Walgreens will not distribute abortion pills in 20 mainly Republican-leaning states after being warned by a group of attorneys general not to distribute the pills, according to multiple reports.

Politico was first to report the decision Scripps News has reached out to Walgreens multiple times and is still awaiting a statement.

The attorneys general are at odds with both drug companies and the Biden administration over the legality of the pills. These attorneys general have fought the Biden administration over the distribution of such pills through the mail.

Among the fights, a federal court case in Texas will weigh whether states have the authority to ban the pills from being sent to women through the mail.

"We're not taking this lightly," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "We're taking this very seriously. This is going to be -- depending on where this goes, this could be unprecedented and uncharted territory. And we're going to continue to do our -- our work internally to see which way -- how we would respond."

According to the Food and Drug Administration, mifepristone is approved for use to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks into gestation.

In January, the FDA updated its guidance on prescribing mifepristone that the drug can be issued without an in-person appointment. The ACLU, however, said the updated guidance didn't go far enough as it limits those who can prescribe the drug by those who meet certain qualifications.

In addition to Walgreens, other major drug companies received letters from state attorneys general demanding they also not distribute abortion pills.

SAN JOSE, Calif. —

As Elizabeth Holmes prepares to report to prison next week, the criminal case that laid bare the blood-testing scam at the heart of her Theranos startup is entering its final phase.

The 11-year sentence represents a comeuppance for the wide-eyed woman who broke through “tech bro” culture to become one of Silicon Valley’s most celebrated entrepreneurs, only to be exposed as a fraud. Along the way, Holmes became a symbol of the shameless hyperbole that often saturates startup culture.

But questions still linger about her true intentions — so many that even the federal judge who presided over her trial seemed mystified. And Holmes' defenders continue to ask whether the punishment fits the crime.

At 39, she seems most likely to be remembered as Silicon Valley’s Icarus — a high-flying entrepreneur burning with reckless ambition whose odyssey culminated in convictions for fraud and conspiracy.

Her motives are still somewhat mysterious, and some supporters say federal prosecutors targeted her unfairly in their zeal to bring down one of the most prominent practitioners of fake-it-til-you-make-it — the tech sector's brand of self-promotion that sometimes veers into exaggeration and blatant lies to raise money.

Holmes will begin to pay the price for her deceit on May 30 when she is scheduled begin the sentence that will separate her from her two children — a son whose July 2021 birth delayed the start of her trial and a 3-month-old daughter conceived after her conviction.

She is expected to be incarcerated in Bryan, Texas, about 100 miles northwest of her hometown of Houston. The prison was recommended by the judge who sentenced Holmes, but authorities have not publicly disclosed where she will be held.

Her many detractors contend she deserves to be in prison for peddling a technology that she repeatedly boasted would quickly scan for hundreds of diseases and other health problems with a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick.

The technology never worked as promised. Instead, Theranos tests produced wildly unreliable results that could have endangered patients' lives — one of the most frequently cited reasons why she deserved to be prosecuted.

Before those lies were uncovered in a series of explosive articles in The Wall Street Journal beginning in October 2015, Holmes raised nearly $1 billion from a list of savvy investors including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. It was the duping of those investors that led to her prison sentence and a $452 million restitution bill.

Holmes' stake in Theranos at one point catapulted her paper wealth to $4.5 billion. She never sold any of her stock in the company, though trial evidence left no doubt she reveled in the trappings of fame and fortune — so much so that she and the father of her children, William “Billy” Evans, lived on a palatial Silicon Valley estate during the trial.

The theory that Holmes was running an elaborate scam was buttressed by trial evidence documenting her efforts to prevent the Journal's investigation from being published. That campaign compelled John Carreyrou — the reporter responsible for those bombshell stories — to attend court and position himself in Holmes' line of vision when she took the witness stand.

Holmes also signed off on surveillance aimed at intimidating Theranos employees who helped uncover the flaws with the blood-testing technology. The whistleblowers included Tyler Shultz, the grandson of former Secretary of State George Shultz, whom Holmes befriended and persuaded to join the Theranos board.

Tyler Shultz became so unnerved by Holmes' efforts to shut him up that he began sleeping with a knife under his pillow, according to a wrenching statement delivered by his father, Alex, at her sentencing.

Holmes' supporters still contend she always had good intentions and was unfairly scapegoated by the Justice Department. They insist she simply deployed the same over-the-top promotion tactics as many other tech executives, including Elon Musk, who has repeatedly made misleading statements about the capabilities of Tesla's self-driving cars.

According to those supporters, Holmes was singled out because she was a woman who briefly eclipsed the men who customarily bask in Silicon Valley's spotlight, and the trial turned her into a latter-day version of Hester Prynne — the protagonist in the 1850 novel “The Scarlet Letter.”

Holmes steadfastly maintained her innocence during seven often-riveting days of testimony in her own defense — a spectacle that caused people to line up shortly after midnight to secure one of the few dozen seats available in the San Jose courtroom.

On one memorable day, Holmes recounted how she had never gotten over the trauma of being raped while enrolled at Stanford University. She then described being subjected to a long-running pattern of emotional and sexual abuse by her former lover and Theranos conspirator, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, and suggested his stifling control blurred her thinking.

Balwani's lawyer, Jeffrey Coopersmith, denied those allegations during the trial. In Balwani's subsequent trial, Coopersmith unsuccessfully tried to depict his client as Holmes' pawn.

Balwani, 57, is now serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence for fraud and conspiracy.

When it came time to sentence the then-pregnant Holmes in November, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila seemed as puzzled as anyone about why she did what she did.

"This is a fraud case where an exciting venture went forward with great expectations and hope, only to be dashed by untruth, misrepresentations, hubris and plain lies," Davila lamented while Holmes stood before him. “I suppose we step back and we look at this, and we think what is the pathology of fraud?”

