Boston, MA
‘It was like a bomb dropped on you’: Boston to lose fourth Walgreens pharmacy in just over a year – The Boston Globe
The pharmacy in Roxbury is slated to close by Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and is the fourth Walgreens to close in a predominantly Black and Latino Boston neighborhood in just over a year. In late 2022, the drugstore giant shuttered pharmacies in Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Lower Roxbury.
In many cases, longtime customers learned of the coming closures only after they encountered barren shelves, and thought enough to ask why.
Residents say they depend on their neighborhood pharmacies for their medical needs, household items, and even last-minute groceries. They also see the closures as part of a series of changes and developments that have altered the fabric of their neighborhood, with new businesses replacing old, trusted ones. And what’s worse for residents — many feel there’s not much they can do about it.
“For communities of color, when a pharmacy is lost, they’re losing access to health care,” said Domonique Williams, a Roxbury native whose three grandparents use the store. “We’re not talking about clothes or sneakers. We’re talking blood pressure medication and diabetic strips.”
In a statement, Walgreens said that it weighs a variety of factors when deciding to close a location, including “our existing footprint of stores, dynamics of the local market, and changes in the buying habits of our patients and customers.” Current customers of the Warren Street store will have their prescriptions automatically transferred to Walgreens’ Columbus Avenue store, about a 20 minute walk away in Roxbury, the statement said.
“With Walgreens’ goal to be the independent partner of choice, not just in pharmacy but also in healthcare services where we can improve healthcare, lower costs, and help patients, we need the right network of stores,” the company said.
Walgreens has 18 stores in Boston, including one that sells specialty drugs and a branch in Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. But the only stores Walgreens has closed in Boston in recent years have been in Roxbury, Mattapan, and Hyde Park. Overall, there are more than 100 pharmacies in Boston, according to state data.
According to Census figures, the neighborhood surrounding the Warren Street store is nearly half Black, and one-third Hispanic. Residents age 65 and over make up 15 percent of the population. More than 30 percent of households live below the poverty line.
Other than the Walgreens on Columbus Avenue, the closest pharmacy to the Warren Street store is a CVS in Grove Hall, a 15-minute walk, according to city records. There are also four other retail pharmacies, not owned by Walgreens, that are about a 20-minute walk away. Two other Walgreens are at least 40 minutes away by foot.
Statewide, Walgreens has 224 of the 1,100 retail pharmacies in Massachusetts. Since 2022, 58 pharmacies have closed in Massachusetts, one-third being Walgreens stores. It was not immediately clear if new pharmacies have opened where others closed.
In Roxbury, some residents say they will continue to fight off the closure of their neighborhood store. The Communities of Color for Health Equity, a grassroots group of residents led by the Rev. Miniard Culpepper of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church and Prophetic Resistance Boston, delivered a letter to Walgreens’ district office in Marlborough Tuesday afternoon seeking to halt the closure. They plan to bring their concerns to the pharmacy’s Chicago headquarters if they feel they are unheard.
City and state officials have also joined in the effort. Last year, city Councilors Tania Fernandes Anderson and Brian Worrell filed a resolution calling for Walgreens to postpone both closures and openings of new pharmacies in Boston until further notice, so the council could have an opportunity to weigh in.
The resolution stalled in a committee, but Fernandes Anderson, who represents Roxbury, said she plans to soon file a request for a hearing, to collect community concerns and get answers from the drugstore.
“Walgreens is sending communities of color to other locations without understanding the ramifications,” Fernandes Anderson said. “We’re not going to let corporations go in and out of the city and treat the residents of Boston this way.”
State Representative Christopher Worrell, who also represents the area and sits on the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, said lawmakers are considering ways to respond to the fallout, such as expediting online and home delivery resources for Roxbury residents.
Nonetheless, it’ll take the neighborhood some time to recover from the loss, Worrell said. In a community where skepticism of health care is rampant, relocating to a new pharmacy and acclimating to a new team of workers can be a challenge.
“Black families are comfortable with what they know, and they’ve probably had families going to that Walgreens for at least three generations,” Worrell said. “Now, three generations of families have to uproot and go somewhere else.”
Such a generational impact is felt by Roxbury residents like Lucille Culpepper-Jones, who first visited the store decades ago to grab baby formula for her daughter, who’s now in her 30s. Now, Culpepper-Jones is protesting to keep the store open.
Culpepper-Jones said the loss of the store will affect more than just health care; it’s one less accessible place to get a few groceries, or a surprise gift when the paycheck arrives, for a community where transportation can often be difficult.
“It’s not just medicine,” Culpepper-Jones said. “It’s those things that you need that you couldn’t get during the week, or whenever because you didn’t have money at the time.”
