Walgreens is planning to close around 1,200 locations, as the drugstore chain and its rivals struggle to define their role for U.S. shoppers who no longer look to them first for convenience.

Walgreens agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits that alleged it submitted false payment claims with government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed.

America’s drugstores are testing smaller locations and more ways to offer care as more store closings loom.

A lawsuit has been filed in the case of a Massachusetts teen who died after participating in a spicy tortilla chip challenge on social media.

Walgreens is finalizing a plan to fix its business that could result in the closure of hundreds of additional stores in the next three years.

Urban and rural communities have come to depend on pharmacies as a trusted care option and a place for advice.

Walmart is closing its health centers and virtual care service after struggling to find success with the offerings.

Drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens plan to start dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone in a few states.

Walgreens has agreed to pay $275,000 to settle allegations about service in some of the national pharmacy chain's Vermont stores during the coronavirus pandemic.

Walgreens is chopping its dividend nearly in half as the drugstore chain looks to strengthen its balance sheet.

Two brothers residing in Houston have been sentenced for their roles in large-scale organized retail crime schemes that involved Walgreens and CVS, the United States Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Drugstore employees around the country have started calling in sick to highlight a lack of support from their employers.

Oh, Halloween candy. Isn’t it just the best?

Walgreens has named a new CEO as pharmacy staff walked off the job this week over concerns that working conditions are putting employees and patients at risk.

The CEO of Walgreens Boots is stepping down after less than three years at the helm of the drug store chain.

The state of Nevada has reached a $285 million settlement with Walgreens regarding the pharmacy chain’s role in the opioid epidemic.

Jeffrey Campbell, CEO of Allies in Hope, joins KPRC 2+ Now to talk about National HIV Testing day and free testing sites across Houston

San Francisco’s district attorney has released surveillance video of the shooting death of a suspected shoplifter by an on-duty Walgreens security guard.

Need something last-minute? Did you forget something? Here is what’s open and closed on Easter Sunday:

An anti-abortion organization has planned a protest in front of a Montrose-area Walgreens on Saturday following a federal judge’s decision to put a hold on the federal approval of mifepristone overnight Friday.

California's Medicaid program will continue to pay Walgreens about $1.5 billion each year.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is withdrawing a $54 million contract with Walgreens.

Walgreens says it will not start selling an abortion pill in 20 states that had warned of legal consequences if it did that.

Drugstore chains are still trying to find enough employees to put a stop to temporary pharmacy closures.

A huge opioid settlement dragged Walgreens to a $3.7 billion loss in its fiscal first quarter, but the drugstore chain still beat Wall Street forecasts.

Most retail and grocery stores are closed for the holiday, but pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS are keeping their doors open for people who have waited until the last minute to shop.

Walgreens extended its push into more comprehensive health care with its VillageMD unit acquiring another urgent and primary care chain, Summit Health-CityMD, in a deal worth close to $9 billion.

By the end of October, you’ll be able to purchase hearing aids in a pharmacy like Walgreens or CVS. Electronic retailers like Best Buy will also have some in stores.

A federal judge in Cleveland has awarded $650 million in damages to two Ohio counties that sued CVS, Walgreens and Walmart over the way the national pharmacy chains distributed opioids to their communities.

A federal judge has ruled that Walgreens can be held responsible for contributing to San Francisco’s opioid crisis for over-dispensing opioids for years without proper oversight and failing to identify and report suspicious orders as required by law.

An expert panel backed a second COVID-19 vaccine option for kids ages 6 to 17.

The Walgreens pharmacy chain has reached a $683 million settlement with the state of Florida in a lawsuit accusing the company of improperly dispensing millions of painkillers that contributed to the opioid crisis.

Three suspects were taken into custody after Houston police said they led officers on a chase following an aggravated robbery at a Walgreens in west Houston overnight on Wednesday.

Trial opened Monday in Florida’s opioid epidemic lawsuit against the Walgreens pharmacy chain, which state officials accuse of prioritizing profits over health by improperly dispensing millions of powerful painkillers that caused tens of thousands of deaths.

Houston police are on the lookout for a man who they said robbed several drug stores throughout the Houston area.

