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Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum suffered an apparent right leg injury late in the fourth quarter Monday night as Boston went down 3-1 in the series against the New York Knicks.

Tatum was seen on the ESPN broadcast in a wheelchair after he had been helped off the court at Madison Square Garden and was unable to put any weight on his right leg.

The injury happened with 2:58 remaining in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference. The Celtics had just turned the ball over and as Tatum moved for the loose ball, his leg gave out and he went down. He buried his face in a towel in obvious pain while grabbing at his leg above the ankle after the non-contact injury.

Tatum scored 42 points, his high in these playoffs, before he was hurt. He was seen in a wheelchair in the tunnel after being taken off.

Hasan Piker, one of the top political pundits on Twitch, on Monday said that he was stopped and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport over the weekend after a trip to France. 

“They knew who I was and they were ready to receive me, let’s just say, and it wasn’t a very warm welcome,”  Piker, known as HasanAbi online, told his followers during a live stream. News of his detainment was first reported by User Mag.  

The Turkish American streamer — who has more than 2.8 million followers on Twitch, 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 million followers on TikTok — is known for being vocal on a number of political and social issues, including his support for Palestinian people and criticism of Israeli leaders.

Piker said that on Sunday when he returned from Paris, he was taken to an area in the airport with “fluorescent lightbulbs, the whole nine [yards]” and questioned for about two hours. He said he was asked about his views, including whether he supports President Donald Trump, and whether he has been in contact with Hamas, the Houthis or Hezbollah.  

“Obviously, the reason for why they’re doing that is, I think, to try to create an environment of fear for people like myself or, at least others who would be in my shoes who don’t have the same level of security, to shut the f— up,” Piker said.  

His video comes amid a recent influx on social media of similar posts by people recounting their interactions with immigration officials after their return to the U.S. Some said that they were grilled about their social media usage. Others said they feel anxious about traveling during a period of heightened vigilance at U.S. entry points and borders.

When asked for comment about Piker, a Department of Homeland Security official called his account “nothing but lying for likes.” 

“Claims that his political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Our officers are following the law, not agendas. Upon entering the country, this individual was referred for further inspection — a routine, lawful process that occurs daily, and can apply for any traveler. Once his inspection was complete, he was promptly released.” 

Piker disputed DHS’ response. 

“What part of a ‘lawful routine inspection’ requires DHS to question me about my political views, my opinions on Donald Trump, or my stance on Israel and Palestine?” he said in a statement to NBC News. “The agent was cordial, but the experience, along with reports of other Americans facing similar questioning, seems intended to create a chilling effect on speech. As a taxpayer, I believe CBP agents should be focusing on actual threats, like preventing agricultural risks or combatting trafficking, not interrogating people about their political beliefs.” 

In his stream, he noted that it’s his birthright as a U.S. citizen to re-enter the country.  He said he pushed back when asked about his political beliefs. 

“I saw no reason to hold back on certain things,” he said. “So I said I don’t like Trump. I was like, what are you going to do? It’s protected by the First Amendment.”  

He said he felt officials “literally straight-up tried to get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently, which is insane. Because there is no direct connection or direct involvement.” 

Piker also said he’s enrolled in the government’s Global Entry program, which helps expedite the customs process for pre-approved travelers. As a Twitch creator with a massive following, he said he shared his experience to show others what’s going on.   

“And for me, I’m going to use the privilege that I have in that moment to try, and see what they’re doing, OK?” he said. “Because every single thing that they asked me — trying to get me to say something like, ‘Oh, I support Hamas’ or whatever — is literally not allowed.” 

The Episcopal Church’s migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the step Monday, shortly before 59 South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on a private charter plane and were greeted by a government delegation.

Episcopal Migration Ministries instead will halt its decades-long partnership with the government, Rowe said.

