Health

BEIJING (AP) — For the second day in a row, China on Wednesday dismissed U.S. suggestions that the COVID-19 pandemic may have been triggered by a virus that leaked from a Chinese laboratory.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s former health minister on Wednesday denied wrongdoing after a newspaper published extracts of private messages he sent in the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

TORONTO — Ontario's public health units are calling on the government to stop using one-time funding to bridge a gap it created four years ago, and to provide them with a predictable source of money as they address a backlog of services built up over

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government’s new budget will spend more as the economy shrinks.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.

EDMONTON — Alberta is predicting a $2.4-billion budget surplus for its petro-powered economy this year, with plans to take a big bite out of its debt and put up guardrails to prevent eye-popping deficits when oil booms go bust.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi residents might get back the ability to enact public policy through statewide ballot initiatives, but people would be banned from using the process to change abortion laws.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Republican state Senators voted Tuesday to advance a ban on all gender-affirming care for those under 18, the latest in this year's movement by conservative states aiming to limit the rights of transgender youth.

VICTORIA — British Columbia Finance Minister Katrine Conroy says this year's budget marks the largest investment in mental health and addictions services in provincial history. The B.C.

VICTORIA — Advocates are celebrating news British Columbia will become the first in Canada to make prescription contraception free to all residents starting April 1. The announcement first promised by the B.C.