Updates for Monday 29 February 2016
More news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 Tuesday
That's it for Local Live on Monday for Birmingham and the Black Country.
Join us again from 08:00 on Tuesday for the usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather updates.
Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter
A mainly cloudy and dry afternoon at the start of a mainly unsettled week.
Find out what's in store for us tonight and tomorrow.
Afternoon weather forecast for the West Midlands
BBC Inside Out
One in three trainee GP vacancies goes unfilled in the West Midlands, according to the British Medical Association.
We have been talking to Dr Andrew Green in Biddulph, Staffordshire, about the problems that can cause.
The full report is on BBC One at 19:30.
Plugging the doctor gap
We'll find out about a recruitment crisis in the NHS, plus a round-up of all the weekend's football and more on a fundraising genius.
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BBC Travel
There is very slow traffic on the A38 (M) Aston Expressway in Birmingham outbound because of an earlier crash, drivers are warned, even though all lanes have reopened.
The West Midlands police and crime commissioner will this week meet with a minister in his bid to stop the sale of so-called “zombie knives”.
The serrated blades - up to 2ft (0.6m) long and costing as little as £8 - are increasingly being seen in videos posted online by gangs trying to boost their own status and intimidate people.
The Labour PPC, David Jamieson, will talk to Karen Bradley MP at the Home Office, calling for the Policing and Crime Bill to be tightened to completely ban the sale of the giant knives that have names such as Head Splitter and Death Dagger.
Police say they are not aware of recent crime involving the weapons but have raised concerns that without the requested controls, the situation could change.
Fourteen members of an organised crime gang have been convicted over their roles in stealing artefacts worth up to £57m from raiding museums and an auction house - thefts which police said "dwarfed" the infamous Hatton Garden bank vault raid.
Items including Chinese jade and rhino horn were stolen in Cambridge, Durham, Norwich and Lewes, East Sussex.
Image source, Fitzwilliam MuseumThe men, from Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent, London, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland, were convicted of conspiracy to burgle. They include John "Cash" O'Brien, 68, of Fifth Avenue, Wolverhampton and 35-year-old Ashley Dad, of Crowther Road, Wolverhampton.
The case can now be reported after the final four were found guilty.
Emergency repairs are being carried out on a collapsed manhole cover on the A41 Expressway in West Bromwich.
The work has closed one lane in the underpass at its junction with All Saints Way northbound towards Wednesbury.
Sandwell Council warned the lane would be coned off and drivers should expect delays tonight.
One of the oldest buildings in Birmingham is celebrating 100 years since it was saved from demolition thanks to the intervention of a chocolate magnate.
Selly Manor was rescued by George Cadbury, of the family chocolate dynasty, who said it was needed for the education of people in the city.
Selly Manor is planning to celebrate 100 years since it was saved from demolition
He had the building moved and rebuilt, and turned into a museum. The earliest records for the house date from 1476.
Pictures courtesy of Bournville Village Trust/Footage courtesy British Pathé.
BBC Sport
Wolves midfielder George Saville says he always believed in himself after scoring his first two goals for the club in their Championship win over Derby County at Molineux.
The 22-year-old ex-Chelsea trainee has had a frustrating time since leaving Stamford Bridge in August 2014.
Image source, Getty Images
Alex Homer
BBC Local Live
Here is the latest news:
- New figures reveal shortages of doctors and nurses in NHS hospitals in the Black Country
- Three Walsall taxi drivers have been charge with child sex offences
- Royal Mail has suspended deliveries to addresses in Selly Oak after two postmen were threatened by "roaming" dogs
Earlier we told you about the three taxi drivers facing child sex offences charges.
Two 35-year-old men have been charged, plus another, aged 45.
All charges relate to a teenage girl.
Walsall Council made a last-ditch attempt to derail an anti-EU event, external in the town featuring senior cabinet minister Chris Grayling, it has been claimed.
Earlier we told you how 'roaming' dogs in an area of Selly Oak had caused Royal Mail to suspend deliveries to some addresses.
Here's Royal Mail with more on the daily dangers faced by its postal workers:
"On average eight postmen and women a day are attacked by dogs across the UK with over 2,960 attacks taking place from April 2014 to April 2015, some leading to a permanent disabling injury."
In Selly Oak, postal workers faced two canine threats in as many days, leading to the "last resort" of service suspension.
Police have released CCTV images of a suspect they would like to trace, external after a bus driver was assaulted on the way to Walsall.
Image source, West Midlands PoliceJudith Burns
Education reporter
The legal duty of councils in England to ensure that every child has a school place could soon become undeliverable, local authorities have warned.
With a population surge about to hit secondary schools, councils want powers to open new maintained schools and to compel academies to expand.
Thousands of children are due to hear on Tuesday which secondary school they will attend from September.
Birmingham City has today criticised the Metropolitan Police and Queens Park Rangers, external for speaking to the media about allegations of coin throwing and fan behaviour during Saturday's match.
The club stressed any coin throwing was "deplorable" but said it was aware of "a number of issues...in regard the stewarding and policing that are of concern to the club and our supporters".
Birmingham City said it would "be making official representation to QPR, Metropolitan Police and West Midlands Police about these issues in order to ascertain the full facts of Saturday's events and gather evidence".
Three Walsall taxi drivers have been charged with child sex offences.
Two men have been charged with sexual activity with a child - one of whom also faces a charge of taking an indecent image of a child. A third man has been charged with inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
All charges relate to one teenage girl in 2014.
The "boom" in internet shopping is helping criminals smuggle guns into Britain, a police chief has warned.
Dave Thompson, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, said incidents of weapons arriving though "fast parcel systems" were becoming more common.
Mr Thompson, the national lead on countering firearms, said officers had seen a surge in the number of guns circulating in the country.
Image source, West Midlands Police Royal Mail has suspended deliveries to some addresses in Selly Oak after two postmen were threatened by dogs it claims were off the lead.
It has apologised for the move it dubbed a "last resort" but said it could not guarantee the safety of its staff working in the Kinnerton Crescent and Dormston Drive B29 postcode area until the animals were secured.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Dog attacks are a significant hazard faced by postmen and women on a daily basis."