President Donald Trump opened a fast-tracked refugee status to white South Africans, accusing their government of discrimination, even as his administration abruptly shut down the overall U.S. refugee program. The South Africans jumped ahead of thousands of would-be refugees overseas who had been undergoing years of vetting and processing.

Episcopal Migration Ministries has long resettled refugees under federal grants. Rowe said that about two weeks ago, the government contacted it and said it expected the ministry to resettle some of the South Africans under terms of its grant.

“In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,” Rowe said. “Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.”

Another faith-based group, Church World Service, said it is open to helping resettle the Afrikaners.

South Africa’s government has vehemently denied allegations of discriminatory treatment of its white minority residents.

“It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” Rowe said. “I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.”

He also said many refugees, including Christians, are victims of religious persecution and are now denied entry.

He said the church would find other ways to serve immigrants, such as those already in this country and those stranded overseas.

The move marks the end of a ministry-government partnership that, for nearly four decades, has served nearly 110,000 refugees from countries, including Ukraine, Myanmar and Congo, Rowe said.

It’s not the first high-profile friction between the Episcopal Church and the Trump administration. Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington drew Trump’s anger in January at an inaugural prayer service in which she urged “mercy” on those fearing his actions, including migrants and LGBTQ+ children.

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa includes churches in South Africa and neighboring countries. It was a potent force in the campaign against apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, an effort for which the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Another faith-based refugee agency, Church World Service, says it is open to serving the South African arrivals.

“We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement,” Rick Santos, CWS president and CEO, said in a statement.

He added that the action proves the government knows how to screen and process refugees quickly.

“Despite the Administration’s actions, CWS remains committed to serving all eligible refugee populations seeking safety in the United States, including Afrikaners who are eligible for services,” he said. “Our faith compels us to serve each person in our care with dignity and compassion.”

The Episcopal ministry and CWS are among 10 national groups, most of them faith-based, that have partnered with the government for refugee resettlement.

BAMAKO, Mali — An attack by a jihadi group in northern Burkina Faso killed more than 100 people, mostly soldiers, an aid worker and local residents said Monday.

The attack on several locations, including a military base and the long besieged strategic town of Djibo, occurred early Sunday, said an aid worker actively involved in dialogues in Burkina Faso’s hard-hit communities. A student from the area said her father was among those killed.

Both individuals spoke to The Associated Press on Monday on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals.

A jihadi group aligned with Al-Qaida known as Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, which is active in the Sahel region, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack.

Run by a military junta, the landlocked nation of 23 million has been among the worst hit by the security crisis in Africa’s Sahel region, known as the global hot spot for violent extremism. About half of Burkina Faso is outside of government control as a result of the violence that contributed to two coups in 2022. Government security forces have also been accused of extrajudicial killings.

The aid worker, as well as Charlie Werb, an independent analyst focusing on the Sahel, recounted how Sunday’s attack began simultaneously in different locations at 6 a.m. local time on Sunday.

“JNIM fighters attacked eight localities simultaneously to disperse the Burkina Faso air force. The main attack occurred in Djibo, where JNIM fighters first took control of all the town’s entry checkpoints before attacking the military camps, particularly the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit’s camp,” said the aid worker.

Werb, who studied videos posted online, said the attackers spent several hours in the areas without air support from Burkina Faso’s military, unlike similar attacks on Djibo in the past, when security forces have successfully repelled the extremists.

The latest attack shows JNIM’s escalating power and widening reach in Burkina Faso, said Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center security think tank. “The fact that Djibo was targeted confirms the extent of JNIM’s freedom of movement within Burkina Faso.”

Analysts have warned that the junta’s strategy of military escalation, including the mass recruitment of civilians into poorly trained militias, has worsened inter-ethnic tensions.

LONDON — A Russian spy ring plotted to trade blood diamonds for weapons in Africa and supply drones to Russia’s military, according to messages shown to a London court that painted their fugitive leader as a wannabe James Bond.

