Kidderminster Shuttle

The Kidderminster Shuttle's covering these stories today:

• Tragedy as worker killed in industrial incident, external
• MP challenged to take a closer look at Kidderminster school budget, external
• Halloween campaign to highlight environmental crime horrors, external

Allen Cook
BBC News

A route's been chosen for the proposed link between the M54 and the northbound M6.

Image source, Highways England

Highways England's revealed the new dual carriageway will run between J1 of the M54 and J11 of the M6, from near Featherstone to near Cheslyn Hay.

It claims it'll take about 22,000 vehicles a day off the A460, as well as easing congestion on the A449 and the A5.

Now the route's picked, Highways England says it will consult more in the next year on a more detailed design towards getting planning permission - although no date's been set for construction.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The atmosphere at a Coventry nightclub where the grandson of Specials singer Neville Staple was fatally stabbed has been described as "moody" by police officers.

Fidel Glasgow, 21, died in hospital after he was stabbed outside Club M in Croft Road on 1 September.

An interim hearing was held by Coventry City Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee earlier this month where the decision was taken to suspend the club's licence pending the full review hearing, which will take place on Friday.

Image source, Family handout

PC Sherrie Kimberley said in a report going before the hearing: "PC Turner came out of the club and informed me that he did not feel comfortable in there and that the atmosphere within the club was moody.

"As the night went on we continued to conduct visits to the club and the surrounding area, the atmosphere was becoming more and more sinister.

"There was no positive engagement from people queuing, in fact they appeared very anti-police.

"I was very concerned that something terrible was going to happen, it was extremely moody."

One man has appeared in court in connection with the incident and has been remanded by magistrates to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on 2 October.

Cameras have captured the moment part of a bridge was removed from the M6 in Staffordshire.

The condition of the Barnsley matchday volunteer airlifted to hospital from Oakwell after a cardiac arrest has "improved".

Jonathan Trott says announcing his retirement in May "allowed him to enjoy" his final season with Warwickshire.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Cars and vans will not be allowed to stop on more main routes in Stoke-on-Trent,, external if plans by the city council are approved.

Image source, Google

Four roads in the city centre already have areas marked with double red lines, preventing drivers from stopping at any time, or they could face a £70 fine.

Now, the authority wants more of the "red routes" in places such as Burslem, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton.

A public consultation has been launched until 19 October on the plans and also on proposals to remove two bus lanes.

Worcester News

The Worcester News has these stories today:

• Worried mum and dad in fresh appeal for help to find their sociable son, external
• Domestic violence victim calls for better protection, external
• Boxing coach jailed for people smuggling in France, external

Three masked thieves have "bundled" a safe containing gold into a car and then fled the scene, West Midlands Police said.

Officers were called to reports of a residential burglary in Holly Road, Handsworth, just after 18:00 on 15 September.

A silver Audi A3 had circled the area before pulling up outside the property and three men armed with baseball bats jumped out.

They forced the door to the address and grabbed the safe.

Williams Billingham's "moderate" depression "affected his judgement", a psychiatrist tells a court.

Andre Rhoden-Paul
BBC News

A West Midlands Police officer is due to appear in court after a man was tasered and suffered an injury to his face.

PC Jonathon Hillier is charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following the arrest of a suspect for an alleged public order offence in Kingstanding on 22 February.

PC Hillier will make his first appearance before Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

The government is being urged to help improve A&E staffing in Telford as it faces overnight closures.

We reported earlier that 20:00-08:00 closures were being considered at the Princess Royal Hospital and that has now been confirmed by the hospital trust.

A decision is set to be made at a board meeting tomorrow, external.

Image source, Google

The trust stresses the move is "temporary" and is down to its continued struggles to get enough specialist A&E staff to cover Shrewsbury and Telford.

It is a long-running problem and the trust has previously said it had relied on the goodwill of staff to cover shifts.

The Labour leader of Telford and Wrekin Council has told BBC Shropshire it will not only affect patients in Shropshire, but also neighbouring trusts.

BBC Sport

Worcestershire opener Daryl Mitchell's made the BBC Sport users' team of the season, despite the Pears being relegated from Division One.

Image source, Getty Images

More than 16,000 entries were received and we assimilated all the information and selected a final XI.

In Mitchell's case, he remained a dependable presence in a disappointing season, completing his fourth century during their final game of the season against Yorkshire.

Also in the final XI is Warwickshire's Ian Bell after more than 1,000 Championship runs in 2018, which led him to talk up his England ambitions again.

West Midlands Police said a man may have died in an industrial incident in Wolverhampton.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The leader of Sandwell Council has been cleared of allegations that he conducted a social media "smear campaign" against a fellow councillor.

The claims by former deputy leader of the council, Mahboob Hussain, against Steve Eling were revealed as members of the Ethical Standards and Member Development Committee prepare to meet on Friday.

In October 2017, Mr Hussain alleged the council leader had leaked information to a local blog site as part of a smear campaign against him, saying: "This involves him disclosing information about confidential council business and personal matters about me and my family for political gain and to pursue a vendetta against me."

His allegation also claimed Councillor Eling had disclosed confidential information about him during a Labour Party internal investigation.

Image source, Sandwell Council

Mr Hussian alleged the information on himself was leaked with the knowledge of the council leader.

But the investigation found that in the absence of any evidence beyond Mr Hussian's claims, Mr Eling had not breached the council’s code of conduct for elected members.

Mr Eling, responding to the investigation’s findings, said: "The complaints against me have been fuelled mainly by inaccurate posts on social media which have been demonstrated as untrue in a legal statement made by a social media blogger as part of the investigation."

Shropshire Star

The Shropshire Star's covering these stories today:

• Shropshire GP appointments extend to evenings, external
• Motorcyclist hurt in crash near Telford hospital, external
• Shrewsbury drug dealer jailed after heroin and crack cocaine found in Kinder egg, external

BBC Weather Watchers

Autumn is definitely in the air and we're starting to see that in the photos being shared by the BBC Weather Watchers.

Here's a collection from around the region today.

Warwickshire host Kent in County Championship Division Two - live BBC local radio commentary.

The Court of Appeal has found the coroner has made "no error in law" in ruling that fresh inquests would not name any suspects.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett announced that his decision "is not open to legal objection".

He added: "We allow the appeal and restore the original decision."

Warwickshire are crowned Division Two champions after beating fellow promoted side Kent by an innings at Edgbaston.