Meet the East Lansing nurse competing among the top 24 on ‘American Idol’

Whether it was competing in talent shows or singing in church with his family, music has always been a large part of life for Dansville native Jacob Moran.

It wasn’t until Moran started posting videos of himself singing on social media that he realized music could be more than something to be enjoyed in his free time.

His posts gained enough attention for an ‘American Idol’ producer to reach out in 2019 and suggest that he audition.

Moran ended up making it to the “Hollywood Week” round in 2019 before he was eliminated.

Now, he’s competing on the show for a second time, and said he’s made changes that have him more prepared than before.

Moran is ready to pursue a music career at all costs, planning to quit his job as a nurse in East Lansing and move to L.A.

He said it has been difficult to decide to leave his coworkers and patients, but it feels necessary.

James Piot misses Masters cut with +11 score

James Piot entered the second round of the day in search of a career round. Piot shot a nine-over-par 81 in round one, leaving him far outside the threshold of the top 50 golfers who make the cut and advance into the weekend.

Early, it looked like the reigning U.S. Amateur champion was going to pull off a miracle after going par-birdie-birdie-par on the first four holes, but Piot fell victim to worsening weather conditions and fast greens to shoot a second-round score of 11 over par.

That leaves Piot with a two-day score of 74, meaning he missed the cut and will not advance at The Masters.

After the strong start, Piot double-bogeyed and bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes, pushing his overall score to +10.

The wild swing of scoring continued into the back half of the front nine as Piot added two more birdies and a par to move to -1 on the day and +8 overall.

Piot started the back nine with back-to-back bogeys to wipe out his birdies to finish the front and moved him back to +10.

Over the last seven holes, Piot had six pars and one bogey on the 15th hole to finish with a score of +11.

The projected cut line sits around four over par, putting Piot far outside the range of contention. Piot will get another shot at a major in June at the U.S. Open at Brookline Country Club.

MSU AgeAlive and MSUFCU partner to bring butterfly art exhibit to East Lansing

When artist Zahrah Resh entered the Grand Rapids ArtPrize competition in 2017, she never saw her artwork as much more than a hobby. The only thing on her mind was the $225,000 prize given to the winner.

Upon signing up, she was given the nearby Spectrum Health Hospital as her venue. Resh came up with a garden made up of paper butterflies made by the patients there, and installed it in the Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion lobby.

She kept her mindset of garnering votes and winning money as she opened the exhibit. This changed when she sparked conversation with a man visiting the garden.

Resh didn’t win the $225,000, but she received a call from AgeAlive — a Michigan State University based organization that connects students with elderly members of the East Lansing community. They asked her to bring her exhibit to East Lansing.

As for the venue for the exhibit, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union offered its headquarters lobby on West Road.

This year’s edition of the garden opened March 10, with Resh building it under the title of “artist in residence” at AgeAlive. It contains over 1,000 butterflies created by AgeAlive participants, MSUFCU employees and other community members.

Based on original reporting by Miranda Dunlap, Jared Ramsey and Drew Goretzka. Script by Shakyra Mabone.