She said she doesn’t see herself visiting the Columbus Avenue drugstore, because she doesn’t feel safe walking there alone.
Alma Wright, a former Boston Public Schools teacher and nearby resident, said the closure is only the latest loss of health care resources for the neighborhood. When Roxbury Comprehensive Community Health Center closed in 2013, residents flocked to Walgreens for their medical needs. Residents can travel to Whittier Street Health Center and Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, but most will have to ride a bus.
When the Walgreens closes, “it’s going to have a big impact,” she said.
Worrell, the state representative, said a number of local business owners have reached out to him to inquire about the upcoming vacancy on Warren Street, though some residents have whispered that a grocery store may take over the location.
On a frigid Saturday afternoon, more than 30customers, clergy, and elected officials gathered outside the drugstore to protest its approaching closure, waving white signs reading “Hell no, Walgreens.” From the inside, the store looked as if it had closed already. Shelves that once held toothpaste and toothbrushes stood empty. A pharmacist sorted through what little bandage care remained, trying to find one to recommend to a customer.
Steps from the motion-sensing front doors, a sign read: “Store closing January 15, 2024 . . . Questions? Talk to the pharmacist today.”
Tiana Woodard is a Report for America corps member covering Black neighborhoods. She can be reached at tiana.woodard@globe.com. Follow her @tianarochon.
SALT LAKE CITY — Up until the past month or so, Clayton Young wasn’t sure if he’d make it to the starting line of the 130th Boston Marathon.
By Monday afternoon, he was walking away from the course with a stunning new personal best.
Young finished the 26.2-mile point-to-point course in a personal-record time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 41 seconds Monday, good for 11th place in an all-time year. Zouhair Talbi ran the fastest time ever by an American, finishing fifth overall in 2:03:45 and Jess McClain broken the American women’s record in 2:20:49.
In all, seven American men and 12 American women finished in the top 20 of the prestigious marathon — including Young, whose streak of six consecutive top-10 finishes dating back to 2023 (including the Paris Olympics) ended, albeit barely.
But donning the No. 24 bib and a brand-new kit for new sponsor Brooks, the former BYU national champion who prepped at American Fork High jumped into the lead pack from the start and never looked back as he broke his previous lifetime best set from the 2023 Chicago marathon and the Olympic trials nearly a year later by close to 3 seconds.
“With only nine weeks of training. … I was really happy to be a 2:05 guy,” Young told FloTrack after the race. “Obviously, falling outside the top 10 is a little disappointing, but I’m really happy with the time.”
The final finish was only the faintest disappointment in the incredibly fast field.
Young’s finish as the third fastest American on Monday marks the fifth-fastest time by an American man all-time in Boston. Charles Hicks finished 50 seconds behind Talbi in 2:04:35, with Young coming in just over a minute later to cheers of friends and family.
His former BYU teammate, Canadian international Rory Linkletter, finished 14th with a personal-best time of 2:06:04. Former BYU runner Michael Ottesen finished 52nd in 2:16:06, and Utah resident Todd Garner finished his 11th running of the Boston Marathon all-time in 3:14:35.
“I think we’re in an era in distance running, on the men and women’s sides, but especially the women’s side, where we’re all making each other so much better every time we line up with one another,” McClain told the Associated Press. “And I think it’s just going to get stronger and stronger.”
Former Utah Valley and BYU runner Kodi Kleven finished 14th in the women’s race with a personal-best time of 2:24:48. The three-time St. George marathon course record holder from Mount Pleasant led for large portions of the race en route to her qualifying time for the 2026 U.S. Olympic marathon trials.
Former BYU standout and Utah State coach Madey Dickson, who also runs trains locally with Run Elite Program, beat her previous personal record in 2:28:12 — good for 18th in the women’s race.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
For an industrial robot built for the rigors of factories and power plants, tidying up a living room may seem like a light day at the office for Spot. Yet, a recent video of the robot picking up shoes and soda cans in a residential home represents the promise of AI models in robotics. In this case, Google’s visual-language model (VLM) Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 was empowering Spot with embodied reasoning.
This particular demo grew out of a 2025 hackathon at Boston Dynamics that built on prior projects using Large Language Models (LLMs) and Visual Foundation Models (VFMs) to enable Spot to contextualize its environment and engage in more complex autonomous actions than a typical Autowalk mission. Rather than write formal software logic or a “state machine” program that defines each step of a given task, we interacted with Gemini Robotics using conversational language. In turn, it communicated with Spot on our behalf.
A Robust SDK and Natural Language Prompts Save Time
Using Spot’s SDK, we developed a layer that facilitated interaction between Gemini Robotics and Spot’s application programming interface (API). The API normally gives developers access to the robot’s capabilities to create custom applications or behaviors. For example, researchers at Meta have used Spot to test how an AI system could locate and retrieve objects it had never seen before.
