Sport Relief

It's day one of the Peaky Pentathlon - BBC WM's Richie Anderson and weather presenter Rebecca Wood will walk 25 miles a day for the next five days along the canals of the West Midlands to raise money for BBC Sport Relief.

Here's the plan:

• Day 1: Market Drayton–Oxley
• Day 2: Oxley–Great Haywood
• Day 3: Great Haywood–Atherstone
• Day 4: Atherstone–Birmingham
• Day 5: Birmingham–Droitwich

Follow updates on BBC Midlands Twitter., external

Bin collection crews are out as normal, say Telford and Wrekin Council, but may not be able to collect all rubbish today due to the icy conditions.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

A woman is due before magistrates today, charged with the murder of another woman in Cheadle.

The body of a 53-year-old was found at a house on Sun Street on Friday morning. The woman is yet to be formally identified.

Image source, Google

Charlene Sargeant, 24, of Sun Street was charged on suspicion of murder on Saturday evening.

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Sport

Coventry are planning for life in the second tier of English rugby after winning promotion with a bonus-point win over Caldy.

Coventry ran in nine tries to return to the Championship for the first time in eight years, beating Caldy 12-55.

They took the title with five matches still to play.

Express and Star

Here are some of the stories making the headlines in the Express & Star this morning:

• Two police stations to be revamped and a new one built as eight in the Black Country close, external
• Misery for Staffordshire drivers as stretch of M54 is to close for six weeks, external
• Staffordshire council cuts its ties with Russian city, external

A man is due in court accused of murdering his eight-year-old daughter.

Image source, Family Handout

William Billingham, 54, is due at Wolverhampton Crown Court today.

His daughter, Mylee, was found stabbed at his bungalow in Brownhills, Walsall, on 20 January.

Billingham, of Brownhills, near Walsall, also faces a separate charge of making threats to kill her mother, Tracey Taundry, on the same day.

BBC News Travel

The A53 Leek Road and the A54 Cat & Fiddle are now open after heavy snow over the weekend.

However, authorities are warning drivers to take extra care when driving this morning.

Snow failed to stop Severn Valley Railway's Spring Steam Gala, although visitors didn't find much evidence of spring.

But while some mainline rail services were badly affected by the weather, the heritage line managed to stay on track.

Last week, the team were forced to bring one of the stars of the gala, the locomotive Tornado, to Shropshire by road after a bin lorry damaged a rail bridge.

BBC News Travel

A three-vehicle crash is blocking Old Warwick Road at Rowington, Warwickshire, police say.

No-one was injured in the crash, said officers, who are waiting for the vehicles to be recovered.

Telford's opposition Conservative councillors are demanding an urgent full council meeting to discuss an independent inquiry into sexual grooming.

They want the Labour-run authority to fund and establish a review immediately.

It comes after Telford MP Lucy Allan said more victims of historic sexual exploitation were coming forward.

The government's told the council that Telford will be covered by the national Jay Inquiry but critics say that's not enough.

BBC News Travel

A serious crash has closed the A40 in Herefordshire.

The road at Weston under Penyard near Ross-on-Wye is likely to be closed for the foreseeable future, said police.

BBC Business News

The Financial Reporting Council has started an investigation into the conduct of two individuals involved in the preparation and approval of Carillion's financial statements.

Image source, Getty

The regulator will look at the work of Richard Adam and Zafar Khan, former Group Finance Directors of Carillion.

The Wolverhampton-based firm went into liquidation in January.

A memorial service will take place today for two boys killed while crossing the road.

Image source, Family Handout

Corey, six, and Casper Platt-May, two, were on a trip to a park in Coventry when they were hit by a car on 22 February.

The service at Coventry Cathedral will be "very unchurchy" said Canon Kathryn Fleming.

"Corey's football coach will be talking about his triumph as man of the match the day before the accident, and people from the boys' school will be coming along," she said.

BBC News Travel

Rail services have been suspended on Great Western Railway between Hereford and Oxford and between Hereford and Worcester Shrub Hill.

Tickets are being accepted on local buses, and other rail operators.

Chiltern Rail is running a bus service between Birmingham Snow Hill and London Marylebone in both directions until further notice.

More than 20 school are closed this morning across the region, due to the weather. Herefordshire seems to be the worst affected area.

• Aylestone School, Hereford
• Barrs Court School
• Bishop's Castle Community College
• Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School
• Brewood CE Middle School, Stafford
• Brookfield School, Hereford
• Broadlands Primary School
• Canon Pyon Academy, Hereford
• Fairfield High School, Peterchurch
• Kingstone High School, Hereford
• Kingstone & Thruxton Primary School, Hereford
• Lindridge St Lawrence's CE Primary School, Tenbury Wells
• Lord Scudamore Academy, Hereford
• Newcastle CE Primary, Shropshire
• Pencombe CE Primary School, Bromyard
• Temple Meadow Primary, Cradley Heath
• St George's, Clun
• St Mary Magdalene Primary, West Bromwich
• St Paul's CofE Primary School, Hereford
• St Weonards Primary, Hereford
• Sutton Primary Academy, Hereford
• Withington School, Hereford

BBC News Travel

Rail services between Lichfield Trent Valley and Birmingham New Street have been cancelled due to damage to overhead lines at Sutton Coldfield.

Bus services are running and tickets are being accepted on National Express bus routes between the stations, said West Midlands Railway.

There are also problems between Perry Barr and Walsall, and between Nuneaton and Atherstone.

Eighty five suspected paedophiles have been arrested over the past year in the region, West Midlands Police said.

Two women and 83 men were caught by a specialist team who traced the suspects online.

Of those arrested 25 have so far been convicted and jailed - another 42 have been charged.

Police say their actions have helped safeguard more than 4,000 children.

A yellow warning for ice, issued by the Met Office, is in place until 10:00 for the whole of the region.

Image source, Met Office

A video celebrating children with Down's syndrome has been viewed more than two and a half million times on You Tube and Facebook.

Image source, Rebecca Carless

Rebecca Carless, 35, from Coventry, joined 49 other mothers from an online support group to make the video ahead of World Down's Syndrome Day.

It has since been watched and shared by people all over the globe, including celebrities such as James Corden.

Singer Christina Perri, who performs the song A Thousand Years, which they sign along to, has also given her permission and supported the track.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a pedestrian died in a suspected hit-and-run crash.

Image source, @SnapperSK

A 22-year-old man was found with serious injuries after the crash on Trinity Way in West Bromwich on Saturday.

He later died in hospital. West Midlands Police said a 38-year-old man is in police custody.

A VW Caddy van, believed to have been involved, was also recovered later in Birmingham.