Jan Marsalek — who has been named as a key suspect in Germany’s biggest postwar fraud case — is alleged to have led the team of six Bulgarians who were sentenced Monday at London’s famous Old Bailey courthouse. 

When German payment company Wirecard collapsed in 2020, owing creditors almost $4 billion, Marsalek, the company’s chief operating officer, went on the run and an international manhunt was launched for the Austrian national, who remains at large. 

Messages revealed in court made it clear he was in Moscow as he referred to meetings with the GRU and the FSB state security service, at their headquarters building known as the Lubyanka, and at a “bonding exercise with the FSB guys at the shooting range.” He even posed for a selfie in Russian military fatigues.

Court documents also showed that, while he was on the run, he directed a ragtag group of amateur operatives: Orlin Roussev, 47; his second-in-command, Biser Dzhambazov, 44; and Ivan Stoyanov, a 33-year-old mixed martial arts fighter known as “The Rock.”

Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, described by prosecutors as “honeytrap” agents, and competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, made up the rest of the ring that carried out activities that, British police said, put lives and national security at risk. 

The spies conducted surveillance for the Russians targeting journalists, diplomats and dissidents in Britain, Austria, Spain and Montenegro, and they were paid handsomely for their services, prosecutors said. 

Using law enforcement grade devices called “IMSI grabbers,” prosecutors said they targeted the Patch Barracks, a U.S. base in Stuttgart, Germany, where they believed Ukrainian soldiers were being trained to operate Patriot missile air defense batteries. This would have helped Russians to target them when they returned to Ukraine to operate the missile batteries, the court heard. 

However, following an investigation by Britain’s MI5 spy service, they were arrested on Feb. 8, 2023, as they prepared to return to Germany with the devices hidden in a second-hand Chrysler.

NBC News has contacted Russia’s Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, known as GU, for comment. 

Prosecutors said the unit did not work directly for Russian intelligence and their members were motivated by financial gain. Investigators traced $225,000 but believe at least the same amount was paid in cryptocurrency, they said. 

In his sentencing, Judge Justice Hilliard said the large amounts of money paid to the six Bulgarian spies demonstrated the “value” of their covert activities to Russia.

“Some of the money would have covered their expenses, but not all,” he said. “This enabled the defendants to live very comfortably. It must have been thought that what the defendants were doing was of value.”

However, prosecutors said that Roussev led the spy ring from a rundown guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, a seaside town on the east coast of England, where he stashed his huge collection of spy equipment, much of which he had adapted himself. 

Roussev pleaded guilty to spying for Russia in November and was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison. Dzhambazov was jailed for 10 years and two months and Stoyanov for seven years and seven months. 

Ivanova was found guilty in March along with Gaberova and Ivanchev. She was jailed for nine years and eight months. Gaberova and Ivanchev were sentenced to eight years each. 

As the sextet awaited sentencing, court documents revealed over 80,000 messages had been recovered from Roussev and Dzhambazov on the encrypted Telegram messaging app, following their arrest on Feb. 8, 2023.  

They shed light on the lifestyle of Marsalek in Moscow, revealing he partied with intelligence officers and naked girls, got cosmetic surgery to hide his identity and said he wanted to “outperform James Bond.”

In a bid to show he was “not an anti-Western ideologue,” Roussev’s defense lawyers introduced messages with Marsalek which, they said, showed their client was “fixing for money” like “everything else Mr. Roussev does.” 

The messages, which were not introduced by prosecutors as part of their Russian espionage allegations, showed the pair discussed a request to help evacuate U.S. and Afghan nationals from Afghanistan during the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from the country in August 2021. 

“Interesting request from our (sort of) friends at the CIA,” Marsalek said. “They urgently need aircraft to fly out contractors from Afghanistan,” he said. “Do you know anyone who’s a bit rogue and operates large-scale airplanes?” 

The objective was “to evacuate about 1,000 Afghan nationals” and “80 US citizens” to Albania, in a deal he said was agreed between the Albanian and U.S. governments. 

