Stourbridge News

The Stourbridge News website has these headlines today:

• Petition calls for justice for 24-year-old, external
• Residents misled over plans to turn village green into housing, says reverend, external
• Sheffield United star is picture perfect thanks to inspired Stourbridge artist, external

An unexploded grenade, found in a Birmingham canal this afternoon, has been destroyed by bomb disposal experts.

It was discovered just before midday in Lathe Way, in the Castle Vale area, before being moved to Pype Hayes Park in Erdington where it was destroyed.

It's the wurst thing that can happen to a sausage dog - ending up looking more like a meatball.

Image source, WILLOWS VETERINARY GROUP

The four-year-old pet, named Trevor, went from wiener to whopper when a hole in its windpipe left air trapped under its skin in a rare condition.

Vets soon had the distended dachshund back to its saveloy-like self after a minor operation to "deflate" it from more than twice its normal size.

"He'd blown up like a balloon," said owner Fran Jennings from Cheshire.

Michele Paduano
Health correspondent, BBC Midlands Today

A businessman says a 14-hour operation to straighten his spine not only saved his life but has given him a chance of a bright future.

Thomas Williams had the surgery in 2008 as his spine was so curved that his ribs pressed on his lungs, hindering his breathing.

Ten years on, he lives independently in Lichfield and is in negotiation to sell a portable hoist to the Ritzs and has a consultancy contract with a national TV broadcaster.

However, he is now fighting the NHS to help support his social needs as they won't fund that aspect of his care.

The Staffordshire health funders say they work closely with Thomas and his family but cannot discuss his case.

Coventry City captain Michael Doyle triggers a contract extension and will remain at the club until the summer of 2019.

Firefighters have spent an hour and a half dealing with a large fuel spill at a Telford petrol station this afternoon.

They were called out at 14:38 after 20 litres of diesel were spilled on the forecourt at Asda in Donnington.

Image source, Google

The fire crew had to stem the flow of fuel before they were able to clear it up.

Sophie Calvert
Political Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

It's hoped work will restart on a half-built development in Staffordshire in the summer.

Work on the Sky Building in Newcastle-under-Lyme, on the site of the old Jubilee baths, was brought to a halt last year.

Image source, Google

The aim of the project is to turn it into student accommodation along with a cinema room and gym., external

Now the site and works are being transferred over from the current owners to developers Primesite Development, external.

They say to begin with, the current scaffolding on the building will be replaced, starting next week.

League One Shrewsbury are releasing Joe Riley, Shaun Rowley and AJ Leitch-Smith after not offering them new deals.

BBC News Travel

There are still delays on the M6 this afternoon around the slip road at Spaghetti Junction.

A lorry had overturned earlier, external on the Salford Circus roundabout, blocking one of the lanes on the entry slip road from the A5127.

The vehicle's now been removed but there are still restrictions there as the tidy up continues.

Acrobatic and dance act AcroCadabra say they're "gutted, external" to not make the final of the Britain's Got Talent TV show.

The group is made up of 33 schoolchildren from Spotlight Stage School in Birmingham.

If they'd won the final, they had hoped to put the prize money towards entering next year's Dance World Cup but didn't get enough backing from the public vote.

Investigations are under way after a woman woke up in woodland in Telford with no memory about how she got there.

The 39-year-old told police she left her home in Arleston between 07:30 and 08:00 yesterday morning and the next thing she knew she was in woods, opposite Bayley Road.

She hasn't suffered any obvious injuries and police have promised increased patrols until they work out what happened.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
George Makin

Wind, rain and snow could add million of pounds on to the cost of a new hospital, a health chief is warning.

Smethwick's Midland Met Hospital was originally due to open in October at a cost of £350m.

Image source, Google

However, the collapse of Wolverhampton-based constructor Carillion pushed that start date back to potentially 2022 and raised the cost by an expected extra £125m.

Now, in a letter to Sandwell councillors, the hospital trust's chief executive Toby Lewis says part of the building is still open to the weather.

While they try to find a new contractor, he says the weather is causing damage to already finished work and, if they're not weather-proof by this winter, the cost will keep rising.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Carl Jackson

Parts of a university could be turned into a car park , externalto cope with disruption from the construction of the HS2 high-speed rail line.

Image source, Google

Birmingham City University has applied to the city council to create two temporary car parks for nearly 350 vehicles.

It's because it'll lose current staff parking at Curzon Street when HS2 work gets under way.

The university wants the car parks for five years, but says it plans to build more educational facilities on the sites in the long term.

BBC News England

Rail operator Northern is in "freefall", according to Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, after cancellations increased to almost 300 in one day.

Among its services, the firm runs a small number between Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent., external

Image source, Northern

Mr Burnham said in all at least 147 trains were cancelled or part-cancelled on 22 May and this had almost doubled to at least 281 on 29 May.

He said services were "actually getting worse" and "Northern's freefall shown no signs of slowing down".

Northern said it is urgently working on "comprehensive plans".

The memorial to drummer John Bonham appears on what would have been his 70th birthday.

A beagle with a love of scavenging from bins has been shortlisted to become a slimming champion.

The PDSA says Bella from Wolverhampton has grown to 24kg (3st 11lb), 60% over her ideal weight.

Image source, PDSA

Owner Nikki Mason admits one of the main reason she's piled on the pounds has been her habit of rummaging through the kitchen bin for scraps.

The charity says she also stole an entire joint of beef.

Now, Bella's among 13 pets which the PDSA says will take on a diet and exercise regime over the next six months to get to their ideal weight.

Image source, PDSA

The departure of manager Paul Hurst might be a blow to Shrewsbury Town fans, but the bookmakers don't appear worried.

They are offering odds of up to 10-1 that they will be relegated next season and while they aren't among the promotion-favourites at this stage, they're ranked alongside clubs like Plymouth, Coventry and Bristol Rovers.

At the start of last season Shrewsbury Town were ranked one of the favourites to go down, but he upset the odds by taking them to third place and the League One play-off final.

The club is now searching for his successor.

Crewe Chronicle

These are some of the main stories on the Crewe Chronicle website today:

• Neighbours force way into Crewe house and discover fire, external
• Holmes Chapel pupil taking on 50 mile running challenge in memory of friend, external
• Specialist bed installed at Nantwich charity thanks to donation, external

Coventry City manager Mark Robins says after seeing the support they got in the play-off final, he wants to sell 20,000 season tickets for next season.

The club's chief executive Dave Boddy said that might be a bit of a tall order, but admitted they do need to attract more fans if they want to compete financially with the clubs pushing for promotion to the Championship.

The average attendance for home matches last season was 9,255, the highest in League Two.

Mr Boddy said they needed to capitalise on the "energy" seen at the open-top bus parade last night, adding the connection between supporters and the club had "not been there in recent years, but it's back".

Daniel Westall and Naomi Walmsley teach survival skills after living alone in the US wilderness.