Updates from Monday 6 to Friday 10 November
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BBC WM
A competition celebrating the nation's best beards is being held in Birmingham this weekend.
Image source, Simon SheffieldThe Be Beard! contest is taking place at The Woodman Pub on New Canal Street tomorrow and is aiming to raise money for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.
The event is run by the Black Country Beardsmen and Bearded Birmingham.
Here are some of the stories making the headlines on The Sentinel website today:
A Coventry man has been charged with two counts of rape, one of kidnap and also possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear.
The alleged offences occurred in 1998 in Rugby against two teenage girls, police say, external.
The 55-year-old is also charged with possessing a knife in connection with an alleged incident on Wednesday 8 November this year.
A 90ft (27m) long mosaic is going to be officially unveiled in the centre of Telford, external today.
The local authority says artists Jackie Coyle and Jean Mills have created the artwork in the town park, inspired by the local trees as a "celebration of nature".
Image source, Telford and Wrekin CouncilIt's been paid for with lottery funding, the local authority says, and has taken nine months to create in sections, involving local school children and other groups.
The official unveiling will be at 13:30.
A derelict piece of land being brought back into commercial use in Walsall could create more than 100 jobs, says the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
It's granted investment worth £6.9m to develop the plot in Littleton Street West which will include a hotel, fast-foot outlet and three retail units.
Image source, West Midlands Combined AuthorityIzzi Seccombe, WMCA lead member for finance and investment, said the scheme will be a "cornerstone" of the organisation's drive to create employment and grow the economy in the region.
Les Walton
BBC News
A Shropshire cyclist who has toured the Midlands to review bacon sandwiches has been given an award by the pork industry.
Steve Grice from Newport Shropshire Cycling Club has asked people to text him their recommendations and then posted his thoughts on his Facebook page., external
Marketing group Love Pork, external gave him the award for his "services to bacon".
It said: "His outstanding standards and discerning taste buds have inspired many of his fellow cyclists to fuel their trips with a tasty meal, to give them energy for the rest of their journey."
So what's the secret to a decent bacon sandwich?
Chris King
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke
Highways England is insisting its concrete central reservation barriers on the M6 in Cheshire did work, despite a jackknifed lorry sending the concrete blocks across the carriageway
Most of the motorway between junctions 19 and 20 was shut yesterday afternoon after the crash resulted in fuel being spilt across both carriageways.
Image source, North West Motorway PoliceThe southbound side reopened fully by the evening but the northbound side only reopened after resurfacing work last night.
Questions were raised on social media, external about the effectiveness of the concrete safety barrier which has been installed as part of work , externalto turn that part of the M6 into a "smart motorway".
Quote MessageThat concrete barrier has done its job effectively. The barrier itself took the bulk of the impact and stopped what potentially could have been the HGV crossing over into the opposite carriageway so I'm quite thankful that concrete barrier has been in place."
Paul Jackson, Operations Manager at Highways Agency
Dan Roan
BBC Sports editor
Former Great Britain Olympian Jess Varnish is suing UK Sport and British Cycling.
A source close to the Bromsgrove cyclist has told BBC Sport her legal action is based on claims the 26-year-old suffered sex discrimination, detriment for whistleblowing, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
March 2017: Varnish 'relieved truth is coming out'
The sprinter was dropped from British Cycling's elite programme last year, after which former technical director Shane Sutton was found to have used sexist language towards her.
Sutton resigned but was later cleared of eight of nine allegations.
UK Sport and British Cycling have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Heer are some of the stories appearing on the Shropshire Star website this morning:
It's been a pretty clear, sunny morning and that's led to some cracking sunrise photos from our BBC Weather Watchers across the region.
Here's two we've picked out, from users Happy Macca in Newcastle-under-Lyme and DavePA in Market Drayton.
Image source, Happy Macca
Image source, DavePASolihull has been named as one of the areas with the highest gender pay gaps, BBC research shows.
In 183 out of 206 local authority areas, men in full-time jobs earn more on average than women, but the gap varies from place to place.
Roger Smith from the Office for National Statistics said women tend to earn more in areas with a higher rate of people working in the public sector, while the age of the workforce also played a part.
The gender gap will take 100 years to close, a campaign group has warned.
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Sport
Wasps take on Ospreys in the Anglo-Welsh Cup tonight at the Liberty Stadium.
Image source, WaspsTwenty-year-old Jack Willis will captain the Wasps side for the first time, while new signing Nizaam Carr will make his debut at number eight.
Dai Young's side lost the first game of the competition last Saturday, losing 51-43 at Newcastle.
BBC WM
A group of primary school head teachers in the Erdington area of Birmingham say they have devastating findings about the impact the government's new funding formula will have.
They surveyed 41 schools and found more than two thirds will no longer be able to afford teaching assistants in each classroom.
Image source, PAThe group of seven heads met Schools Minister Nick Gibb, and this afternoon they'll be meeting the Shadow Education Secretary Angel Rayner.
The Department for Education says the introduction of the National Funding Formula has been widely welcomed, and there haven't been any cuts, with every school seeing an increase from 2018.
Two people have been arrested after a police chase which ended in Wolverhampton early this morning.
A 31-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were detained on suspicion of theft in connection with a burglary in the Staffordshire area, police say.
Image source, West Midlands PoliceOfficers were involved in a pursuit of the car in Stowheath Lane, Wolverhampton just after 05:00, before the car came to a stop and the arrests were made.
The road was blocked for a short time, but has since reopened.
Here are some of the stories making the headlines on the Express & Star website this morning:
BBC Radio Stoke Sport
Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland has withdrawn from the England squad to face Germany and Brazil after suffering a broken finger in training yesterday.
Image source, Getty ImagesIt means Potters number two Lee Grant could now return to the team for the trip to Brighton in 10 days time.
A grant of £3.7m has been given to Telford and Werkin Council to help kick-start stalled housing developments, external in the area.
The money from the West Midlands Combined Authority will be used to clean-up brownfield sites, where the council said 540 homes could be built.
Image source, Telford & Wrekin CouncilTelford and Wrekin Council leader Shaun Davies said it was a "good deal" for both authorities.
"We've got an impressive track record of delivering schemes like this in Telford and Wrekin, and they see that."
Mr Davies said the "much-needed" homes were already part of the local plan for Telford and the council was looking to confirm the sites involved as soon as possible.
Quote MessageIt's a lot of money, it's also a lot of jobs as well. There's 240 construction jobs. These sites are blights and eyesores... across our communities."
Shaun Davies, Leader of Telford and Wrekin Council
BBC WM's Richie Anderson is 12 hours into a 24-hour karaoke to raise money for Children in Need.
How's it going? Judge for yourself.
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This year's Children in Need show is on 17 November. Let us know if you're raising money.
A new £4m training centre is to open in Shropshire today to try and tackle a drain in manufacturing skills in the region.
Eight local companies have already agreed to send staff to the Marches Centre of Manufacturing and Technology in Bridgnorth.
It will provide specialist training for apprentices and existing workers.
The centre is a response to concern that firms in the West Midlands are being held back by a lack of skilled labour.
Signs from "lost" English railway stations, including Chilvers Coton, near Coventry, are to be auctioned today.
The stations all closed in the 1960s and 70s during the so-called Beeching cuts.
Image source, Friends of Warwickshire RailwaysThe signs form part of a collection of railway memorabilia which could fetch up to £60,000, auctioneers said.
The items will be sold later at the Chippenham auction house.