Roussev said he would ask his father’s pilot contacts in Africa and Marsalek replied: “America needs you, pax Americana rests on your broad and manly shoulders.” 

Roussev later said the flight left Kabul shortly before an ISIS-K terrorist detonated a bomb outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul killing 170 people and 13 American service members. 

Defending Roussev in court, King’s Counsel Mark Summers said the request had come via a private company. 

The CIA declined to comment.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan said the pair were not acting on a humanitarian basis or at the direct request of the U.S. government. 

It remains unclear whether Roussev was successful in ensuring a flight.

Roussev and Marsalek also discussed transporting diamonds in exchange for arms, the messages showed. 

In a June 2021 exchange, Marsalek asked whether African diamond sellers wanted guns in exchange or cash. “They usually buy guns, a lot of them,” noting that he wasn’t sure if rebel forces or the government would benefit from the deal. “Allegedly only government, but who knows, this is Africa,” he said. 

Three months earlier, Roussev messaged Marsalek to say he had been approached to supply 886,000 tons of wheat annually to the Cameroon government at a “very low price” from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. 

Describing it as a “good deal” considering the volume, he said that weapons and Sputnik COVID vaccines would likely be part of the transaction.” Guns and sputnik = no problem,” Marsalek replied. “Can pretty much organize anything they need except nukes,” he added, with a laughing emoji. “Even the nukes if they pay.”

Other messages offered glimpses of Marsalek’s life in exile and his efforts to stay ahead of authorities, including facial reconstruction. 

In May 2021, he wrote: “I’m trying to improve my skills on a few fronts, languages is one of them. In my new role as an international fugitive, I must outperform James Bond.”

Four months later, in September of that year, Marsalek apologized for being out of touch, saying he was “stuck between the mafia, half of Russia’s ambassadors, the GRU, a dozen naked girls and some deep-state guys whose names no one knows who forced me to drink a bottle of gin.”

Months later, he told Roussev he had “another cosmetic surgery, trying to look differently.” 

“Sleep well, sleep is the best fix for this condition,” Roussev replied.

American officials welcomed a group of 59 white South Africans at Washington Dulles International Airport Monday afternoon in a ceremony greeting them as refugees, under the argument that they are fleeing discrimination and racially based violence in their home country.

The newly arrived people are from the ethnic minority of Afrikaners, the group of whites who ruled South Africa during apartheid. The dozens that came Monday, including families with young children, arrived via a flight chartered by the State Department. Their resettlement in the U.S. comes as the Trump administration has shut down refugee admissions from almost all other countries, including Afghanistan, Sudan, the Republic of Congo and Myanmar.  

The Afrikaners were met on arrival by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar. 

Landau said that Trump’s pause of the U.S. Refugee program was subject from the very beginning to exceptions when it was determined to be in the interest of the United States. He cited the example of when the refugees “could be assimilated easily into our country.”

“They tell quite harrowing stories of the violence that they faced in South Africa that was not redressed by the authorities by the unjust application of the law,” Landau said. “The United States, as we were proud to say, has stood for equal justice under law and the fair and impartial application of the law.” 

In an executive order issued on February 7, Trump said the United States would help with resettling “Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.” He condemned what he called the country’s “shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights,” specifically stating the government had seized the agriculture property of white Afrikaners without compensating them. 

The executive order also said the United States would no longer provide aid or assistance to South Africa. It came after a new South African land law went into effect and seems to reflect the views of Elon Musk, the head of the Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency who was born and raised in South Africa.

The law has been depicted by some whites in South Africa, and some on the right in the U.S., as specifically targeting white farmers to take away their land. The South African government and experts dispute this, noting that the law allows for expropriation in cases when the land is not being used or there is a public interest in its redistribution, similar to eminent domain laws in the U.S.

In February, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed back on claims that it was a land grab. “The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution,” he wrote on X days before Trump issued his executive order.

