Teso Life, a U.S.-based Japanese department store chain that was founded in 2017 in New York City, plans to open its first Michigan location in the Detroit area.  The 12,000-square-foot store is planned for the mixed-use Asian-themed Sakura Novi development, which broke ground last year. Teso Life is known for selling Japanese snacks, cosmetics, homeware, stationary, toys, and more.

Detroit Metro Times readers can follow us on Bluesky, an alternative social media platform that has exploded in popularity in recent days and is now the No. 1 downloaded app on Apple’s App store. Our Bluesky page can be found at @metrotimes.bsky.social. Founded in 2019 by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky’s popularity has surged following last week’s U.S. presidential election.

Are you someone with equal love for the Motor City and the internet? Then we’ve got a job for you.

A company that immerses fans in sports and entertainment viewing events with LED technology announced its fourth U.S. venue is planned for Detroit. Cosm’s latest location is planned for the Campus Martius area in Detroit through a partnership with Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock real estate arm and local architecture firm Rossetti. It follows venues in Los Angeles and Dallas, as well as a recently announced location in Atlanta.

A social media post showing the dramatic deterioration of a Detroit block is making the rounds on Facebook, garnering hundreds of shares and comments. The photos show nicely manicured properties in 2009 that have become overgrown with weeds and damaged by fire by 2013 — a stunning downfall in just a five-year span. The comments have the sort of political undertones one might expect from a viral Facebook post, with Democrats and Republicans blaming each other.

A Detroit News auto industry reporter who moonlights as a political cartoonist is being criticized for appearing to imply that U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib is a member of Hezbollah, which critics have labeled as “racist,” “xenophobic,” “vile,” and “disgusting.” The illustration depicts Tlaib at her desk next to the charred remains of an electronic device with a thought balloon reading, “Odd, my pager just exploded.” The cartoon is a reference to a recent attack against the Lebanese organization Hezbollah that is believed to have been orchestrated by Israel, in which beepers and walkie-talkies were modified to act as remote-controlled explosives. The bombs injured thousands and killed dozens, including at least two children, and could be a violation of international law, which prohibits the use of booby traps.

Thirty years ago, Bishop Edgar Vann of Detroit’s Second Ebenezer Church founded the Vanguard Community Development Corporation with the simple goal of providing after-school programs for local youths. Today, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization’s mission has expanded to all matters of community development and engagement, including affordable housing and commercial development. Vanguard will celebrate its anniversary with a gala and award ceremony from 7-11 p.m. on Saturday at the Henry Ford Health Pistons Performance Center.

Over the course of her career as a hairstylist, Kelsie Angst says she’s appreciated the camaraderie with her coworkers and the opportunity to learn new skills along the way. That’s the spirit she hopes to cultivate at her new beauty salon Studio Vera, which recently opened in Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood. “I’ve worked in a few salons, and I stayed at most of them for at least three years,” Angst says.

The Metro Times annual Best of Detroit Reader’s Poll is now open! You can vote for all the people, places, and things to do that make Detroit great across 400+ categories — including arts & entertainment, food & drink, goods & services, people & places, and sports & recreation. Voting closes at midnight on Wednesday, September 11.

Michigan Central says that more than 100,000 visitors have walked through the doors of Detroit’s rehabbed train station since Ford Motor Co. opened them to the public in June. Due to the popular demand, Michigan Central is now extending its “Summer at The Station” tours through Labor Day weekend — so if you haven’t visited yet, you have a few more weeks to do so. “This outpouring of support has truly been inspiring,” said Joshua Sirefman, CEO of Michigan Central.

Democrats have been delirious with joy ever since President Joe Biden finally ended his untenable re-election campaign last month, making way for a feel-good ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and her freshly announced running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. If they win in November, she will be the first woman to be elected president, while he is a plainspoken former schoolteacher and football coach with a surprisingly progressive record as a lawmaker, catapulting to viral fame in recent weeks for simply saying what many of us have been thinking: Republicans Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are “weird.” More than that, with a palpable momentum, the pair seem to be in about as strong of a position as possible to keep Trump from returning to the White House and enacting the terrifying Project 2025, a far-right plan to replace the government with a Christian nationalist autocracy.

A long time ago, massive mastodons roamed North America, including Michigan. However, the prehistoric beasts went extinct more than 10,000 years ago, possibly due to overhunting by early humans. Now, the mastodon is on track to become recognized as the first-ever national fossil of the U.S.

Dick’s Sporting Goods is getting ready to shutter its last three remaining Moosejaw stores in the U.S. and completely dissolve the brand, Metro Times has learned. Multiple workers confirmed the impending closures to Metro Times, though the company’s corporate office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The workers say the stores will remain open through close of business on Saturday, and what remains of the brand’s online store will fold into Dick’s Public Lands subsidiary.

Detroit’s historic Belle Isle Aquarium is now open on Thursdays through the end of August. The Belle Isle Conservancy announced the expanded hours, which it credits to a $10,000 contribution from Comerica Bank. The funds will also support ongoing restoration of the building, as well as preservation and restoration efforts at Belle Isle park.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib criticized her colleagues for hosting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the U.S. this week for a planned address on Wednesday. “Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” said Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in Congress. “It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress.