Beyond Local

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.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lindsey Lundholm looked out over hundreds of people at the Utah State Capitol last year and felt a deep sense of healing.

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.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country's ban on same-sex marriage is not discriminatory, insisting that constitutional freedom of marriage only envisions heterosexual unions, a comment that triggered criticism he is backtracking despite his recent apology and meeting with LGBTQ people.

WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19's origins remain hazy . Three years after the start of the pandemic, it's still unclear whether the coronavirus that causes the disease leaked from a lab or spread to humans from an animal.

EDMONTON — Alberta's United Conservative government delivered its last budget Tuesday before an election expected in May. It includes a $2.4-billion surplus and more spending in health care, education and justice.

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's last budget before an expected spring election gives strong support to a proposed tax break for energy companies to fulfil their legal cleanup duties but doesn't tell voters how much would be spent on it.

CALGARY — The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says it expects investment in oil and natural gas production in this country to hit $40 billion this year.

CALGARY — "What we found was that persons who were taking vitamin D at baseline compared to those who took no vitamin D over that time developed dementia probably at a 40 per cent lower rate, so it's quite a significant association," Ismail said in an interview.

TORONTO — TikTok has been in the spotlight this week after the federal government announced it was banning the social media app from its devices days after Canadian privacy commissioners began investigating the company.