Discussion around the law has fit into a larger narrative on the American right about white South African farmers supposedly being killed in large numbers, something Trump talked about in his first term and which Musk has referred to as “genocide,” even though there is not data to support this.

The New York Times reported that 101 out of the 225 people killed on farms in South Africa between April 2020 and March 2024 were Black current or former workers living on farms. Of that number, 53 were farmers, who are usually white.   

The president on Monday said the carve out for South African refugees wasn’t race related. 

“Farmers are being killed,” Trump told reporters. “They happen to be white. Whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me. White farmers are being brutally killed and the land is being confiscated in South Africa.”

White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser Stephen Miller defended the admission of white refugees on Friday. 

“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” Miller said. “This is race-based persecution. The refugee program is not intended as a solution for global poverty, and historically, it has been used that way.”

Officials in South Africa have disputed that claim. 

“It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under Apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again,” Chrispin Phiri, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, said in a statement Friday.

Landau reiterated the Trump administration’s stance on Monday. “It is not surprising, unfortunately, that a country from which refugees come does not concede that they are refugees, and unfortunately, you know, the South African government has not done what we feel is appropriate to guarantee the rights of these citizens to live in peace with their fellow South Africans, which is why, under our domestic law, they were given refugee status,” he said. 

Shawn VanDiver, the president of AfghanEvac, a San Diego-based coalition that helps Afghans evacuate and resettle in the U.S., previously told NBC News that the Trump administration does not get to “cherry-pick which victims deserve safety.”

“If Stephen Miller suddenly supports refugee resettlement when it suits a political narrative, fine — but let’s not pretend Afghan allies don’t meet the same legal definition,” he said. “Race-based persecution is real in many places — but so is religious, political, and gender-based violence. That’s exactly what Afghans are fleeing.”

Thula Simpson, an associate professor of history at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, said that Trump’s rhetoric and the admission of Afrikaner refugees in the U.S. has created tensions in South Africa.

“By using the term ‘genocide,’ Trump has gone beyond the reality here,” Simpson said. “It creates a very uncertain situation, very intense situation, with aggravated race relations in the country — and the outcome is unpredictable.”

A jury of 12 everyday New Yorkers — eight men and four women — were seated Monday in the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, paving the way for opening statements in the proceedings expected to last at least eight weeks.

The group whittled down from a pool of 45 qualified prospective jurors after questioning began last week.

Those selected range from ages 30 to 74, and live in diverse New York City neighborhoods across Manhattan and the Bronx, as well as neighboring Westchester County. They also come from various professions: an investment analyst, a physician assistant, a massage therapist and a deli clerk.

Combs’ celebrity status as an entrepreneur and rap mogul with a prolific three-decade career has been unavoidable in a trial that has drawn intense coverage following his arrest in September.

The jurors were also asked about their hobbies and musical tastes, with some of the younger jurors in their 30s and 40s saying they listen to hip-hop and R&B music — genres that are closely associated with Combs.

In addition, several of the jurors have said they were already familiar with a key piece of evidence in the trial: video of Combs assaulting the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, his ex-girlfriend, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.

Ultimately, the group will be tasked with deciding whether Combs, 55, is guilty of five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.

Here’s what to know about the main 12 jurors:

