Rare cougar sighting reported in urban Vancouver, far from wilderness

Thriller has steam to spare, but story slogs

Based on a 2018 book by hugely popular, wildly polarizing author Colleen Hoover (whose novels It Ends with Us, Regretting You and Reminders of Him have also been made into movies), this new adaptation is being billed as a sexy psychological thriller.

There is sex — quite a lot of sex. As for those other descriptors, Verity is not only lacking in thrills. It’s almost laughably light on plausible human psychology.

Plausibility can be overrated, of course. Scripter Nick Antosca (2026’s Cape Fear) and director Michael Showalter (The Idea of You) could have thrown plausibility out the window and gone all-in on escapist fun.

But while there is a gorgeous modernist lake house and some excellent knitwear here, and Anne Hathaway, at least, seems to be having a ball with her deliciously two-faced role, Verity is mostly a sloggy mess, with draggy pacing, flat characters and a fatal lack of atmosphere.

Letters, Oct. 1

Did anyone else see the irony when Premier Wab Kinew announced at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre that Manitoba would adopt permanent Daylight Time (DT) and had hired 17 new psychiatrists this year?

There’s fast and then there’s this

The advice was not unexpected but it was surprising considering it applied to a vehicle weighing almost 6,000 pounds.

“Before you let off the brake, put your head against the headrest,” the instructor said.

We — myself and a handful of Porsche customers gathered at Red River Exhibition Park — were about to experience launch control on the 2027 Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric.

Launch control works like this: you put the vehicle in Drive, hold the brake as hard as you can with your left foot and quickly depress the accelerator pedal as far as it goes and hold it.

Manitoba man accused of killing five family members dismisses lawyers for second time

WINNIPEG - A Manitoba man accused of killing his three young children, their mother and a teen relative has parted ways with his lawyers for the second time this year. 

Ryan Manoakeesick, who is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, is seeking new counsel because of a breakdown in the  relationship with his lawyers.

"We were hopeful that we would be able to maintain that solicitor-client relationship in good standing with Mr. Manoakeesick. But ultimately his latest instructions to us are inconsistent with the last set of instructions of this week," Crystal Antila, one of the lawyers, told Court of King's Bench Justice Candace Grammond on Thursday.

"And at this point he also wishes to explore the opportunity to find other counsel."

Sisters relieved hospital takes accountability after mother’s death

Eight months after losing their mother, two Winnipeg sisters say an internal hospital review has finally given them something they had been seeking since her death: accountability.

Chelsea Mann and Samantha Burns said St. Boniface Hospital officials acknowledged mistakes were made in the care of their mother, Judy Burns, during a recent meeting to discuss the findings of a critical incident review into her death.

The acknowledgement marked a significant departure from an earlier meeting with hospital officials, when they felt their concerns were largely dismissed.

Burns, 68, died on Jan. 21, three days after being admitted, after experiencing rectal bleeding.

As political jockeying begins, don’t forget job No. 1

The goal, for all parties in a democracy, is to make the best legislation and bring in the strongest policy forward for voters and citizens.