens my world.”
The 32-year-old is a server at Applebee’s in Little Elm. On Tuesday, he got one of the largest tips on one of the smallest checks of his career.
He didn’t realize how much his kind gesture meant until the recipient’s family paid him back for it — literally. While at the grocery store, Simmons noticed a fellow shopper who appeared to be unhappy. Given his generous nature, he walked up to her and offered to pay for her things. Read the full story here ▶
One suspect is arrested while the second one is still on the run, both involved in shooting in Wednesday afternoon.
The shooting occurred on Interstate 45, north of Pruitt Road when after a traffic stop male and female refused to identify themselves.
Both refusing to provide IDs, the sheriff on the scene tried to identify the passengers with the AFIS system (an automatic fingerprint identification system). Read the full story here ▶
A mother, her live-in boyfriend, and his wife were all facing charges after the disturbing and horrifically heartless thing they did to the woman’s child.
The boy’s brother finally exposed exactly what happened, and once you hear what they did to the toddler over the course of three days, the death penalty sounds too kind.
Scotty McMillan of Pennsylvania was just three years old when he met a tragic end at the hands of his own mother Jillian Tait and her 25-year-old boyfriend Gary Fellenbaum, all while Fellenbaum’s wife Amber watched. Read the full story here ▶
A Nebraska man who had been charged within the 2020 murder of his fiancée was worked a existence sentence now.
Kolton Barnes, 27, was sentenced to existence without parole along with an additional 85-106 years on Monday for that nasty slaying of his fiancée Kayla Matulka along with other charges, based on court papers acquired by Archiweekend.com.
A jury found him guilty in May of first-degree murder, utilization of a deadly weapon to commit the murder, two counts of negligent child abuse, evidence tampering, animal cruelty for killing his dog and employ of the deadly weapon for animal abuse. Read the full story here ▶
In Arcata, California deep in the woods a cabin was found by a man named Mark Andre. Andre had been marking trees in a remote area of the Arcata Community Forest when he stumbled on the cabin. The cabin had not been there in 1985 when Andre had been there last. According to Andre, the cabin was well built and only visible from a short distance (meaning it was cleverly hidden).
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So, now the mystery needed to be solved – who made it and did anyone live there? The police went to visit and found that the kitchen was fully stocked with food, a stove, and some housekeeping supplies.
So, yes, someone was living there – or had been.
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The cabin also had a library and an 18th-century painting hanging on the wall. Two clues were found, a to-do list dated January 22, 2011, and a copy of the local paper from March 25, 2015. The officials left an eviction notice, and two weeks later the entire cabin was gone!
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Michael McDowall, a natural resources technician for Arcata’s Environmental Services Department, said there was nothing left behind, not even a nail.
The symbol left behind in charcoal where the cabin once stood reportedly represents squatters.
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The owner of the cabin never came forward, and no one really expects that they will. Without a truck or something to move all the contents, how did they get the cabin out? I bet they set it up somewhere else! Keep your eyes open! Share away, people!
Raising children is hard, and any parent who says differently is lying. Parenting is emotionally and intellectually draining, and it often requires professional sacrifice and serious financial hardship.
Kids are needy and demanding from the moment of their birth to forever. As a parent, you should always take good care of your baby. Unfortunately, this mother didn’t.
Per reports, the mother, Klimova, left her 3-month-old infant naked on a terrace in freezing temperature. But, according to her husband, Alexander, she was just slapped with a fine and the kid stays in her care, regardless of the stunt. Read the full story here ▶
Police officials said the 29-year-old man, later identified as Jose, was taken into custody and later charged with open murder and tampering with evidence after he reportedly killed the 35-year-old trans woman Sherlyn. Per reports, the victim and the suspect were previously involved in a se-ual relationship.
On September 17, 2023, the 35-year-old trans woman finished a show and was never heard from again. On September 25, 2023, Sherlyn’s body was found near a ditch. During the investigation, authorities discovered that Jose was the main suspect.
During an interview with investigators, the 29-year-old man reportedly admitted to being in a secret affair with the 35-year-old trans woman. The suspect also told investigators that he compensated Sherlyn for her silence regarding their relationship. The 29-year-old man also told investigators that he was blckmailed by the trans woman.
He reportedly gave Sherlyn undisclosed amount of money, before she asked for an additional $5,000. Sherlyn also threatened to disclose their relationship to his wife if she wasn’t paid, Jose told investigators. The 29-year-old man then beat the trans woman to death. Jose then tied Sherlyn’s body and dumped it in a ditch. This incident remains under investigation.