Our ability to engage Gemini Robotics using natural language prompts was a huge timesaver, compared to traditional programming. We told Gemini Robotics it had access to a mobile robot equipped with cameras and a robotic arm. It also had a finite set of tools it could use to control the robot. A tool is a lightweight script that performs some internal logic and translates inputs from Gemini Robotics to actual API calls. We limited the actions to navigating between locations, capturing images, identifying objects, grasping them, and placing them somewhere else.
The extent of our SDK means there are great examples one could leverage to add more access to the API with minimal development.
Giving Gemini Robotics a Baseline
To start we needed to explain to Gemini Robotics what we wanted it to do. We did experience a learning curve when writing these baseline prompts. Simple instructions like “put down an object” or “take a picture” weren’t detailed enough to produce expected behavior. We had to add context in our descriptions as we refined each tool.
A good example is the detailed prompt for the “TakePicture” tool:
This command will cause the robot to take a picture with the specified camera. There is some nuance to choosing the correct camera. Once arriving at a location using GoTo, you should always start by taking a picture with the gripper camera, because it's the most informative.
If the robot has arrived at location and is already holding an object, you can do one of two things:
1. Immediately call PutDown
2. Search the area with either of the front cameras. The front cameras are low to the ground, so if you're trying to put things on an elevated surface, they won't give you useful information.In this example, we gave Gemini Robotics no detailed description of the robot’s chassis or arm. Instead, we simply explained that Spot’s front cameras would be too low to photograph objects on elevated surfaces. We were able to iterate rapidly, as small changes in wording produced noticeably better results. Once it had this set of basic tools through the API, Gemini Robotics could sequence Spot’s actions and follow the handwritten instructions on a whiteboard on the day of the demonstration.
How Gemini Robotics and Spot Collaborate
Until the robot powers on, Gemini Robotics has no context for what specific tasks we might ask it to perform in a given demo. We only provided simple written instructions, such as, “Make sure all of the shoes at the front door are on the shoe rack.” Gemini Robotics evaluated images from Spot’s cameras and identified objects in the scene that matched the instructions. These objects became the reference points for Spot’s navigational and manipulation systems.
In many respects, Gemini Robotics was identical to an operator manually driving Spot using its tablet controller. For example, to pick up an object with Spot, an operator positions the robot near the object and then uses a grasp wizard to identify the target object. The operator provides high-level direction and Spot figures out the exact details. In this demonstration, Gemini Robotics functioned as both the operator and the tablet sending commands to the robot. This freed us up to act more like a team lead, providing a high-level to-do list and trusting Spot and Gemini Robotics do the rest.
Call and Response
When Gemini Robotics engages a given tool, the tool responds with results and context, such as, “I picked up the object,” or “I can’t pick up something while my hand is full.” Gemini Robotics then makes adjustments on the fly based on this feedback from Spot. For example, to pick up shoes, Gemini Robotics requests an image, identifies the shoes in that image, and calls the “pickup” command. By creating fundamental tools that semantically flow in conversation, Gemini Robotics can manage the sequence of tasks required to clean up the room. Spot’s existing software stack manages the locomotion, navigation, and manipulation of the robot itself.
It’s important to note Gemini Robotics has strict boundaries in this scenario. It can’t invent new capabilities or control Spot beyond what is available through the API. This keeps Spot’s behavior predictable, while still allowing Gemini Robotics to adapt to different situations.
A Force Multiplier for Developers
For developers already working with Spot, this research has tremendous potential. Through Spot’s SDK, they have access to a robust toolkit of capabilities. Companies use these tools today to build applications for inspection, research, and industrial data analysis, among others.
An AI model like Gemini Robotics offers a way to expand those applications more rapidly. Rather than write extensive task logic on top of Spot’s APIs, developers can experiment with having AI systems interpret natural language instructions and dynamically choose to engage the robot. As a result, models like Gemini Robotics can act as force multipliers, amplifying the reliable toolkit and robust performance that is already delivering value for Boston Dynamics customers.
Our Next-Token Prediction for Spot and Gemini Robotics
Although this is still an experimental step and not a hardened application, it illustrates a compelling direction for robotics and physical AI. Robots like Spot are already extremely capable of navigating complex and changeable environments, collecting data and sensor readings, and manipulating objects. Rather than reinventing the wheel, AI foundation models offer a new way to expand these capabilities in new settings and to new applications.
Physical AI is a rapidly evolving field and our team is leading the way in the lab and in real applications of AI empowered robots. While we are early in our formal partnership with Google Deepmind, we’re excited for what the future holds with Atlas and we’ve already rolled out practical enhancements for Spot and Orbit, with AIVI-Learning powered by Google Gemini Robotics ER 1.6. This next evolution of our AI Visual Inspection tool unlocks a new level of visual intelligence, as users benefit from shared expertise bringing a deeper level of contextual intelligence to Spot and Orbit. Model improvements automatically happen behind the scenes, adding more capabilities to the same software and hardware.
