After 11 years of bringing you local reporting, the team behind the Vancouver Observer has moved on to Canada's National Observer. You can follow Vancouver culture reporting over there from now on. Thank you for all your support over the years!

Corruption

Political lobbyists in America, a French woman re-building her life and two critical swipes at China

Also serious music for a rough neighborhood in Brazil in The Violin Teacher
John Horgan, BC NDP, Leader of the Official Opposition, B.C. legislature

Who is John Horgan and why should you care?

He's a cautious man, but he may be the only politician in B.C. who stands a chance of defeating Premier Christy Clark.

Movies this week examine Russian corruption, hockey, American crime and health care in France

Leviathan, an Oscar possibility, Red Army, A Most Violent Year. They lead this week but check out Hippocrates too

More VIFF picks to start the week: Vancouver Asahi, The Fool, Everything Will Be

Hollywood dreams and a Vancouver baseball team lead off today

VIFF picks for Wednesday and Thursday

Ralph Fiennes plays Charles Dickens and Felicity Jones his out-of-wedlock lover in The Invisible Woman

Big praise for Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook. Red Dawn, not so much.

Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook get my highest recommendation this week.

Mexican whistleblower Karla Lottini fights corruption, death threats and deportation

"Tell her I came to say hi," a man told the journalist's sister – and showed her a gun. In this VO exclusive, Karla Lottini tells the tale of her fight to lead a safe life in Canada.

Will Canada take Fukushima's radioactive rods?

Canada is "one of the more logical choices" for storing Fukushima's radioactive rods, a sobering article in an international journal says.

Why the BC Rail deal sucks. And why you should care.

It was the beginning of the end when the Basi Virk lawyers won the right to ask Martyn Brown about Kelly Reichart and Kevin deBruyckere. It was bad news for the prosecution and worse news for former