• Juror No. 2: A 69-year-old male from Manhattan who works as an actor and massage therapist. He listens to classical, jazz and rock music, and his hobbies include music, theater, biking and hiking.
• Juror No. 5: A 31-year-old male from Manhattan who works as an investment analyst. He plays sports and video games.
• Juror No. 25: A 51-year-old male from Manhattan who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology and neuroscience. He listens to classical music and opera, and his hobbies include art, science, cooking and the outdoors.
• Juror No. 28: A 30-year-old female from the Bronx working as a deli clerk. She listens to hip-hop and reggaeton, and reads and plays video games.
• Juror No. 55: A 42-year-old female from Manhattan who is an aide in a nursing home. She likes to cook and paint, and watch “Harry Potter” and Disney movies.
• Juror No. 58: A 41-year-old male from the Bronx who works in communications at a correctional facility. He listens to reggaeton and ‘90s hip-hop, and his hobbies include sports and fantasy football.
• Juror No. 75: A 68-year-old male from Westchester County who is retired from a bank. He listens to Indian music and plays cricket and volleyball.
• Juror No. 116: A 68-year-old male from Westchester County who is retired from working at telecommunications company. He listens to rock music, and likes to bowl and golf.
• Juror No. 160: A 43-year-old female from Westchester County who works as a physician assistant. She listens to R&B and hip-hop, and she dances.
• Juror No. 184: A 39-year-old male from the Bronx who is a social worker. He listens to R&B and popular music from West Africa, and also watches sports.
• Juror No. 201: A 67-year-old male from Westchester County who works as a logistics analyst. His hobbies include woodworking and bike-riding.
• Juror No. 217: A 74-year-old female from Manhattan who works as a treatment coordinator. She listens to classical music and likes to travel.

In addition, six alternate jurors were selected. The four men and two women range in age from 24 to 71.

Earlier Monday, lawyers discussed which prospective jurors they wanted rejected from the jury pool as part of jury selection.

Combs’ defense lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, had suggested prosecutors were striking Black jurors, “which leads to a pattern.” Doing so based solely on race would be unconstitutional.

Prosecutors, however, went on to explain why they refused certain potential jurors, including that some had voiced favorable opinions of people involved in the trial or referred negatively to police.

Judge Arun Subramanian denied the defense’s motion.

As struggling drugstore chains work to regain their footing, Walgreens is doubling down on automation. 

The company is expanding the number of retail stores served by its micro-fulfillment centers, which use robots to fill thousands of prescriptions for patients who take medications to manage or treat diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions. 

Walgreens aims to free up time for pharmacy staff, reducing their routine tasks and eliminating inventory waste. Fewer prescription fills would allow employees to interact directly with patients and perform more clinical services such as vaccinations and testing.

Walgreens first rolled out the robot-powered centers in 2021, but paused expansion in 2023 to focus on gathering feedback and improving performance at existing sites. After more than a year of making upgrades, including new internal tools, the company said it is ready to expand the reach of that technology again.

Walgreens told CNBC it hopes to have its 11 micro-fulfillment centers serve more than 5,000 stores by the end of the year, up from 4,800 in February and 4,300 in October 2023. As of February, the centers handled 40% of the prescription volume on average at supported pharmacies, according to Walgreens. 

That translates to around 16 million prescriptions filled each month across the different sites, the company said. 

The renewed automation push comes as Walgreens prepares to go private in a roughly $10 billion deal with Sycamore Partners, expected to close by the end of the year. 

The deal would cap a turbulent chapter for Walgreens as a public company, marked by a rocky transition out of the pandemic, declining pharmacy reimbursement rates, weaker consumer spending and fierce competition from CVS Health, Amazon and other retail giants.

Like CVS, Walgreens has shifted from opening new stores to closing hundreds of underperforming locations to shore up profits. Both companies are racing to stay relevant as online retailers lure away customers and patients increasingly opt for fast home delivery over traditional pharmacy visits.

The changes also follow mounting discontent among pharmacy staff: In 2023, nationwide walkouts spotlighted burnout and chronic understaffing, forcing chains to reexamine their operational models.

Walgreens said the investment in robotic pharmacy fills is already paying off.

To date, micro-fulfillment centers have generated approximately $500 million in savings by cutting excess inventory and boosting efficiency, said Kayla Heffington, Walgreens’ pharmacy operating model vice president. Heffington added that stores using the facilities are administering 40% more vaccines than those that aren’t. 

“Right now, they’re the backbone to really help us offset some of the workload in our stores, to obviously allow more time for our pharmacists and technicians to spend time with patients,” said Rick Gates, Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer.

