Mike Taylor
BBC WM Sport

Coventry sprinter Marlon Devonish says the World Indoor Athletics Championships being held in the West Midlands could inspire a new generation of athletes. 

Devonish who represented the Coventry Godiva club for many years is encouraging people to register their interest for the championships which will be held at Birmingham's NIA in exactly one year.

Image source, Empics

Image source, Empics

Devonish isn't so sure where the time has gone - it's now 14 years since he took gold. 

He says: "I remember it very clearly. It was one of my highest accolades, the highest thing I achieved in my athletics career, and I hold it very dear to my heart.”  

BBC Sport

"They will be back - it is just a question of when." 

Image source, Rex Features

That is the view of Dean Saunders, who played for Aston Villa from 1992-95 and helped them finish second in 1992-93.  

With Steve Bruce in charge and the most-expensively-assembled squad in Championship history at his disposal, Villa ought to be targeting an instant return to the Premier League.  

As it stands, they are 16 points off the play-off places with 12 games left of the season. We have been looking at how the club found itself where it is .

Unblocking "bed blocking": A suitable case for treatment?

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

The police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands is calling for the £200 fine for drivers caught using their mobile phones to be given to local forces to fund the enforcement of the tougher law.

Image source, DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT

David Jamieson, a former transport minister says he welcomes the new tougher measure which he originally helped introduce in 2003 , but should be given to the police forces to help enforce it.  

In 2003, when the ban of mobile phones while driving was introduced, came with a £30 fine if drivers were caught using a mobile.

Today, the government has announced a £200 fine and six points after a rise in road deaths. In 2015, 22 people were killed and 99 seriously injured in accidents where a driver was using their phone. 

We have contacted the Department for Transport and are awaiting a response.

The patient also underwent 27 biopsies under general anaesthetic when there was no need, a court hears.

Tesco's cancelled its plans to build a new superstore in Stirchley 19 years after they were first proposed.

Image source, Google

The supermarket giant says it has made the "difficult decision" not to go ahead after a "detailed review".

Traders  previously said the delay had led the area into decline  and previously criticised the wait.

In a statement Tesco says it will ensure the site is sold so it can play a positive part in the community.

A grandfather hit by a car in Castle Bromwich died six days after, police have revealed, external .

Image source, West Midlands Police

Alan Watkinson, aged 73, was hit by a Vauxhall Zafira on Saturday 18 February on Wyckham Road, at the junction with Windleaves Road and died on 24 February. The cause of his death is still being investigated. 

His family said the retired JLR worker "was a loving husband to Pauline, father to two sons, Julian and Chris and grandfather to their families" who would be "sadly missed".

Witnesses are being urged to come forward with any information about the collision. The driver of the Zafira stopped at the scene and was cooperating fully, officers said.

A police investigation has been ruled out into the death of a woman hit by falling debris during Storm Doris in Wolverhampton.

Image source, Facebook

Tahnie Martin, a 29-year-old university worker from Stafford, was passing Starbucks in Dudley Street in the city when the large piece of wooden roofing hit her.

Ms Martin suffered "very serious head injuries" and died at the scene.

West Midlands Police said it was "no longer pursuing a criminal investigation" but City of Wolverhampton Council would instead take on the probe "supported by West Midlands Police and the Health & Safety Executive in a bid to establish the full circumstances”.

The council said: “These are extremely early days in the process and it will inevitably take time to establish the facts.”

Mike Taylor
BBC WM Sport

One year from today – 1 March 2018 – the World Indoor Athletics Championships will begin at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

The event will return to the Arena 15 years after it was last successfully staged there, and was hailed at the time by the athletics world governing body IAAF as the best World Indoors ever staged.

Marlon Devonish, the Coventry sprinter who was one of two British gold medallists at the 2003 event , was present in Birmingham this morning to mark one year to go.

The NIA has a long history of staging sport, and in particular athletics, which has featured regularly since the venue was officially opened – by Olympic sprint champion Linford Christie – in 1991.  

The event’s official website is now open to register interest in tickets , external , with updates on Twitter at @WICBham2018.

Tim Page
News Editor, BBC Shropshire

About 100 Shropshire people have had their say so far on proposed changes to parliamentary constituencies which could see the county having to share one of its seats with Herefordshire.

The Boundary Commission for England has published all the submissions so far on its website this morning and you have until the end of March to take part in the consultation.

The proposals would create a new "Ludlow and Leominster" seat and move Bridgnorth in with the Wrekin constituency.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

Two restaurants robberies by masked men armed with knives and machetes in Tamworth are being linked by police. 

