Lorry drivers jailed for fatal minibus crash
Family jailed for ammunition supply ring
Men murdered dad after 'money row'
'Frenzied' double stabbing knifeman jailed
Three teens stabbed outside school
Ambulance abuse note woman evicted
Tumour survivor breaks Atlantic record
HS2 payments still unclaimed
Arrest after knifepoint taxi robberies
Updates on Friday 23 March
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BBC News Travel
The northbound entry at junction two of the M6 has been closed to avoid further traffic joining the long delays caused by a skip lorry fire.
Image source, Phillip Hammond / Compete TrafficTraffic remains held northbound between J3 and J3A whilst the fire service deal with the blaze.
The southbound carriageway, close to Corley service, has been reopened.
Fifteen councils in the West Midlands are up for up for election on 3 May, including the whole of Birmingham City Council and a third of seats in Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.
The deadline to register to vote is just a few weeks away on 17 April.
You can do so online on the government website, external.
The council has already called for a government-led inquiry into claims about hundreds of cases.
Read MoreYou can always count on BBC Weather Watchers in Shropshire to send us some stunning scenic shots from the countryside.
The first was taken by Skye in Clee Hill.
Image source, SkyeThis picture was taken by Foggy in Ludlow complete with sheep and what looks like a little bit of snow on the hill tops.
Send us your weather pictures here.
Image source, FoggyWorcester Warriors sign Scotland international scrum-half Grayson Hart on a deal until the end of the season.
Read MoreHundreds of staff from the West Midlands Ambulance Service have gathered in Kidderminster to pay tribute to a popular colleague.
Image source, West Midlands Ambulance ServiceEmergency medical technician Gavin Hunt died after being involved in a car crash in the town in February.
Image source, West Midlands Ambulance ServiceThe 52-year-old joined Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service in 1997 and was due to be presented with his 20-year good conduct medal in March.
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BBC News Travel
A broken down lorry is blocking a road in Coventry.
Charter Avenue is shut in both directions as the lorry blocks the road near the junction with Wolfe Road.
Pupils at the Birmingham school have been subjected to "threatening gestures", a council says.
Read More
BBC Science and Environment
The UK government is failing rural communities and the natural environment, a report says.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Lords Select Committee document says there should be radical change in how the countryside is looked after.
It recommends stripping the environment department Defra of its power to regulate on rural affairs, and reforming the Countryside Code.
The Lords said Defra had focused too much on farming and agriculture, rather than other aspects of rural life.
A new £1m MRI scanner has been unveiled at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Funded by the league of friends, it can scan for cardiac problems among other procedures and is one of only a handful of its type in the UK.
Image source, Royal Shrewsbury HospitalFind out more on tonight's BBC Midlands Today from 18:30 on BBC One.
Some of the main stories in the Hereford Times include:
BBC WM
BBC WM presenters Sunny and Shay starred in last night's episode of One Born Every Minute, external.
The current series is following births at Birmingham Women's Hospital.
The couple fell in love on a Bollywood film set but Shay's mum didn't approve of their relationship. The episode follows the pair as they expect their first child together.
BBC WM's Sunny and Shay star in One Born Every Minute
New council houses are being built by Dudley Council. The local authority said in the next few weeks, 29 new homes will be ready to rent.
When further developments are completed, there will be 118 properties for sale and 39 for rent through the council, 34 of which have already been completed and rented out.
The five remaining homes are due to be completed at the end of this month.
In addition, up to 20 council homes on a development off Middlepark Road in Dudley will be available to rent in the next month.
Image source, Dudley CouncilOf the 130 homes being built on the site by Keepmoat Homes, 42 will be available for council tenants and the remaining properties for outright sale.
Councillor Laura Taylor, cabinet member for housing, said: "We want to continue to raise standards and build quality homes that are on a par with what’s being developed in the private sector but are affordable to our tenants."
BBC Radio Stoke Sport
Stoke City chairman Peter Coates believes the club can stay in the Premier League this season.
Stoke are in the relegation zone with seven games to play, but Coates said he's refusing to give up hope.
They face Arsenal away after the international break on 1 April.
Image source, Getty ImagesQuote MessageWhat we need is a good run, there are other clubs down there with us, we're not isolated, you've got to believe we can do it and I think the management and players do believe that and we've got to turn that into results."
Peter Coates, Stoke City chairman
About 50,000 jobs are expected to be created as the contractors responsible for designing the two new HS2 stations in the West Midlands are announced.
The Birmingham terminus for HS2 will be built at Curzobn Street, while a second Interchange station will be built in Solihull, near Birmingham Airport.
Both projects are expected to encourage regeneration in the areas.
Image source, Birmingham Chamber of CommerceThe process to decide who will build the Curzon Street and Interchange Stations will start later this year and conclude in 2019.
Businesses are being advised by local authorities to start now and ensure they are well placed to take advantage of the billions of pounds of investment in the region from HS2.
BBC Newsbeat
A student originally from Coventry, caught up in a school shooting that saw 17 classmates killed, said he still supports the right to own guns, outlined in the US constitution.
Image source, Lewis MizenLewis Mizen first moved to Parkland, Florida, nine years ago and is a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where students were shot after a 19-year-old man opened fire.
He says school shootings are one of America's "biggest failings" but still supports the second amendment - that's the right to "bear arms".
"I'm perfectly happy with people owning handguns to protect themselves," Lewis says.
"It's not the only country in the world where people own guns", he says. "But it is the only country where it's easier for me to buy a gun than it is to buy spray paint."
Lewis will be joining the march in Washington DC on Saturday as part of the Never Again campaign.
Some of the main stories in the Shropshire Star today include:
Here's a couple of lovely pictures sent in by our BBC Weather Watchers.
The first was taken in Leek by Videoman of some really low lying cloud.
Image source, videomanSteveC sent us this tree-lined snap taken in Warwick, with blue skies and it's nice to see the sun is out.
Send us your weather pictures here.
Image source, SteveC
Matt Lee
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke
A Stoke-on-Trent pottery firm hopes this spring's royal wedding boosts Staffordshire's economy.
Halcyon Days is manufacturing a range of mugs, plates and teapots to commemorate Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's marriage.
The firm is one of only 14 to hold royal warrants, a certificate for providing goods and services to the royal households.
They've produced luxury merchandise for more than 70 years from their factory in Fenton.
How a Powys lorry driver was helped at Stoke's major trauma centre after an accident.
Read More
