Live updates from Monday 8 October to Sunday 14 October
Click Related Stories to read news from your area
A lorry fire outside Shrewsbury station last night was caused by an electrical fault behind the driver's seat, the fire service said.
Image source, Lee VaughanFire officers were called to the scene just after 20:30, it said.
The driver escaped unhurt.
Crewe youth coach Paul McCann denies indecently assaulting the boy between 1987 and 1990.
Read MoreA 24-hour strike by Uber drivers in Birmingham, London and Nottingham has been called from 13:00, said the Independent Workers Union, IWGB, external.
Drivers will be staging protests outside Uber's offices in Broad Street, Birmingham, it said.
Labour's deputy leader, West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson, tweeted the action was a "hugely significant fight for workers' rights".
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The number of visitors to three shopping centres in Shrewsbury has fallen by nearly four percent on last year.
Shropshire Council, which owns the Riverside, Darwin and Pride Hill centres, said this could be because there was a peak in 2017 after the opening of the Primark store.
The authority paid £51m for the shopping centres nine months ago through an "off-shore" company based in Jersey, saying it would save the authority millions of pounds in stamp duty.
Quote MessageCurrent footfall in the Darwin and Pride Hill centres is in line with expectations given the current retail trading conditions, and the centres appear to be doing much better than many other towns and cities."
Shropshire Council
Solihull's proposed Interchange station is set to link Solihull with Birmingham Airport and the city's NEC, said HS2 Ltd.
Image source, HS2 LtdPlans for the interchange and Birmingham's Curzon Street Station will go on display at Birmingham Library.
Image source, HS2 Ltd
Image source, HS2 LtdThe site is located within a triangle of land known as Arden Cross, which is formed by the M42, A45 and A452, near the existing Birmingham International Station.
West MIdlands Mayor Andy Street said: "These brand new stations will be catalysts for regeneration, creating jobs and opportunities for local people and economic benefits for Birmingham and the Midlands."
The Express & Star has these stories on its website today:
A man arrested after armed police were called to reports of a person with a longbow on a street in Stoke-on-Trent has been released with no further action taken.
The 43-year-old was detained after Staffordshire Police officers were deployed to Standfield Road in Burslem on Monday afternoon.
Three local schools were placed in lockdown for a short time, as a precaution, and a longbow and arrows seized but "no criminal offence" was committed, said the force.
Prison officers in England and Wales are to be issued with canisters of a synthetic pepper spray to help deal with violence and disorder.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe announcement follows disorder at Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire last month, where six prison officers were injured in a disturbance at the high security men's jail.
The chemical incapacitant known as PAVA has been trialled in four jails and will be carried by officers in all publicly-run prisons for men from 2019.
Prison officers welcomed the move.
Home care workers in Birmingham are to take further strike action today in a long-running dispute over cuts to their hours.
The workers, employed by Birmingham City Council, are protesting proposed working hours which would see staff working triple split-shifts over a 16-hour day.
The council said change was "vital" to better meet patient needs.
The top stories on the Worcester News website today include:
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Kerry Ashdown
More than £1.6m has been saved by a council in security costs as it's sold off vacant sites and made more use of CCTV cameras.
Three years ago, a spending review revealed the authority in Stoke-on-Trent spent £1.6m on contracted security services in 2014/15.
But now, the council says it's making more use of its central CCTV hub and swapped static guards for area patrols in many places.
As a result, it says it's now cut costs by more than £1.6m in four years.
The designs for the former Victorian railway station in Birmingham at Curzon Street have been revealed.
Image source, HS2 Ltd
Image source, HS2 LtdCurzon Street is due to open with seven high speed platforms in 2026, and would serve as a hub linking phase one of the high-speed link from London to Birmingham with phase two towards Leeds and Manchester.
The designs for this, and Solihull's Interchange Station, will be displayed at Birmingham Library.
Image source, HS2 LtdMayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, said the station will put Birmingham "at the heart of Britain's new high speed network and enhance the rail connectivity for the city, whilst Interchange provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help drive the growth of the region".
A lorry was engulfed in flames outside Shrewsbury railway station last night, as these pictures show.
Image source, Lee Vaughan
Image source, Lee VaughanFire crews were called to deal with the fire, which started in the cab area of the vehicle, just after 20:30 yesterday.
Image source, Lee VaughanIt's not yet clear what caused the fire, said Shropshire fire service.
The Blood and Transplant service says it desperately needs more black and Asian donors in Birmingham.
Nationwide, the number of black blood donors has risen by 4,000 in the past five years, but they still need another 40,000 to cope with demand.
The service says there’s also a desperate need for more black organ donors as waiting times for kidney transplants are currently six months longer than for white patients.
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Kerry Ashdown
Business rate debts worth almost £170,000 are set to be written off in Staffordshire.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe non-payments are considered to be “irrecoverable”, a report to Stafford Borough Council’s cabinet said.
It adds that the cost of collecting the debts has been taken into account as part of the decision to put them forward for write-off.
Councillors approved the 13 business rate cases totalling £169,746.48 for write off, alongside two council tax cases totalling £8,345.25.
However, they said if any more information comes forward about the whereabouts of any of the individuals, the council will pursue recovery action.
A man is in hospital in a critical condition after being hit by a car that failed to stop in Coventry last night, police say.
Image source, GoogleThe pedestrian, thought to be about 60, was crossing St James Lane in the Willenhall area of the city at about 19:20 when he was struck by a white Audi which then left the scene.
The victim was given emergency first aid by passers by, and then rushed to hospital, said West Midlands Police.
Officers are calling for the driver to "do the right thing" and get in contact.
The designs for two new railway stations to serve HS2 in the West Midlands are set to be revealed.
Image source, HS2 LtdCurzon Street station in Birmingham will open in 2026.
It will have seven high speed platforms as well as connections to local train and tram networks.
Interchange station in Solihull will link HS2 to Birmingham Airport and the NEC.
Rich Davis
BBC Weather presenter
It should be a dry and bright day with highs of 18C (64F).
Latest weather for the West Midlands
Vanessa Pearce
BBC News
Welcome to our live service for Tuesday.
We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.
We love to hear from you so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email, Twitter, external and Facebook, external.
Preet Gill says she wants to know why details of five Sikhs in the UK were leaked to Indian newspapers.
Read More
