Ben Godfrey
BBC Midlands Today

A school in Staffordshire say it's been left with no other option but to hire mini buses to get pupils to class after the council cut a local bus service.

About 90 pupils are on their way to Codsall High School three miles away because they say this mini-bus is now their only option of getting to class.

Staffordshire County Council isn't legally obliged to provide transport to children living within a three-mile catchment area.

For the rest, three services are subsidised, pupils usually pay £625 a year, which adds up if parents have more than one child at the school and will "hit families hard" - said the head teacher.

The council says pupils could walk it, and that's incensed parents and campaigners who say they encountered several hazards on a walk last month.

The bottom line is cost - and who's prepared to pay? Can the school afford to keep the mini buses beyond the end of the year - only time and money will tell.

Hassan Mustafa pursued Khalid Yousef into a Birmingham betting shop armed with four knives, the court heard.

A man has been jailed in connection with graffiti scrawled on the Lady Godiva statue in Coventry City Centre.

Specialist cleaners were called in to help clean the stone plinth of the Lady Godiva statue after it was attacked over the weekend, and again on Monday night.

John Kiely, 43, or The Farmstead, Stoke Aldermoor in the city was jailed for eight weeks for criminal damage after appearing at Coventry Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 12 September.

The leader of the city council, George Duggins, said he'd been left "angry" and "disappointed" at the attacks.

Badger culling has been given the go-ahead in 10 new areas at high risk of tuberculosis in cattle, including a number in the Midlands area.

The government's announced several new areas including Staffordshire, Herefordshire and Cheshire.

Image source, PA

The government claims culling badgers will curb TB in cattle and said it was committed to the culling trials after launching them last year.

Opponents say culling is inhumane and vaccinating badgers would be more effective in preventing TB's spread.

A quarter of all children aged between four and five in Telford and Wrekin are overweight or obese, according to the local council.

Councillors meeting this evening, external will be told the figure's worse than the national average.

The annual report of the borough's director of Public Health also says adults aren't getting enough exercise - and sets a number of priorities to tackle obesity and promote healthy living.

The use of synthetic drug Black Mamba could be partly to blame for an increase in violence towards emergency workers in the region said a paramedic.

"We've got quite a problem in the West Midlands with Black Mamba", said Natasha Starkey, "so we get quite a lot of assaults from that because unfortunately some of the patients we go to can be quite violent".

But, she said, it may also be down to the fact that workers were also talking about the problem more.

"Years ago you didn't report it and just got on with it, and didn't really say much about it."

Stephanie Barnard
BBC News

Dan Evans has been recalled to the British Davis Cup tennis team for the first time since serving his ban for using cocaine.

Image source, Getty Images

The 28-year-old from Birmingham has mainly played on the second tier Challenger tour since he returned in April.

Evans is expected to play singles in the match against Uzbekistan which starts in Glasgow tomorrow.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The future of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) could be decided at a meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority board tomorrow.

Image source, WMCA

The seven constituent local authorities are due to vote on a process which, if passed, would see the positions of PCC and mayor combined for the 2020 elections.

Combination of the two positions is part of the region’s second devolution deal with the government, with this being the second time the board has met to agree a process in the past three months.

Were each authority to agree to a process, proposals are for an eight-week public consultation on the issue to begin in November.

Coventry Observer

Some of the headlining stories on the Coventry Observer website today are:

• Two men arrested on suspicion of modern slavery offences in Coventry
• Man jailed after graffiti attack on Lady Godiva statue and memorial artwork, external
• Tales from the street: Coventry's rough sleepers speak out, external

A former medical student, who killed his ex-housemate in a betting shop, has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

Image source, PA

Khalid Yousef, 28, was decapitated and mutilated by Hassan Mustafa, 35, formerly of Stratford Road, Sparkbrook, who attacked him at a branch of Paddy Power in Handsworth, Birmingham on 4 January, Birmingham Crown Court heard previously.

Jurors returned the verdict on Thursday.

Stephanie Barnard
BBC News

A man from Stoke-on-Trent has been charged with 28 serious sexual offences involving children.

