BBC Midlands Today

Ahead of the election for the first West Midlands mayor on 4 May, candidates James Burn (Green), Pete Durnell (UKIP), Beverley Nielsen (Liberal Democrat), Siôn Simon (Labour), Andy Street (Conservative) and Graham Stevenson (Communist) will go head-to-head in front of a studio audience.

Image source, Birmingham City Council

The hour-long debate, chaired by Patrick Burns, the BBC's political editor for the Midlands, will take place at 22:45 on Thursday, 20 April. 

Image source, Birmingham City Council

Connor Smith used his teeth as a weapon and took hold of a "really large chunk", a court hears.

Warwickshire first-team coach Jim Troughton says he expects his team to bounce back hard, external when they launch their home Specsavers County Championship season against Yorkshire tomorrow. 

Image source, Getty Images

It follows the Bears' defeat to Surrey in the opening round of matches at The Oval earlier this week. 

The side has named a 13-man squad for tomorrow's game at Edgbaston which includes captain Ian Bell, Tim Ambrose and Jonathan Trott.  

Sivan Amin is jailed for a "savage" attack on his former housemate, who was found with 23 stab wounds.

Peter Plisner
BBC Midlands Today

On Midlands Today this lunchtime, with the Easter getaway getting under way, we'll have the latest on the situation on the roads in the region. 

Several of our motorways are expected to see drivers facing double the journey time from today and into the bank holiday weekend. 

More on BBC One from 13:30.

 A murderer who stabbed his former housemate to death in a "savage" street attack after serving time for a similar killing in Sweden has been jailed for at least 40 years.

Sivan Amin inflicted 23 stab wounds on Mircea Cozmiuc in Wolverhampton only two years after he was released from prison for shooting his first victim in the head.

Passing a life sentence at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Melbourne Inman QC said Amin, of Merridale Street West, Wolverhampton, had "remained in control" when he killed Mr Cozmiuc last September.

Louise Hancock
Newsreader, BBC WM

Today is the deadline for registration to vote in the West Midlands mayoral elections on 4 May. 

The region is among six in England to vote for new mayors who will have powers arching over groups of local authorities. 

Image source, PA

People can register to vote online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote, external.

Alternatively, paper forms can be downloaded, external or collected from local registration offices and need to be completed and handed in before the offices close to beat the deadline for England and Wales.

BBC Weather Watchers

Our BBC Weather Watchers have been grabbing photos of the trees and plants in blossom this spring.

Here are two from users Elle Niño in Solihull and Dammo in Edgbaston.

Image source, Dammo

Image source, Elle Niño

Express and Star

Expanding Molineux is in Fosun’s long-term plans for Wolves – but not before a big increase in attendances, external.

Earlier in the week police warned of a "pot-bellied" bogus officer scamming his way into pensioners' homes in Coventry, Birmingham and Sandwell to steal cash and jewellery.

More information has now been released by trading standards officers about an incident in Coventry in which a 91-year-old woman was targeted.

The offender knocked on the door of her home - in the Wyken/Wood End area of the city - and purported to be a police officer.

She was suspicious and thought she had closed the door, Trading Standards said, but the man managed to force entry and stole "various items". 

A spokesperson said: "It is important that residents are vigilant, both at their own properties and also those of elderly neighbours."

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

Fire crews are digging away an embankment to try and rescue a horse, external which has got "severely trapped" in a large hole in Wombourne. 

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service say one crew was called to Plantation Lane, Himley at 07:20. 

They say a vet was also called out and has sedated the horse while they try to rescue it from the whole, where it's got stuck under a plastic pipe. 

As well as digging away some of the embankment, they say they're removing the pipe and draining water from the hole.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

The number of people trespassing on railways in the West Midlands has risen by almost a fifth over the past five years. , external

Network Rail and British Transport Police figures show 588 incidents in 2016 compared with 502 in 2012, external.

Across the country, some 115 people have been killed on rail tracks over the past five years, with almost half of them aged under 25. 

Network Rail and the police said taking a short cut was the most common reason given for trespassing, followed by thrill-seeking.

Rob Mayor
Black Country Political Reporter, BBC WM

The leader of Walsall Council has apologised to people living in Willenhall, who have been waiting a decade for the contaminated land under their homes to be cleaned up.

Image source, Google

The authority has lost a legal battle to force a housing company to clear chemicals from land on the Stonegate estate, which used to be the site of a gasworks until the 1960s. 

Some locals claim to have suffered health problems because of the pollution whilst others say they have been unable to sell or make improvements to their homes. 

The council says it is now considering its options.

BBC WM

Former legal highs are causing "diabolical levels of harms" across Birmingham and could be "impossible to tame", according to outreach workers.

Bill West, a first aid worker in Birmingham's Homeless Outreach team that works with the city's vulnerable people, said growing numbers of people were consuming synthetic cannabis-style drugs Black Mamba and Spice.

He called for more to be done to stop the spread of the substances following the death of a man in the city on Sunday who is believed to have taken Black Mamba.

BBC WM Sport

The Birmingham Brummies beat King's Lynn 54-36 in the National League last night.

Two teenagers are still being treated in hospital after being seriously injured in a crash in the centre of Birmingham.

Image source, Robert Jones

The boys aged 16 and 15 were riding a motorcycle which was in collision with a car on Belgrave Middleway at about 13:00 on Wednesday.

The road was closed for several hours.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said neither teenager had been wearing a helmet.

Alexandra Hamilton
BBC weather presenter

A mixture of sunshine and shower over the next few days. Find out what the Easter weather has in store.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Welcome to Thursday's blend of news, sport, travel and weather updates.

Let us know your thoughts on our stories and share your pictures of the region over email, Twitter, external or visit Facebook, external.

Three people have been arrested in Cheltenham as part of an operation to tackle Dangerous Drug Networks operating in Gloucestershire.

Armed officers arrested the men last night on the Golden Valley bypass as part of a pre-planned operation.

The men, from the Birmingham and Gloucester areas, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and are now in police custody.

BBC Weather's Rebecca Wood looks at the impact weather has on batting and bowling.