Today, this demo points to a future where users can rely more on natural language to guide Spot’s actions, rather than complex code. The engineer’s role shifts toward setting goals and objectives. The multi-modal robot foundation model interprets the instructions to form complex and adaptive plans and Spot executes the action.
This article was contributed by Issac Ross and Nikhil Devraj, engineers on the Spot team.
Boston, MA
A crowd scientist is helping the Boston Marathon manage a growing field of 30,000-plus runners
BOSTON (AP) — Running the Boston Marathon is tough enough without having to jostle your way from Hopkinton to Copley Square.
So race organizers this year turned to an expert in crowd science to help them manage the field of more than 32,000 as it travels the 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers) through eight Massachusetts cities and towns — some of it on narrow streets laid out during Colonial times.
“There are certain things that we can’t change — that we don’t want to change — because they make the Boston Marathon,” said Marcel Altenburg, a senior lecturer of crowd science at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain. “Like, I’m a scientist, but I can’t be too science-y about the race. It should stay what it is because that’s what I love. That’s what the runners love.”
The world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon, the Boston race was inspired by the endurance test that made its debut at the inaugural modern Olympics in 1896 — itself a tribute to the route covered by the messenger Pheidippides, who ran to Athens with news of the Greek victory over the Persians in Marathon.
After sharing the news — “Rejoice, we conquer!” — Pheidippides dropped dead.
Organizers of the Boston race would prefer a more pleasant experience for their runners, even as the field has ballooned from 15 in 1897 to as many as 38,000 to meet demand for the 100th edition in 1996. It has settled at around 30,000 since 2015.
As the race grew, it tested the limits of the narrow New England roads and the host cities and towns, which are eager to reopen their streets for regular commutes and commerce as quickly as possible.
“It would be kind of great someday to be able to grow the race a little bit more,” race director Dave McGillivray said. “The problem with this race is that it’s about two things: time and space. We don’t have either. … So, we’re trying to be innovative.”
That’s where Altenburg comes in.
A former German army captain who runs ultra marathons himself, Altenburg has worked with all of the major races, other large sporting events, and airports and exhibitions that tend to attract large crowds on ways to keep things safe and flowing smoothly.
For the Boston Marathon, which draws hundreds of thousands of spectators in addition to the runners, his models allow him to run simulations that help him see how the race might play out under different conditions.
“We have simulated the Boston Marathon more than 100 times to run it once for real. That is the one that counts,” Altenburg said in a telephone interview. “They gave me, pretty much, all creative freedom to simulate more waves, simulate more runners and — within the existing time window — they allowed me to change pretty much anything for the betterment of the running experience.
“And then we checked every aid station, every mile, the finish, every important point, (asking): Is the result better for the runner? Is that something that we should explore further?”
The most noticeable difference on Monday will be that the runners are starting in six waves — groups organized by qualifying time — instead of three. The waves, which were first used in Boston in 2011, help spread things out so that runners don’t have to walk after the start, when Main Street in Hopkinton squeezes to just 39 feet wide.
Other, less obvious changes involve the unloading of the buses at the start, the placement of the water and aid stations, and the finish line chutes, where runners get their medals, perhaps a mylar blanket or a banana, and any medical treatment they might need.
“For an event that’s as old as ours, 130 years, it allowed us to be a startup all over again,” said Lauren Proshan, the chief of race operations and production for the Boston Athletic Association.
“The change isn’t meant to be earth-shattering. It’s to be a smooth experience from start to finish,” she said. “It’s one of those things that you work really, really hard behind the scenes and hope that no one notices — a behind-the-curtain change that makes you feel as if you’re just floating and having a great day.”
Shorter porta potty lines would also be nice.
“What I loved about working with the BAA was how aware they are of what the Boston Marathon is. And they won’t change anything lightly,” Altenburg said. “So it was very detailed work from literally the moment the race last year ended to now. That we check every single option. That we really make sure that if we change something about this historic race, then we know what we’re doing.”
The BAA will look at the feedback over the next three years before deciding about expansion or other changes.
“Fingers crossed, hope for the best, but we’ll get feedback from the participants,” McGillivray said. “And they’ll let us know whether or not it worked or not.”
But keeping the course open longer isn’t an option. And the route isn’t going to change. So there’s only so much that crowd science can help with at one of the toughest tests in sports.
“I can talk. I’m a scientist. I just press a button and it’s going to be,” Altenburg said. “But the runners still have to do it.”
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
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