Police released surveillance video of an armed robbery at a local Walgreens in efforts that someone will identify the suspects involved.

There’s a variety of supplies out of stock in stores across the country, and now that cold and flu season is upon us, it’s adding to the shipping and manufacturing headaches with over-the-counter medications.

It may be a different year, but it’s the same story for last-minute Christmas shoppers!

Jurors in the fraud trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes returned to the courtroom Thursday to listen to a replay of audio recordings that captured her brash promises about a vaunted blood-testing technology the propelled her meteoric rise and scandalous downfall.

A woman allegedly threw a wine bottle at an employee and knocked over several store shelves before robbing a Walgreens location.

The fraud trial of fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is set to resume Tuesday with continued cross-examination of Holmes and possible expert psychological testimony.

Operation Turkey delivered 10,000 meals to Houston families on Thanksgiving.

Pharmacies have lost in a groundbreaking trial in Ohio over the toll of opioids, but there's no assurance the results will hold up on appeal.

CVS Health will close hundreds of drugstores over the next three years, as the health care giant adjusts to changing customer needs and converts to new store formats.

Cities and counties in the U.S. that want to hold pharmacies accountable for the opioid crisis are closely watching a federal trial that’s coming to a close.

Walgreens will begin flying packages by drone to residents in a pair of Texas cities in partnership with Google’s drone-making affiliate, Wing.

Walgreens says it will close five more stores in San Francisco next month because of organized retail theft.

America’s employers added just 235,000 jobs in August, a modest gain after two months of robust hiring at a time when the delta variant’s spread has discouraged some people from flying, shopping and eating out.

Deputies are investigating after they say a security guard shot a man to death outside of a Walgreens in east Harris County Tuesday night.

As the Delta variant continues to spread some people are nervous hoping a third shot or booster shot will give them more immunity and they are getting it deceptively.

For the first time in a year, Mexican school children have returned to classrooms — at least in the southern state of Campeche.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner held a news conference Friday where he discussed a coronavirus vaccine and distribution event at the Church Without Walls on Eldridge Parkway.

This year, Red Nose Day will rise again.

In Virginia, state vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula said the state could hit Biden’s goal earlier. But several governors cautioned it must come with a dramatic increase in vaccine supply. “It could be a delay for people to actually get a vaccine because of the operational constraints," she said. We can’t disappoint people who eagerly want a vaccine,” said Pat Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority. Elsewhere, governors met Biden's goal with enthusiasm.

Jim Thurman counts himself among the converts who recognize the importance of taking a COVID-19 vaccine. AdHealth authorities say first-generation COVID-19 vaccines still protect against variants of the virus that are emerging in different parts of the world. AdIn a separate announcement, Moderna also said it plans to manufacture 700 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine globally this year, up from 600 million. Bosnia, a country of 3.3 million, expects 1.2 million vaccines through COVAX. On Wednesday, Ghana has become the first country to receive COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX.

Walgreens and Uber are teaming up to bring some of Houston’s most vulnerable residents the COVID-19 vaccine.

That includes both nursing homes, where residents get 24-hour-a-day medical care; assisted living facilities, where people generally need less help; and other types of group homes. In many places, home operators and residents' relatives have watched with frustration as states opened vaccine eligibility to other populations before the work in long-term care homes was finished. The government tasked CVS and Walgreens with administering the shots to long-term care locations in nearly every state. Severine Petras watched a COVID-19 outbreak develop at a Pennsylvania assisted living home her company operates a couple weeks before the first vaccines arrived. As of Sunday morning, 3.5 million doses have been given in long-term care facilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

FILE - Starbucks COO Roz Brewer talks about the proposed redesign of a Starbucks store in New Jersey as she speaks Wednesday, March 20, 2019, during the company's annual shareholders meeting in Seattle. Walgreens has tapped Roz Brewer as its new CEO, which will make her the only Black woman currently leading a Fortune 500 company. Brewer will take over as Walgreens CEO on March 15, 2021 after a little more than three years as Starbucks' chief operating officer. At Starbucks, Brewer revamped stores, taking out clutter and cutting down on administrative work so employees could focus on customers and speed up service. Prior to joining Starbucks, Brewer served as president and CEO of Sam’s Club, the members-only warehouse channel of Walmart Inc. She also grew membership and improved merchandise there.

