Alberta's health minister says planned changes to funding for insulin pumps are on hold after people with Type 1 diabetes voiced worries about potential financial or medical hardship. Jason Copping says the changes, which were to begin Aug. 1, are being put off pending consultations to make sure no one is forced to choose between a pump and putting food on the table. Copping, speaking in the legislature during question period, apologized to the roughly 4,000 Albertans who use insulin pumps. The government said last week that it would change how it funds the pumps, small programmable machines t

The Vatican says Pope Francis will stop in Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut during his visit to Canada this summer. It says the capital cities of Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit will act as bases for the trip from July 24 to 29. The visit comes after the Pope's historic apology last month for the Roman Catholic Church's role in residential schools in Canada. Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, general coordinator of the trip for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, says it will be another important step for healing and reconciliation. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said the

The federal government has approved a new, approximately $10-billion loan guarantee for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, a move it says is common practice and does not reflect any additional public funding for the high-profile, over-budget oil pipeline. The Trans Mountain pipeline is Canada's only oil pipeline system from Alberta to the West Coast. It was bought by the federal government in 2018 for $4.5 billion after previous owner Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. threatened to scrap the pipeline's planned expansion project in the face of environmentalist opposition. The statement said Trans

Alberta's Opposition NDP says new data shows a health-care system in crisis due to long wait times.The Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services quarterly dashboard from early April shows ambulance response times in urban areas got progressively worse in the past year. NDP Leader Rachel Notley says those numbers are another sign of an ambulance and hospital system under extreme stress. In the past week, there have been reports of ambulances lined up outside hospitals, surgeries being diverted and long wait times at children's hospitals in Calgary and Edmonton. Mike Parker, a paramedic

Calgary police say a woman has died after a road-rage shooting that led to a four-vehicle crash.The police service says in a news release that it received multiple reports last night about two vehicles driving erratically and an exchange of gunfire in the city's northeast. They say at least two homes were struck by stray bullets. Police say the two vehicles pursued one another before colliding with other vehicles at an intersection in the southeast. Officers say people in the two vehicles continued to fire shots at each other at the scene before fleeing on foot. The driver of a silver van, a 4

EDMONTON - The Alberta government is amending its bereavement bill following criticism that it allowed leave for stillbirths and miscarriages but was silent on abortions. Labour Minister Kaycee Madu (KAY'-see MAH'-doo) has introduced a change to the bill that, if passed, would allow for three days unpaid leave in any pregnancy that doesn't end in a live birth. Madu says he has heard concerns from critics and other stakeholders to make the definition as broad as possible. Opposition N-D-P critic Sarah Hoffman says the change doesn't go far enough, and the United Conservative government must s

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder after a fellow student was stabbed in the library of a central Alberta school. RCMP say the boy is also charged with aggravated assault in relation to yesterday's attack at Pigeon Lake Regional School in Falun, about 80 kilometres southwest of Edmonton. He has been released on bail and is to appear in court in June. The 16-year-old victim is in stable condition in hospital and recovering after surgery. Cpl. Troy Savinkoff says the two boys, who are both enrolled as students at the school, know each other and investigators are trying to

A female firefighter and paramedic has resigned from Leduc Fire Services south of Edmonton over on-the-job harassment allegations. Megan Wright ended her seven-year career with a speech on Monday night to city council. Wright said she brought allegations of sexual misconduct to superiors and was questioned instead of getting support. In February, two other female firefighters filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the city with similar allegations of harassment, bullying, discrimination and abuse. At the council meeting, Mayor Bob Young called Wright's allegations alarming, but said he

Calgary police say they have charged a youth with second-degree murder in the death of a teen whose body was found in a suburban greenspace last week. Police say emergency crews were called last Wednesday to the Arbour Lake neighbourhood for reports of an injured person. There, they found the body of 16-year-old Jal Acor Jal. Police say the homicide unit canvassed the neighbourhood to collect any CCTV footage, spoke with potential witnesses and worked closely with Jal's family and friends. They say a search warrant was executed Tuesday at a home and a male youth was taken into custody. The su