The judge also hearkened back to the days when Silicon Valley consisted mostly of orchards farmed by immigrants. That was before the land was ceded to the tech boom beginning in 1939 when William Hewlett and David Packard founded a company bearing their surnames in a one-car garage in Palo Alto — the same city where Theranos was based.

“You’ll recall the wonderful innovation of those two individuals in that small garage,” Davila reminded everyone in the rapt courtroom. “No exotic automobiles or lavish lifestyle, just a desire to create for society’s benefit through honest hard work. And that, I would hope, would be the continuing story, the legacy and practice of Silicon Valley.”

___

Michael Liedtke has been covering Silicon Valley for The Associated Press for 23 years.

Several national retailers say they’ll continue to require face coverings in their stores even as Texas and some other states lift mask requirements.

Both the Lone Star State and Mississippi announced Tuesday that they’d end their face mask requirements in public spaces and said they’d allow businesses to reopen at 100% capacity as COVID-19 cases dip across the country.

Other states have taken similar actions, despite warnings from public health officials that the pandemic is far from over and easing restrictions threatens the nation’s recovery.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases, criticized these states for lifting their mask mandates, calling the decision “inexplicable” and “ill-advised.”

Though these states aren’t requiring their residents to wear masks, many national stores are continuing to ask all customers to do so, at least for now.

Below is a list of major retailers continuing mask policies:

Target

A Target spokesperson said in a statement Thursday that the company is still requiring its guests and employees to wear masks or face coverings in all of its stores, except for guests with underlying medical conditions and young children. And as more Americans get vaccinated for COVID-19, Target is still asking those who have received a vaccine to wear masks and follow all social distancing guidelines.

Kroger

Kroger, the country’s largest chain of groceries, said in a statement Thursday that it will continue to require everyone in its stores to wear masks until “all our frontline grocery associates can receive the COVID-19 vaccine.” The company owns stores under different names as well, including King Soopers, Ralphs and Dillons. It’s also advocating for federal, state and local officials to prioritize grocery workers in vaccine rollout plans.

CVS

CVS said in a statement Thursday that its face covering policy remains in effect at all of its pharmacies nationwide, based on federal public health recommendations. The company said, “if a customer is not wearing a mask or face covering, we will refer them to our signage and ask that they help protect themselves and those around them by listening to the experts and heeding the call to wear a face covering.”

Walgreens

Like CVS, fellow pharmacy chain Walgreens says its masking policy is not changing. It still requires team members and customers to wear masks, unless doing so would inhibit the individual’s health or if the person is under 2 years old. “We have signage on doors and make announcements over the store's public address system to remind customers that face covers are required,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

ALDI

ALDI, a grocery chain which has locations in both Texas and Mississippi, said it doesn’t plan to make any adjustments to its safety measures at this time. A company spokesperson said in a statement, “For the health and well-being of the communities we serve and for the protection of our employees, we will maintain our current nationwide policy requiring all employees and customers to wear a face covering when shopping in our stores.”

Starbucks

Starbucks will also keep enforcing its face mask requirements for its staff and customers. In a statement, a spokesperson said the coffee company will “continue to make decisions rooted in facts and science and are committed to meeting or exceeding public health mandates.”

Others

Reports from USA Today, Bloomberg and CBS News show additional companies, like Best Buy, Kohl’s, and Macy’s are also continuing their mask mandates. We’ve reached out to them for confirmation and are waiting to hear back.

CDC still asking people to mask up

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is continuing to ask Americans to mask up when in public spaces to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus to prevent any more spikes in cases. Click here to learn more about masking.

CHICAGO — The U.S. has topped 260 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered, but the number of people getting it each day is starting to drop. A new program by Walgreens aims to expand access in some of the hardest-hit communities.

Originally used as a mobile pharmacy deployed during natural disasters, Walgreens has reconfigured its trailer to serve as a mobile walk-up vaccination unit.

“We also have coach busses. Why not take them out to the community and come out and make them more accessible to them for the vaccines?” said Latasha Guy, a pharmacist and manager at Walgreens.

The trailer has five vaccination stations and can administer 400 doses a day or more. It was recently deployed at a church fair on Chicago’s west side.

Chicago resident Joan Hill-McClain has been trying to get her daughter, Victoria, to get the vaccine.

“It's been extremely tough. She's the very last person in the family to get it, you know, so she's pretty hesitant,” said Hill-McClain.

But when Hill-McClain saw the walk-up opportunity, she grabbed her daughter by the arm to get in line for a jab.

“She was like, ‘Well, you know, don't you want to get the shot?’ ‘No, not really.’ And I said, ‘Well, you know what, mom? Since you didn't want anything for Mother’s Day, this is your Mother's Day gift.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God. This is the best Mother's Day ever,’” recalled Victoria McClain.

Along with the problem of vaccine hesitancy, there have also been racial disparities. Black and brown people have gotten smaller shares of vaccinations despite having disproportionately higher numbers of cases and deaths.

For example, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation in Colorado, 10% of vaccinations have gone to Hispanic people, while they account for 41% of cases and 25% of deaths. In Washington, D.C., Black people have received 31% of vaccinations, while they make up 55% of cases and 70% of deaths.

“Those are the communities we try to target because we know those are the people that need us most, so we go out and make sure that we're accessible to them,” said Guy.

For Michelle Padilla, the trailer gave her easy access to the vaccine.

“I know a lot of elderly people that can't get out to the doctor and can't walk,” she said. “It made me get it, coming to me. So, it’ll make more people get it. More people will be vaccinated, you know, and that helps everybody.”

Walgreens plans to use its coach units to take the program on the road to at least nine other locations across the country.