HOUSTON – Twas the night before Christmas and in the year 2020, as far as last-minute shoppers go, there were plenty. All of these last-minute Christmas gifts are for sale at Walgreen’s. “He doesn’t know what to get me for Christmas, so I come out with him every year to pick out my gifts. Hey, we are men,” Dan said. So if you are shopping late, don’t be ashamed, just get out there and get it done.

CVS Health and Walgreens on Friday are beginning to offer COVID-19 vaccinations for residents and staff at those long-term care facilities, making them among the first Americans to receive the shots, CNBC reported. Walgreens said its pharmacists will administer the shots at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Ohio, Connecticut and Florida. CVS said it will provide them at facilities in Ohio and Connecticut. Both companies will expand to facilities in other states next week. For more, go to CNBC’s full report.

HOUSTON – Some of the major pharmacies such as CVS, Walgreens and HEB in Houston plan to have vaccines available to the general public by springtime. Families could be making their way to their local pharmacy for a COVID-19 vaccine by March or early April. HEB has been working on plans for COVID-19 vaccine distributions for months. CVS stated that they plan to have COVID-19 vaccines available to the public by March, as well, at every one of their locations. Once it’s available to the public at CVS, Walgreens or HEB, it will be at no cost to customers.

HOUSTON – Local pharmacies were getting prepared to start COVID-19 immunizations. The CDC has partnered with Walgreens and CVS to vaccinate residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. When vaccines are available for wider distribution, all CVS pharmacies will have them. “We have 285 pharmacies, we have over 800 people who can give shots and we can give our a flu shot today,” said McClelland. Pharmacies said they have qualified people to give vaccinations and they’ve visited nursing and long-term care facilities in the past to vaccinate patients.

In October, a panel advising the federal government suggested setting aside 10% of the vaccine supply to distribute as an extra boost to the states with greater shares of disadvantaged groups. Vulnerable people will face more rationing in states such as New Mexico that have higher shares of vulnerable people. The analysis shows 15 states and Washington, D.C., have the largest shares of vulnerable, low-income minorities. A federal set-aside is not the only way to get vaccine to vulnerable neighborhoods. In their vaccination plans, 18 states have said they will consider race and income as they map out vaccine distribution.

Under the voluntary program, trained staff from CVS and Walgreens would deliver the vaccines to each nursing home and administer shots. The nation has 15,000-16,000 nursing homes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The use of retail chain pharmacies has prompted some concerns, because nursing homes typically deal with specialized pharmacies and not the big drugstores catering to consumers. Mango said the plan would accommodate nursing homes that want to continue to work with specialized pharmacies. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the program will “provide convenient and free vaccination to residents of nursing homes across America.”

HOUSTON – After days of hitting record-high positivity rates in Texas last week, the numbers fell dramatically. State health officials said that fluctuation was caused by problems in data being reported by some labs. On Aug. 7, the seven-day positivity rate hit a record of 19.41%. Lara Anton, of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said that rollercoaster rate was caused by coding errors on data that was being entered by three labs in Texas — Walgreens, Christus Meditech and Quest Diagnostic. “We were first alerted on May 7 there was an issue,” the spokeswoman for Quest said in a written statement.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)CLEVELAND Lawsuits filed by two Ohio counties against retail pharmacy chains claiming their opioid dispensing practices flooded communities with pain pills and were a a public nuisance can continue, a federal judge in Cleveland has determined. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster rejected the pharmacy chains' motion to dismiss the suits, ruling Thursday that the Ohio law does indeed apply to Lake and Trumbull counties' nuisance claims. Polster is overseeing more than 2,000 lawsuits filed by local governments, tribal authorities and others against companies they blame for fueling an opioid epidemic that has killed 430,000 people since 2000. The two northeast Ohio counties' lawsuits against CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Giant Eagle were the first to target retail pharmacy chains as both distributors and dispensers of painkillers. Those claims seek damages from the retail chains as distributors of painkillers but not as dispensers.