“It gives us a lot more flexibility to bring down costs, to increase the care and increase speed to therapy — all those things,” he said. 

Gates added that the centers give Walgreens a competitive advantage because independent pharmacies and some rivals don’t have centralized support for their stores. Still, Walmart, Albertsons and Kroger have similarly tested or are currently using their own micro-fulfillment facilities to dispense grocery items and other prescriptions. 

Micro-fulfillment centers come with their own risks, such as a heavy reliance on sophisticated robotics that can cause disruptions if errors occur. But the facilities are becoming a permanent fixture in retail due to the cost savings they offer and their ability to streamline workflows, reduce the burden on employees and deliver goods to customers faster.

How Walgreens micro-fulfillment works 

When a Walgreens retail pharmacy receives a prescription, the system determines whether it should be filled at that location or routed to a nearby micro-fulfillment center. Maintenance medications, or prescription drugs taken regularly to manage chronic health conditions, and refills that don’t require immediate pickup are often sent to micro-fulfillment.

At the core of each facility is a highly automated system that uses robotics, conveyor belts and barcode scanners, among other tools, to fill prescriptions. The operations are supported by a team of pharmacists pharmacy technicians and other professionals.

Instead of staff members filling prescriptions by hand at stores, pill bottles move through an automated and carefully choreographed assembly line. 

Pharmacy technicians fill canisters with medications for robot pods to dispense, and pharmacists verify those canisters to make sure they are accurate. Yellow robotic arms grab a labeled prescription vial and hold it up to a canister, which precisely dispenses the specific medication for that bottle.

Certain prescriptions are filled at separate manual stations, including inhalers and birth control pill packs. Each prescription is then sorted and packaged for delivery back to retail pharmacy locations for final pickup.

There are other security and safety measures throughout the process, said Ahlam Antar, registered group supervisor of a micro-fulfillment center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. 

For example, the robot pods automatically lock and signal an error with a red-orange light if a worker attaches a canister to the wrong dispenser, preventing the incorrect pills from going in a prescription, she said. 

Properly training workers at the centers to ensure accuracy and patient safety is also crucial, according to Sarah Gonsalves, a senior certified pharmacy technician at the Mansfield site. 

She said a core part of her role is to make sure that technicians can correctly perform the different tasks in the process. 

Improvements to robotic prescription fills

Antar, who has worked at the Mansfield site since its 2022 opening, said Walgreens has made improvements to the micro-fulfillment process after considering feedback from stores and patients during the paused expansion. That includes establishing new roles needed to support the process at the sites, such as a training manager for all 11 locations. 

The facilities also plan to transition to using smaller prescription vials after hearing concerns that the current bottles are too large, according to a Walgreens spokesperson. They said that will allow the centers to ship more prescriptions per order and reduce costs.

Heffington said the automated locations have helped reduce Walgreens’ overall prescription fulfillment costs by nearly 13% compared to a year ago. 

She said Walgreens has also increased prescription volume by 126% year-over-year, now filling more than 170 million prescriptions annually. The company hopes to raise that number to 180 million or even more. 

Heffington added that Walgreens implemented new internal tools to track the work across all 11 centers and provide real-time data on where a patient’s prescription is in the micro-fulfillment process. 

“If a patient called the store and said, ‘Hey, can you tell me where my prescription is today?’ [Workers] can do that with great specificity,” thanks to the new tools, Heffington said. 

Despite the company’s progress, Gates said there is more work to be done with micro-fulfillment centers. 

For example, he pointed to the possibility of shipping prescriptions directly to patients’ doorsteps instead of putting that burden on retail stores. 

“It’s only step one right now,” he said. 

Other improvements may still be needed at facilities, according to some reports. For example, WRAL News reported in April that some customers at a Walgreens store in Garner, North Carolina, say they are only getting partial prescription fills, with several pills missing, or their medicine is being delayed.

