Local Democracy Reporting Service

Birmingham City Council says its road-maintenance contractor Amey has refused to comply with a court order to repay £60m and it has retaliated by withholding payments of £42m.

The two are in a dispute over repairs the company has been carrying out and in February the Court of Appeal ruled the council was entitled to recover £54.95m worth of repayments, which has now risen to £60m with interest.

The council said negotiations with the company were ongoing and it "was doing its part by holding the firm to account".

But the company has responded to the claim, saying it "does not owe" the £55.95m, plus interest, and that it continues to deliver a high-quality service in Birmingham, despite receiving no payment in 2018.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has called off plans to shut Telford's A&E overnight.

Allen Cook
BBC News

A fire in which two cats died and a man needed rescuing as he hung from a bedroom window was started by a faulty dehumidifier, the fire service says, external.

Image source, Staffordshire Fire Service

Fire crews from Leek, Cheadle and Longton were called to the house in Brookfields Road, Ipstones, Staffordshire, yesterday afternoon.

They say the man wasn't seriously hurt and they tried to resuscitate the cats, but they died at the scene.

The Midlands Air Ambulance has started a campaign, external to highlight the cost of each call to a road collision.

The charity has already attended 405 crashes this year, costing more than £1m, and it says the numbers have been rising every year.

Image source, WMAS

The service costs £9m a year to fund and all of it comes from company and individual donations.

Rebecca Wood
BBC Midlands Today

It will be windy this evening in the West Midlands and there could still be outbreaks of rain around.

Here's how tonight and tomorrow's weather is looking:

You can keep up-to-date with the latest forecast for your part of the West Midlands by heading to the BBC Weather website.

A new primary school could be built in Shrewsbury to deal with an increase in pupil numbers.

Members of Shropshire Council's cabinet will discuss the idea when they meet later today.

The school would be built to the west of the town and cost about £4.5m.

A planned high-speed bus route between Birmingham and Walsall has been called "an absolute farce".

Image source, Transport for West Midlands

Transport for West Midlands is currently consulting on proposals for three Sprint routes which would be limited-stop services running along dedicated bus lanes., external

It says they should be ready in time for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, external and they will keep talking to local residents who will be affected.

But campaigners who met last night in Perry Barr with West Midlands mayor Andy Street say it's not worth the millions of pounds it will cost to build.

Funding for a specialist dementia nurse in Kenilworth has run out.

The Admiral nurse has been based at the Waverley Day Centre in the town for two-and-a half-years.

Tony Dalton, a centre trustee, said the NHS had been saving money by having a nurse based there and questioned the financial sense in cutting her funding.

BBC News Travel

Some of the railway lines between Walsall and Aston are blocked this afternoon, due to a signalling fault.

West Midlands Railway says some services may have to be revised., external

Shropshire Star

Here are three of the headlines from the Shropshire Star today:

• Man died eight days after being discharged from hospital, external
• Woman dies in Shropshire border crash, external
• Trains cancelled between Shrewsbury and Crewe, external

Crushed egg shells have been threatening to block the sewers serving Stoke Heath prison, near Market Drayton, water company Severn Trent said.

It noticed "something peculiar was going on" and found "an unusually high amount of solid waste was coming into the works" and had to install extra equipment to break it down.

The company said when an inspector had gone into the prison, he found some inmates were allowed to eat in their cells and were flushing food down the toilets.

They were also making themselves protein drinks out of eggs and discarding the shells in the same way.

The Prison Service has not yet commented, but Severn Trent said the jail was now removing all food waste from cells.

The Food Standards Agency reveals 673 samples had ingredients that could trigger allergic reactions.

Jemma Laney bought designer goods and booked holidays with money she took from her victim's account.

Lucy King
News Editor, BBC Radio Stoke

The death of a man who died after being Tasered by police was caused by cocaine toxicity and the stress of incident, an inquest jury has decided.

Image source, Facebook

Adrian McDonald, 34, had also been bitten by a police dog just before his arrest in December 2014 at a friend's flat in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

Staffordshire Police had been called to "reports of an intruder" at the flat, but Mr McDonald, from Huddersfield, knew one of its occupants, the inquest was previously told.

He admitted to police he had taken drugs and appeared to be breathing heavily as officers asked him to "calm down", the jury heard.

Today they recorded a unanimous narrative verdict.

Allen Cook
BBC News

A woman says she feels "overwhelmed" after railway staff found her diamond wedding ring which had fallen over the side of a station platform.

Image source, Network Rail

Network Rail says Eileen Lawrence was about to moisturise her hands at Bloxwich North station earlier this month when the ring slipped off and fell on to the tracks. , external

Attempts to find it on the day failed, but the organisation says staff went down the next day, found it and reunited the ring with its owner.

It adds, only after the ring was returned did Eileen tell her husband of 31 years about how it went missing in the first place.

An MP and the road haulage association are clashing on whether there should be an age cap on people who drive for a living, following a fatal bus crash in Coventry.

Two passengers died when 77-year-old driver Kailash Chander crashed into Sainsbury's, in the city centre, in 2015.

Image source, @Haroon_Mota/PA

Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington, said "it's quite clear with age your reactions dampen and you are not as reactive as you might have been" and wants a change in the law to limit the age of drivers.

But Colin Snape, from the Road Haulage Association, said hours and break times were already "highly regulated".

The "ferocious" attack on Viktorija Sokolova, 14, involved "a minimum of 21 blows", a jury hears.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

A man who suffered facial injuries when he was "hit with a glass in a pub" says he's trying to trace two off-duty nurses who came to his aid.

Image source, Lee Robinson

Jack Robinson, 20, was in the Roebuck Inn, in Cheadle Road, Forsbrook, near Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire, on Saturday night when the attack happened.

He needed hospital treatment and 41 stitches around his eye.

Mr Robinson told the BBC the two nurses had been in the pub at the time, came to help him and he'd like to thank them personally.

Staffordshire Police said a 24-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent had been arrested on suspicion of causing GBH with intent and released under investigation.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

A woman's been left with severe injuries after she was bitten by a dog., external

Image source, Google

Police say the 22-year-old was walking along Garden Street, Leek, on Saturday evening when she was attacked.

She suffered an injury to her lower leg and is still in hospital.

Officers say a 32-year-old man from Leek's been arrested on suspicion of allowing a dangerous dog to be out of control in a public place and a dog has also been seized.

BBC Radio Shropshire Sport

Former Shrewsbury Town manager John Askey said his sacking "was a little bit harsh", considering he'd only been in the job five months, and added "I thought I'd get a little bit more backing".

He had to build a new team after a number of players left in the summer and said "we were doing quite well, we were gradually improving, players were getting used to that league, most of the players had come from non-league or League Two".

He is still looking for his next job and said there "are not that many jobs around" at the moment, but missed football management and hoped to return soon.

And he said the Shrewsbury experience was a "good learning curve for me and hopefully I'll come out of it better".