Staffordshire Police says the first, on Saturday, saw staff at The Pretty Pigs threatened with knives by two men who demanded keys to the safe and money from the till. 

Image source, Google

Officers say the pair made off with cash and the victims were left shaken but unhurt. 

The force says the second, on Sunday, happened at the Tam O'Shanter and three men threatened a member of staff with machetes and crowbars before getting away with cash, a wallet and a mobile phone. 

They say in both cases the men involved had Irish accents, kept their faces covered and detectives believe both robberies are linked.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Ian Paterson's trial heard one of the charges against him related to Rachel Butler, who was operated on in 2005 aged 30. 

She returned to see Mr Paterson six years later because a lump beside her left nipple had returned and was painful. 

The surgeon told her she "had to have" an operation to cut all the ducts off around the nipple "because she was at a high risk of contracting cancer if the lump kept returning", the prosecution said. 

The operation in January 2011 had complications, including the wound bleeding for several weeks, it is alleged. The prosecution said the operation was totally unnecessary. 

Image source, Trinity Mirror

Mr Paterson was interviewed by arrangement in January 2013, when he read a prepared statement saying all surgical procedures he had undertaken were "appropriate and necessary". 

"He denied any allegations of inappropriate or unnecessary surgery or bad faith for the purposes of financial gain or for any other purpose, and he said that he found any suggestion that he would propose unnecessary procedures for financial gain as abhorrent," Mr Julian Christopher said. 

Mr Paterson was again interviewed in September 2014 where he refused to answer questions.He denies all charges. 

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

A breast surgeon advised a woman to have a double mastectomy or risk "full-blown cancer", despite tests not showing any sign of malignancy, a court heard. 

Ian Paterson is on trial after denying 20 counts of wounding with intent against nine women and one man relating to procedures he carried out between 1997 and 2011 while working for Heart of England NHS Trust and Spire Healthcare in Solihull and Sutton Coldfield.

Jurors have previously heard claims he carried out completely unnecessary operations for "obscure motives" that may have included a desire to "earn extra money". 

Image source, Trinity Mirror

After carrying out the mastectomy on Frances Perks, Mr Paterson, 59, then wrote to her insurers with a false diagnosis in order to justify an operation carried out for "no good reason whatsoever", prosecutors claim. 

Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC told Nottingham Crown Court Ms Perks was referred to Paterson in 1994 aged 35 after finding a lump in her breast after her mother and sister had died from cancer. 

Paterson, of Castle Mill Lane, Ashley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, denies all counts.

West Bromwich Albion defender Gareth McAuley tries to explain how he has become the Baggies' joint top scorer.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Around 25 firefighters have been called to the scene of a suspected "fire in machinery" on a Willenhall business park.

There are five crews dealing with what West Midlands Fire Service called a "severe fire" at Rose Hill Business Park.

The first reports of the flames were at around 10:45 GMT. We will have more information on this for you as soon as we hear it.

The  Midlands Air Ambulance, external  charity has unveiled a 20ft (6m) high sculpture to mark its 25th anniversary.

The Air Pulse memorial will be on display near Norton Canes services on the M6 Toll in Staffordshire.

Since it was set up in 1991, Midlands Air Ambulance helicopters have responded to over 47,000 incidents.

Drivers caught using a phone within two years of passing their test will have their licence revoked under new rules in England, Scotland and Wales.

Penalties for using a phone at the wheel double from 1 March to six points and a £200 fine.

New drivers who get six points or more must retake their practical and theory. More experienced drivers can be banned if they get 12 points in three years.  

A doctor has appeared in court charged with sexually assaulting five patients at a Dudley GP's surgery, including women who had complained of a sore throat and earache. 

Dr Amirul Haque, 32, is accused of five sexual assaults early last year.

Image source, PA

Haque, of Ladypool Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, did not indicate pleas to the charges against him at Walsall Magistrates Court earlier.

His solicitor told the court that his client would deny the offences at a further hearing. 

Magistrates gave Haque conditional bail to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 29 March.

BBC WM Sport

Walsall's fixture against Chesterfield has been postponed because of a waterlogged pitch at Bescot Stadium.

The fixture was due to start at 19:45 GMT on Tuesday but was called off after a pitch inspection at 18:00 GMT.

A new date for the League One game is yet to be confirmed.

BBC Hereford and Worcester

Local politicians and residents from across the two counties are calling for a rethink on plans to shake-up the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. 

Efforts to reduce the number of MPs at Westminster would see residents in North Herefordshire sharing a representative with part of Shropshire. 

Droitwich would share an MP with Bromsgrove, while the same would happened in Malvern and Ledbury.

Ledbury Town Council says such a change would mean two communities with no "common affiliation" would be stuck together.