Retail store pharmacy staff see benefits 

A customer views merchandise for sale at a Walgreens store in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Christopher Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Before Brian Gange’s Arizona store started relying on an automated facility, he walked into the pharmacy every morning knowing that a massive list of prescriptions was in his work queue waiting to be filled for the day. 

Now, with help from micro-fulfillment, that list is significantly smaller each day, according to Gange. 

“We don’t have to spend as much time on just those repetitive fulfillment tasks,” he told CNBC. “It really takes a huge weight off our shoulders.” 

Gange said that gives him and his team time to step behind the pharmacy counter and interact with customers face-to-face, answering questions, providing advice, performing health tests or administering vaccines. 

That kind of attention can make all the difference for a patient.  

For example, Gange recalls stepping away for five minutes to take a patient’s blood pressure despite being overwhelmed with tasks while working at a different Walgreens location several years ago. He ended up sending that person to the emergency room because their blood pressure was “off the charts.” 

That patient’s wife visited the pharmacy the next day to thank Gange, saying her husband “probably wouldn’t be here with us today” without that blood pressure test. 

“I shouldn’t have to question whether I have that five or 10 minutes to check a blood pressure for a patient,” Gange said. “Micro-fulfillment and centralized services are really what are going to allow us to be able to do that, to have that time.” 

“That really allows us to provide better care for them,” he added.

Jupiter’s dazzling auroras are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth, new images from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal.

The solar system’s largest planet displays striking dancing lights when high-energy particles from space collide with atoms of gas in the atmosphere near its magnetic poles.

Jupiter’s auroras and Earth’s Northern and Southern lights are all powered by high energy particles ejected from the sun during solar storms. But Jupiter’s lights are turned up even higher because the strong magnetic field of the planet also captures particles thrown into space from massive volcanoes on its moon Io.

Webb previously captured Neptune’s glowing auroras in the best detail yet, many decades after they were first faintly detected during a flyby of the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

The Webb telescope captured the fast-varying auroral features using a unique near-infrared camera.

The study of the planet was made on Dec. 25, 2023, by a team of scientists led by Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. The results of their study were published today in the journal Nature Communications.

An early-season heat wave is set to bake huge swaths of the country this week, with record or near-record high temperatures expected across the northern and the southern Plains, the Southwest and much of central and southern Texas.

Temperatures will reach the 90s in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota on Monday, with some areas potentially seeing highs in the triple digits, according to the National Weather Service.

Beginning Tuesday, the hottest conditions will be found in Texas, where temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher will be common for much of the state, the agency said.

“Expect record breaking heat across much of central and southern Texas through mid-week,” the weather service said Monday in its short-range forecast.

In a series of posts on X, the weather service office in San Antonio warned that many people will not be acclimated to such extreme heat so early in the year, increasing the risk of heat-related illness and death.

“Temperatures are forecast to surge above 100 Tuesday, and some places could approach 110 midweek. Ensure you have access to cooling and plentiful hydration before the heat arrives,” the office wrote on X.

As the week progresses, heat will build in the central and the southern Plains and expand through the Southeast and into Florida.

Cities that could set new daily temperature records this week include Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston in Texas; Oklahoma City; Shreveport, Louisiana; Charleston, South Carolina; and Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Orlando in Florida.

The unseasonably hot temperatures are caused by a strong high-pressure ridge parked over much of the country and centered over Texas. These kinds of “heat domes” essentially trap hot air over a region, sometimes driving up temperatures for days on end.

Southern California saw record highs over the weekend, with temperatures peaking at 103 in downtown Los Angeles, breaking a record of 99 set in 1988, according to the weather service.

Climate change is increasing the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves around the world, studies have shown. Scientists are anticipating a hot summer again this year, after two consecutive years (2023 and 2024) that shattered global temperature records.

The back-to-back broken records are part of an alarming warming trend that has long been predicted by climate change models. The planet’s 10 hottest years since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.