ScarJo and Erivo go for 2, and other Oscar facts and figures

‘All females are at risk’: serial sex offender released from prison

Law enforcement are warning the public that a dangerous sex offender with a lengthy history of abusing women is expected to live in Winnipeg after his release from prison.

Douglas Wayne Bowman, 62, left prison on Thursday after serving a lengthy sentence for two sexual assaults he committed at knifepoint, said the Manitoba Integrated High Risk Sex Offender Unit, a joint force of the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP that keeps an eye on certain sex criminals.

Bowman was handed the 14-year sentence in 2018, less six years time served, and designated a dangerous offender. Criminals deemed dangerous offenders are given indefinite federal sentences until parole officials decide it is safe enough to release them.

Now that he’s leaving prison, Bowman will be subject to a 10-year long-term supervision order, which allows corrections and parole officials to continue to monitor him in the community even though his sentence is complete.

‘Women were shortchanged.’ Why bobsledding’s idea of equality doesn’t add up

When female bobsledders pushed for an Olympic four-woman event, they got a solo discipline instead: monobob. Now they’ll race for the same number of medals as men, but with fewer sledders. Not the progress they were looking for.

Director Schrader returns to silver screen with complex view of religion and belief

Bleak, wintry and rigorously controlled — until it’s not — this Book of Job-like drama from American filmmaker Paul Schrader looks at the challenges of faith.

The 71-year-old Schrader, known for scripting four Martin Scorsese films (including Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) and for directing his own (including American Gigolo, Affliction and Auto Focus), grew up in a strict Calvinist home — he famously did not see a film until he was 17 — and has always been drawn to stories of agonizing and uncertain redemption.

As the Rev. Toller (Ethan Hawke) wrestles with what it means to lead a righteous life in our badly broken world, his spiritual fate remains in doubt. It is certain, however, that First Reformed marks a cinematic rebirth for Schrader after recent disasters like The Canyons and Dog Eat Dog. Serious, complex and moving, this is not a perfect film, but even its flaws are powerful.

Toller is a solitary man who has come to the ministry late in life, after a family tragedy and a failed marriage. First Reformed, a historic church in upstate New York that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad, has since been reduced to an austerely beautiful tourist shop, more of a museum than a place of worship.

Two government bills left on table as NDP ends third year of term

Year 3 of the NDP government’s four-year mandate ended Thursday with more than 50 bills expected to become law and two that didn’t make it to the finish line.

“We’re on the final stages of passing 52 amazing bills,” government house leader Nahanni Fontaine said after the final question period of the 43rd legislature.

Most were passed before the house rose for the summer break, including getting rid of the provincial sales tax on pop, chips and packaged foods that took effect July 1. A handful of health-care bills that aim to restrict mandatory overtime, create a patient safety charter, establish nurse-to-patient ratios and do away with sick-note requirements for employees — unless they miss more than seven consecutive days or 10 in a year — were also passed.

Under rules of the legislature, the Progressive Conservatives held back three government bills until the fall session to allow for further debate before passage by the NDP majority Thursday. The most contentious was Bill 13, the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act, that aims to strengthen renter protections and increase maximum fines for landlords in breach of the act.

Three in-custody fatalities trigger inquests

The province’s chief medical examiner has called inquests into the deaths of three men, including two who died by suicide in correctional facilities earlier this year.

Craig Flett, 32, was found hanging in his cell in the Stony Mountain Institution prison on Feb. 10 this year.

Corrections officers were able to cut him down and tried to resuscitate him, but he later died of a brain injury. Flett was serving a life sentence at the time.

Sebastian Atkinson, a 25-year-old inmate at the Winnipeg Remand Centre, was found hanging in his cell by a linen sheet tied to a metal bar about five feet from the floor.