Updates from Tuesday 2 to Sunday 7 January
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BBC News Travel
The M5 has fully reopened this morning after a lorry fire forced the closure of the motorway near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire.
The fire at junction 4 of the northbound carriageway on Wednesday triggered a huge clean-up operation.
Highways England said the damage to the carriageway was so great they needed to carry out a more lasting repair to the road overnight.
BBC News Travel
The M42 northbound between J9 for the M6 Toll and J10 for the A5 is expected to be closed for some hours after a serious crash involving a car and a van.
Police are at the scene investigating.
The southbound carriageway is also shut at the moment between sliproads at J9 and Highways England is warning drivers to expect "severe delays".
Image source, Highways England
Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter
A chilly and cloudy day with showers on and off - highs of about 6C (43F).
Latest weather for the West Midlands
Vanessa Pearce
BBC News
Welcome to our live service for Friday.
We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.
We love to hear from you so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email, Twitter, external and Facebook., external
More than £20,000 has been donated following the rape campaigner's death a year ago.
Read MoreStoke City boss Mark Hughes says he would be "disappointed" if the club were not "upfront and honest" about his future.
Read More
Andy Giddings
BBC News
We'll be back with the latest news, sport, travel and weather from 07:00 tomorrow, but keep an eye out here for more updates this evening and into the morning.
Graham McGarry
Crewe Alexandra commentator, BBC Radio Stoke
Three of Crewe Alexandra's long-term absentees are close to making a return and should feature in an under-23 game next week.
Neither George Ray nor James Jones have played this season, while Ryan Wintle has been out since September.
Image source, Getty ImagesManager David Artell says he hopes to give all three a number of reserve run-outs in the coming weeks to assess their fitness.
Plans to widen a busy Stoke-on-Trent road junction will go out to consultation this spring
Stoke-on-Trent City Council says it's had more than £2m from the Department for Transport towards the work at Cobridge and Waterloo Roads.
Image source, GoogleThe rest of the estimated £5.5m costs of the work will come from the local authority.
It said delays on the intersection of the A53 and A50 were "costing businesses in lost income and road users in lost time".
Quote MessageThis junction is a major gateway into the city centre. It is where the A53 and A50 intersect and is one of the busiest stretches of road in the city. But it is also one of the most congested."
Councillor Daniel Jellyman, Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Some of the main stories on the Birmingham Updates website today include:
A Coventry manufacturer has launched the first tests of its driverless vehicle technology in Australia.
Image source, RDM GroupAurrigo, the autonomous vehicle division of RDM Group, is testing its Pod Zero on a network of mapped courses at the Tonsley Innovation District in Adelaide, South Australia.
Manufacturing work on a further two pods is being carried out at the firm's advanced engineering centre in Coventry, and these will be sent over early next year, the company said.
The vehicles are being used as a possible solution to carrying and delivering cargo around the technology centre.
Peter Plisner
BBC Midlands Today
Work on the region's first cycle super-highway has started in north Birmingham.
The multimillion-pound scheme is designed to make travelling by bike safer and much more appealing.
Similar projects in London have led to big increases in cycling, but the scheme hasn't been without controversy.
You can see my full report on Midlands Today, on BBC One at 18:30.
Trevor Owens
Sports Editor, BBC Hereford & Worcester
Worcester Warriors have made only one change to their starting line up for tomorrow night's Aviva Premiership match against Bath at Sixways.
Will Spencer will return to the second row after missing last weekend's trip to Saracens due to a back injury.
Image source, Getty Images
Ben Godfrey
BBC Midlands Today
Volunteers at a food bank in Kidderminster say they've been heartened by a public response after their building was broken into and ransacked twice in 24 hours.
Thieves broke in on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, to steal food, money and a laptop from the initiative at Baxter United Reformed Church in Kidderminster.
But since news of the crime, people have started to donate money to repair the damage.
You can see my full report on Midlands Today at 18:30 on BBC One.
A hospital is investigating after a patient died while waiting to be seen in A&E.
Read More
James Bond
Sports Producer, BBC Shropshire
The Shrewsbury Town manager said he was flattered to discover fans had named a footpath Paul Hurst Way in his honour.
He said it was a "nice bit of humour" that made him smile and he reflected that it "shows things are going well" for the club.
Hurst has guided the team to second in the League One table after avoiding relegation last season.
He added, "we wouldn't be seeing that if we were bottom of the league would we?" and joked "it's better than people holding up Hurst Out signs".
The mustard-maker Colmans is moving an extra 43 jobs to its Burton-on-Trent site, when it leaves its base in Norwich, the GMB Union has said.
Other jobs will move to Germany.
Colman's, which has been making mustard in Norwich since 1858, said it would "protect the historic link" with the city by opening a new facility there for milling mustard seeds.
These are three of the top stories from The Sentinel newspaper today:
Worcestershire's Acute Hospitals Trust said it has been dealing with "record numbers of patients" this winter and had been seeing "higher than expected numbers" arrive by ambulance during the Christmas holidays.
Between Christmas and New Year's Day 37% of ambulances arriving at its accident and emergency department were delayed by at least 30 minutes.
The trust explained it had seen the number of ambulances arriving at its sites rise by more than 15% to 1,103 over those seven days, causing "periods of considerable pressure".
The hospital trust also said it had a "countywide winter plan" in place, which included the recruitment of extra staff, extra beds and a reduction in elective surgery.
Part of the M5 will be closed again tonight, following a lorry fire close to junction four near Bromsgrove.
Highways England says the damage to the carriageway, caused by a crash yesterday, has made it necessary to carry out more repairs.
Image source, @Northfieldfire
