A blue plaque honouring a cricketer whose name inspired author PG Wodehouse's butler Jeeves has been unveiled.

Percy Jeeves played for the Goole Cricket Club and professionally for Warwickshire and Hawes before his death in World War One in July 1916.

PG Wodehouse used his name for the immaculate valet after seeing him play at Cheltenham in 1913.

Image source, Brian Halford

A documentary focusing on the use of so-called legal highs in Wolverhampton has been criticised by support groups and public health officials.

BBC Three's Drugs Map of Britain was described on BBC iPlayer as exploring a legal high "epidemic" in the city.

City of Wolverhampton director of public health Ros Jervis said there was no evidence that use of the substances was worse than elsewhere.

The programme said some people featured "wanted to tell their story".

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Here is a recap of the top stories for Birmingham and the Black Country on Thursday:

- Two ambulance services 'have held merger talks', the BBC has learnt

- A documentary focusing on the use of so-called legal highs in Wolverhampton has been criticised

- Memorial event is announced for late Sandwell Council leader Darren Cooper

Louise Hancock
Newsreader, BBC WM

City leaders have hit out at what they say is a unfair depiction of the use of legal highs in Wolverhampton in a new documentary.

Drugs Map of Britain, on BBC3, follows a homeless man who claims that the substance "black Mamba" is readily available in the city. 

Support groups and Public Health, however, say the programme does not reflect the resources that are in place to tackle the issue. 

Professor Jonathan Berg, the Pathology Director at Sandwell Hospital, says legal highs are extremely dangerous.

Tamworth Herald

A cancer patient says she has been "left to die" after medics failed to diagnose her, external with the life-limiting disease until it was too late.

Image source, Tamworth Herald

A memorial event to celebrate the life and civic contribution of late Sandwell Council leader Darren Cooper will be held at West Bromwich Town Hall on Friday 22 April, it has been announced.

Mr Cooper, 52, who had been a councillor since 1991 and leader since 2009, died over the Easter weekend.

Darren’s family, friends, colleagues and representatives from organisations who worked closely with him will be invited to the event.

Image source, Sandwell Council

Acting leader Councillor Steve Eling said: “I’ve been overwhelmed by people’s kind words since we lost Darren. He was so well thought of by people from all walks of life."

Giles Latcham
BBC Midlands Today

A police officer was involved in a hoax 999 call claiming a colleague would be kidnapped by a radical Muslim with links to so-called Islamic State, a court has heard.

PC Amar Tasaddiq Hussain, 29, is one of three men accused of conspiring to make a bogus call to West Midlands Police.

The court was played the call in which a man can be heard saying: "I have been asked to drive the car which they are going to kidnap the police officer in and put him in the back."  

The police officer denies two counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Adil Bashir, 26, and Muhammad Ali Sheikh, 31, have also denied the charges at Stafford Crown Court.

Rebecca Woods
BBC News Online, Journalist

The Solihull Starbucks store where a member of staff broke her pelvis and legs after falling 25ft (7.6m) down a lift shaft, is due to reopen today.

The coffee chain said it was "fully cooperating with an investigation into the incident".

It said its priority was to support the recovery of the woman, who plunged down the shaft at a branch on High Street, part of the Touchwood shopping centre.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

A headless and tailless cat has been found in a garden in Cannock, the RSPCA, external says. 

Image source, Google

The 18-month-old black and white cat called Ellie-May was discovered in Lincoln Drive on Friday 25 March, but details have just emerged. 

The RSPCA says it doesn't yet know for certain how she died and that she could have died naturally and been "scavenged by wild animals".

Michele Paduano
Health correspondent, BBC Midlands Today

West Midlands Ambulance service is in talks to merge with the neighbouring East Midlands service, the BBC understands.  

Troubled East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) is struggling financially and has some of the worst response times in England.

It is understood EMAS first approached the West Midlands trust, which has some of the best response times in the country, for help about six weeks ago.    

Both trusts said discussions on a "range of options" had taken place but talks were at an early stage.

Emma Thomas
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

A memorial to honour 30,000 people who have donated their organs is being unveiled, external at Staffordshire's National Memorial Arboretum. 

The sculpture depicts a butterfly poised on a forget-me-not flower. 

It comes as the NHS Blood and Transplant service warns that each day in the UK three people die while waiting for an organ transplant.    

Two inmates at HMP Birmingham have been sentenced to seven years each for attacking a fellow prisoner, say police.

Jake Ratcliffe (pictured left), aged 22, attacked a 53-year-old in his cell with a sock containing a heavy implement, possibly a pool ball, in July last year, according to the West Midlands force.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Officers said Nicholas Avey, aged 25, joined Ratcliffe in the cell and both the Telford men set about their victim. They kicked and punched him to the floor, leaving him with three fractures to the jaw and other bruising. 

The pair, police said, were found guilty after a five-day trial.

Two men and a woman remained in custody this morning after being arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with a stabbing at a West Bromwich home.

Detectives were called to Campville Crescent at about 13:50 yesterday. A man thought to be in 40s died at the scene, and another man in his 20s was taken to hospital with serious injuries, West Midlands Police said.

Det Insp Warren Hines said: "We do believe that these people are known to each and that there is no risk to the public."

Fire investigators hope to be able to enter the wreckage of a Birmingham terraced house later today after it was destroyed in a gas explosion. 

One man was severely burned in the blast in Edgbaston yesterday afternoon. It was so powerful, the roof came off and landed in the front garden.

Image source, WMFS

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Here are the top stories on Thursday:

- Two ambulance services "have held merger talks", the BBC understands

- A BBC3 documentary about the use of legal highs in Wolverhampton has come under fire

- Investigators hope to enter the scene of a Birmingham house explosion today

Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter

You may need your umbrella first thing as showers continue. Highs of 10C (50F).

Find out what else is in store for us.

BBC Travel

There is queuing traffic on the M6 southbound at J10 for Wolverhampton because of an earlier crash. Congestion is back to J10a for the M54.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

I'm back with the news, sport, travel and weather updates on Thursday.

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