Live updates from Monday 17 December to Monday 24 December
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A man has died after being hit by a van in Burntwood, in Staffordshire.
The crash happened on High Street yesterday afternoon, police said.
He was confirmed dead at the scene, said the ambulance service.
Crews are still at the scene of a large fire, involving about 50 vehicles, at a scrapyard in Wolverhampton.
Image source, West Midlands Fire ServiceAbout 50 firefighters have responded since the call at 00:45 to the site on Hickman Avenue, Eastfield.
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Image source, West Midlands Fire ServiceTwo crews are still at the site damping down, said West Midlands Fire Service.
Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather
After a cloudy morning with some showers, it will brighten up later with top temperatures of 9C (48F).
Latest weather for the West Midlands
Vanessa Pearce
BBC News
Welcome to our live service for Thursday.
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
Actors and fans of pantomime explain why this very British tradition should not be sneered at.
Read MoreThe man, who pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a body, is facing a "substantial" jail term.
Read MoreHackers encrypted the company's servers to cause "maximum disruption" to its payroll systems.
Read More"Iconic criminal" Tafarwa Beckford shot a man dead during "armed gang warfare".
Read MoreDorothy Moule's family say it is hard to think about her final days, following a routine operation.
Read More
Andy Giddings
BBC News
We'll be back with more news, sport, travel and weather from 07:00 tomorrow.
A set of five paving stones bearing short inspirational statements about Telford have been laid in the Southwater Square area.
The statements were all suggested by people living in the area and they have been created as part of the town's 50th birthday celebrations.
Image source, Telford and Wrekin Council
Image source, Telford and Wrekin CouncilThe five statements read:
Police release footage of a man they want to speak to in connection with a shooting in Solihull.
Read MoreThe Halesowen News has these stories today:
Police want to question a man in connection with a shooting of a woman, 51, in her own home.
Read MorePremiership Rugby agrees to sell a minority shareholding to CVC Capital Partners for a sum understood to be more than £200m
Read MoreA school in Stone is looking to increase its capacity from 100 to 225 students.
Staffordshire County Council said Manor Hill First School is expecting to see around 90 extra pupils in the next few years because of 592 new homes being built in the catchment area.
Image source, GoogleThe proposed expansion will involve two extra classrooms, more library space, toilets, a better reception area and extra car parking spaces.
People in the area will have four weeks to comment on the idea and a decision is expected to be made by the council in the new year.
Peter Wilson
BBC Midlands Today Special Correspondent
For years Tafarwa Beckford's name was a by-word for gangster and at the age of 36 he was a veteran. He was also someone who saw himself as an untouchable.
His 20 previous convictions were for violent disorder, dangerous driving and cannabis offences. Yet detectives and gang members knew his name and feared him.
As a teenager he was one a member of the Burger Bar Gang - a group of so-called urban-terrorists dealing drugs and casually shooting guns on the streets of the West Midlands.
In 2004, both Beckford and friend Marcus Ellis were in the dock after Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare were killed in a drive-by shooting in Aston.
Ellis was one of four men convicted, but Beckford was cleared because of insufficient evidence. To this day Letisha’s mother Marcia has believed in his guilt and sees today's sentencing as the final chapter in her daughter’s case.
Jennie Aitken
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke
An 11-year-old boy says his local community's been "surprised and happy" that he's delivering unexpected Christmas gifts to houses in their part of Stoke-on-Trent.
Alexander Gwilt and his father Wesley have collected a load of trinket boxes from charity shops and decided to give them away to local residents in Fegg Hayes.
Alexander told BBC Radio Stoke that he suggested they gift the boxes away when his father wanted to move them out of a cupboard at their home.
Quote MessageMost of the people were quite happy but some of them were quite surprised. There was this person on the corner, we gave her free presents and you should have seen her face, she was gobsmacked."
Alexander Gwilt, Present-giver
Staff at Birmingham Children's Hospital formed a guard of honour for Amelia Eldred.
Read More
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Two more streets in Hereford city centre could be improved in the new year, following work to smarten up Commercial Street.
The city council says it is talking to property owners on Broad Street and King Street, to see if they approve.
If there is a positive reaction, the authority said it would look to allocate funding in its budget next year.
