Oxford United sign teenage forward Tyler Roberts on loan from West Bromwich Albion until January.

Elizabeth Glinka
BBC Midlands Today

The families of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings victims - which killed 21 and injured 222 people -say receiving legal aid is crucial ahead of the new hearings into their deaths.

In June, Birmingham's senior coroner ruled there was evidence that still needed to be heard and gave the go ahead for fresh inquests, but families are still waiting to learn if they will receive public money to pursue the case.

The Home Office said it was considering a request for legal aid funding from relatives of the Birmingham pub bombings' victims.

Louise Brookes (pictured left), who lives in Bromsgrove and whose brother died at Hillsborough, believes that inquest would not have concluded as it did without help towards the costs of legal advice for victims.

She has been discussing the plight of the pub bombings' victims with Julie Hambleton (pictured right) who lost her sister Maxine.  

Walsall sign winger Josh Ginnelly from Premier League side Burnley on loan until January 2017.

A coach company is trying to reunite a wedding album with its owners - ahead of their 51st anniversary.

BBC Travel

The A41 Holyhead Road in Handsworth is partially blocked with queuing traffic southbound near the A4040 Rookery Road junction, because of an accident and recovery work, BBC Travel news reports.

Police directing traffic.  

Birmingham Mail

It was a real cat-astrophe for the owners of an eight-week-old kitten who fled up a 25ft tree, external in the back garden of house in Great Barr.  

Daniel De Simone
BBC Home Affairs producer

The Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham has been chosen as one of two case studies for a public inquiry to establish whether there may have been “significant” child protection failures in parts of the Catholic Church.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, chaired by Dame Lowell Goddard, is investigating child abuse in a range of UK institutions and is set to be the largest public inquiry in British history.

A preliminary hearing was held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London earlier.

The hearing was told two “case studies” have been chosen: the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham and the English Benedictine Congregation, a body of monks and nuns who run schools and parishes.

Ben Emmerson QC, counsel to the inquiry, said: "There is cause to suspect significant failures to protect children from, and respond properly to, allegations of child sexual abuse in those two communities."

The chosen case studies may be able to provide an “insight” into any wider failures, the Inquiry heard.

BBC Travel

A broken down vehicle is blocking the entry slip road of the M42 northbound at J5, A41 (Solihull).

More details on BBC Travel. 

Stourbridge News

Here's today's front page - the long-running Black Country Talking Newspaper and Magazine for the blind faces a battle to stay on the air after losing vital funding, external.

Image source, Stourbridge News

Warwickshire director of cricket Dougie Brown says there is "no reason" why their white-ball cricket should be inconsistent.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Here is a recap of our headlines:

- A man has been charged over the death of a 15-year-old cyclist in West Bromwich

- Car manufacturing in the West Midlands is at its highest level since the turn of the century

- A council has pledged to help 100 BHS workers facing redundancy in Wolverhampton

Lloyds Banking Group is cutting 3,000 jobs by the end of next year and shutting 200 branches. 

It says it is bracing itself for a cut in interest rates following the UK's decision to leave the European Union. 

We do not yet know where the jobs will go; the company has main offices in Birmingham and Wolverhampton and branches across the region. 

Adrian Graves, one of the founders of the National Association of Bank and Insurance Customers, said he believed the move was down to the increase in online banking, not Brexit.

Image source, Getty Images

Sima Kotecha
Reporter, BBC Radio 4 Today programme

By the end of this year, HMP Oakwood will be the largest prison in the UK, with more than 2,000 inmates. 

Run by private firm G4S, the reputation of the site in Featherstone, near Wolverhampton, was dented in 2014 when a wing was taken over by inmates.   

I've been inside the complex which covers 50 acres and has two workshops, one the size of a football pitch.

You can read more on what I heard from prisoners and the G4S management team in my report on the BBC News website.

A jail near Redditch has been named as one of six causing "serious concern" about its performance as official figures revealed assaults on prison officers in England and Wales have risen to their highest level.

HMP Hewell is prompting concern.

Nationally, there were 5,423 assaults on prison staff in the 12 months to the end of March - a rise of 40% on last year, the Ministry of Justice said., external

Self-inflicted deaths in the year to the end of June were up from 82 to 105 - a rise of 28%.

Meanwhile, 65 prisoners were released in error in 2015-16 - the highest total for six years.

There'll be no trains between Droitwich Spa and Worcester Shrub Hill for five days from Saturday 6 August.

Revised timetables will be in operation covering services running from Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

A gunman walked into a Birmingham takeaway and shot at the ceiling with a shotgun, leaving staff "shaken up", police have revealed.

The force has today revealed details of the shot, external fired at Chicken.Com in Coventry Road at around 01:45 on Tuesday.

Officers say they have spoken to the shop's owners but have yet to establish a motive for the attack. Staff fled through the rear exit after the man loaded cartridges into his shotgun in front of them and blasted a hole in the ceiling.

The shooter, who is described as Asian and wearing a puffa style jacket and dark clothing, ran out of the shop towards Small Heath Park.

The force is appealing for information.

Ben Godfrey
BBC Midlands Today

The families of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings are pressing for legal aid ahead of the new hearings into their deaths.  

Unions have warned jobs are under threat at Lloyds Bank's operations in Wolverhampton.

More on these stories and others on BBC Midlands Today on BBC One at 13:30.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

A hospice in the West Midlands has begun a new campaign themed "Not Out The Game Yet" in an attempt to break down stereotypes and challenge the stigma around end-of-life care.Compton Hospice, near Wolverhampton, needs to raise £6m a year to pay for its services and says it wants to stop anyone giving it a "bad rap".The campaign features this video sending up the Straight Outta Compton film about hip hop group NWA, which has been viewed more than 17,000 times in four hours on Facebook and shared by 400 people.

The campaign's message is: “Don’t write me off just because I’m a hospice patient, I’m not out the game yet”.Patients and families of patients are encouraged to do the things that make them feel alive - even if that means cruising the streets of Wolverhampton in a American Corvette C7 Z06.    

A toy-maker from the West Midlands has signed a deal with Google to design and manufacture a low-priced cardboard virtual reality headset which works with smartphones.

BBC WM Sport

Birmingham City beat Port Vale 2-0 in their latest pre-season friendly last night. 

Jack Storer and Paul Caddis got the goals. 

Image source, Empics