Neal Hopkins, 45, of Stone Road, Trent Vale, was arrested yesterday and charged, says Staffordshire Police.

Charges include sexual activity with a boy and making indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child.

Officers say the charges relate to incidents in the Stoke-on-Trent, Derbyshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire areas.

Mr Hopkins appeared at North Staffordshire Justice Centre earlier and was remanded in custody.

He's due to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court next month.

BBC Midlands Today

What is claimed to be the first degree course in competitive computer gaming in the UK is starting at Staffordshire University this week. , external

The idea is to make the electronic sport a career - helping prepare students to work in the growing gaming industry.

Experts predict the sector will generate global revenues of more than £1bn and draw an audience of nearly 600 million people by 2020.

Image source, LIONEL BONAVENTURE

Staffordshire University students will learn about the business behind Esport and how to create, host and promote events.

The course is expected to attract applicants from as far afield as Russia, China and USA, according to the university.

Before earning a crust from the burgeoning sector, UK students will have to fork out £9,250 a year, and some international students £12,500 a year.

Sandish Shoker
BBC News

A man who died after a crash on the M1 in the early hours of Sunday morning has been named by police as 24-year-old Frazer Gray from Pelsall, Walsall.

Leicestershire Police said Mr Gray's black Audi A3 had crashed onto an embankment between junctions 20 and 21 near Dunton Bassett, Leicestershire at about 01:15.

But when he got out of his car, he was hit by a silver Ford Fiesta.

Image source, Highways England

The force said he died from his injuries in hospital.

They have asked anyone with dash cam footage of either of the vehicles before the crash to get in touch.

BBC Hereford and Worcester

Worcester's MP Robin Walker says he's met the Health Secertary Matt Hancock to stress the importance of finding the right person to take charge at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

The current chief executive Michelle McKay is leaving, external at the end of this year - after less than two years in the job.

Image source, Google

The hospital has been in special measures for almost three years.

Worcester boss Alan Solomons says forward Cornell du Preez's fractured larynx against Wasps was a freak accident.

Stoke-on-Trent MP Jack Brereton has told Parliament there's a "huge potential" to increase exports in the UK's ceramics industry, in chich the city plays a key role.

The Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent South highlighted the USA as a key market post-Brexit.

Image source, UK Parliament

In response, Minister George Hollingbery said that while the UK could not explore trade deals until after Brexit, a working group had met to consider future relationships with the USA.

He said the government wanted deals to work for all sectors, including the ceramics industry.

Onlookers thought "something was wrong" with the "wonky" balloon, but it was part of a film shoot.

BBC Hereford and Worcester

Scenes for a new movie starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones are being filmed in Ross-on-Wye today.

An 1860s style hot air balloon with high-tech cameras and a helicopter filming alongside took off from the Chase Hotel where the crew are staying.

Image source, Getty Images

They're filming The Aeronauts - the true story of widow Amelia Wren and scientist James Glaisher as they embark on a dangerous balloon expedition to fly higher than anyone else in history.

Whether or not Eddie is in town remains to be seen!

A paramedic, working in the West Midlands, said assaults whilst at work have come to be "expected".

Maximum prison terms for people found guilty of assaulting emergency workers are to double from six months to a year.

Natasha Starkey, who's been assaulted while on duty said "you don't come to work to be attacked" but sometime it's expected".

Attacks on staff have been going on for more than "my short four-year-career" she said.

"I've been spat at, I've been punched, I've been shoved against the ambulance, had sexual comments passed to me."

However, she said the benefits of helping people outweigh the risk of being seriously hurt.

The average time taken by police to investigate complaints in the West Midlands has risen to 300 days or more, inspectors have found - one of the worst figures in the country.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found the average time taken by police to investigate complaints increased by seven days in 2017-18 to 173 days.

This varied from fewer than 100 days for three forces - City of London, Cheshire and Derbyshire - to 300 days or more for three other forces - West Midlands, North Yorkshire and Cleveland.

Home Office reforms, which will come into effect in 2019, are expected to simplify the complaints process.

West Midlands Police has been contacted for a response.