Walgreens plans to open full-service doctors' offices in hundreds of its stores across the US during the next five years. It's part of a bigger effort by the drugstore chain to become a one-stop shop for health care. Walgreens Boots Alliance is partnering with health care company VillageMD to create the 500 to 700 primary care clinics. Walgreens' clinics will open in at least 30 metro area markets during the next five years and then 20 more markets, said Morry Smulevitz, a Walgreens spokesperson. Each clinic will occupy about 25% of an average Walgreens store, Smulevitz said.

Walgreens quarter ended May 31, encapsulating a three-month period in which consumer activity came to a screeching halt. Walgreens furloughed more than 16,000 employees at the peak of the pandemic in the United Kingdom. Sales at its Boots stores there dropped nearly 28% on a constant currency basis. Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. slumped 9%, close to a new low for the year. The pandemic accelerated changes planned for its Boots stores, which includes closing optician locations and reducing staff at the U.K. support office.

HOUSTON Police said they are searching for a suspect who shot a man near a Walgreens by Hobby Airport, where people are waiting in line to get tested for COVID-19. Officers said the incident happened near the 8300 block of Broadway at around 3:50 a.m. Authorities said the gunshot victim drove over a sidewalk, through bushes and crashed into a truck, then called out for his mother. According to police, the victim also crashed into someone who was in the line waiting to be tested. Police said they are now looking for the suspect responsible for the shooting after they said he fled the scene.

HOUSTON – New options for coronavirus testing rolled out in Harris County on Friday. Walgreens launched two new rapid testing sites in west Houston and in Pasadena. According to Harris County Precinct 2 County Commissioner Adrian Garcia, the location in Pasadena was needed to help give better access to people who have been waiting for answers. “Localizing the testing and access to the testing is very critical,” Garcia said. The testing sites are open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Harris County has partnered with Walgreens to open two more COVID-19 testing sites. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the results would likely be released 24 hours after the quick test. “The impressive thing about these two sites that Walgreens is providing is that these are 15-minute tests,” she said. Folks will not receive the results for 24 hours, because there are state and federal reporting requirements.”Where? On April 17, testing locations opened at former Walgreens site at 14531 Westheimer in Houston and 101 West Southmore in Pasadena.

Greg Abbott and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced that two new COVID-19 drive-thru testing sites for Harris County in partnership with Walgreens are to open. Abbott said he has been working with Judge Hidalgo and Walgreens to bring these sites online and increase Harris County’s testing capacity. Abbott and Judge Hidalgo issued the following joint statement regarding this announcement:"Collection and testing is one of the most powerful tools we have in the fight against COVID-19, and we are working every day to increase testing capacity for the people of Harris County. According to Hidalgo, the tests are 15-minute tests, and people will receive their results within 24 hours after the results are reported to the appropriate health officials. The locations of the two new testing sites are as follows:14531 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77082101 W. Southmore Ave., Pasadena, TX 77502To schedule an appointment, go to www.walgreens.com/coronavirus or www.walgreens.com/findcare.

LANSING, IL – A south suburban man now recovering from COVID-19 said he tried to be honest about his status, and was refused service at a pharmacy drive-through. With more people testing positive for coronavirus across Illinois, the reality is that those recovering from the virus will be out and about. But as CBS 2’s Jermont Terry reported Thursday night, Darnell Turner said what he experienced when he pulled up to a Walgreens pharmacy left him feeling discouraged. “I couldn’t breathe.”Speaking from his home in Lansing, Illinois, Turner is now on the road to recovery from COVID-19. Walgreens pharmacy and operations communications senior manager Rebekah Pajak addressed Turner’s issue Thursday night.

Several companies stated that they are hiring anyone to help out with the growing demand in the Houston-area. To apply, visit amazon.jobsBank of AmericaBank of America has a variety of open positions including client associates and financial advisors. stores is hiring part-time associates and freight associates. Now hiring part-time and full-time... Posted by Fiesta Mart on Tuesday, March 17, 2020Fredy Auto GroupFredy Auto Group (which includes Fredy Kia), is hiring sales consultants for both new and pre-owned car sales. Lowe’sThe hardware store has full-time, part-time and seasonal roles available for displaced workers looking for short-term opportunities.