Updates from Monday 11 to Sunday 17 February 2019
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Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather
There's a chance of some drizzle overnight, but it should be a mainly dry night with lows of 5C 941F).
Latest weather for the West Midlands
Here are three headlines from the Shropshire Star today:
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Solihull Moors Football Club has applied to make improvements to its floodlights, saying they would not meet League Two requirements if they were to win promotion this season.
The team is currently second in the National League and wants permission to increase the number of lights from 26 to 41.
Image source, GoogleThe application says there will be no change in the overall height of the pylons and says the effect for nearby residents will be "no more than moonlight" spilling into their gardens.
BBC Radio Stoke Sport
Crewe Alexandra manager David Artell says he's confident his side can come out on top when they meet Carlisle tonight, despite losing their previous two meetings this season.
Both games ended 1-0 to the Cumbrian side and Artell said "it's been two good teams and they've edged it twice".
Image source, Getty ImagesArtell sees if being another close game though, describing it as "two good teams in good form coming up against each other".
Nick Hawkins steps down as owner of sixth-tier National League North club Nuneaton Borough.
Read MoreBirmingham bin chiefs have halved collections in response to a strike by Unite members.
Read MoreA 36-year-old man is in hospital with serious head injuries after being hit by a car in Kidderminster just after midnight last night.
West Mercia Police said he was walking with another man on a bicycle on Stourbridge Road when the collision happened.
The force is now appealing for information from the public and anyone with dash cam footage is urged to contact them.
Councils in the UK received more than 1.8 million complaints last year about waste not being collected from homes, figures obtained by the BBC have shown.
Image source, Getty ImagesA survey of councils found the number of complaints about missed collections has increased by a third since 2014.
Bin workers in Birmingham were on strike for almost three months in a dispute over job losses in 2017, which led to thousands of tonnes of rubbish piling up on the city's streets.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe industrial action came to an end but residents in parts of the city reported problems with uncollected waste piling up again last year after new shift patterns for refuse collectors were rolled out.
And bin workers in the city who belong to the Unite union are set to strike again, with planned walkouts for two days a week from later this month.
People in Stoke-on-Trent have been paying tribute to the England and Stoke City legend Gordon Banks, after his death at the age of 81.
Stoke-on-Trent remembers former England and Stoke City goalkeeper Gordon Banks
Stoke chairman Peter Coates said Banks, who made 250 appearances for the club, had been "poorly for a number of weeks".
He said: "He made his home in Stoke, and was very much part of the fabric of the club. You don't get too many like him, and he was immensely modest for all his talent."
Stoke-on-Trent Live
These are among the headlines on the Stoke-on-Trent Live website today:
Tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused and staff were injured at HMP Hewell.
Read MoreThe 17-year-old girl is being supported by specially trained officers, West Mercia Police says.
Read MoreStaff working on the government's Universal Credit benefits system in Wolverhampton and Walsall are to be balloted for strike action.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) could walk out in March if there is a yes vote, said the union.
The dispute is over workloads and recruitment, it said.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "The possibility of a strike by Universal Credit staff should serve as a wake-up call to ministers who have repeatedly insisted Universal Credit is working well for workers and claimants when the opposite is in fact the case."
The union is calling for the recruitment of more staff, permanent contracts for fixed-term employees and a cut in workloads.
Mother-of-four Avan Najmadeen was found dead at her home in Stoke-on-Trent in October.
Read MoreBBC Radio Stoke Sport
One of the last public appearances made by Gordon Banks was at the draw for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
Image source, Getty ImagesAnd his passion for the game was a strong as ever, telling the BBC: "I'll never ever stop loving football, regardless of how it changes, what happens."
Banks went on to add: "It's been my life really and everything around it. It's me."
Coventry University said disciplinary action would be taken after two students wore anti-Semitic T-shirts.
Read MoreRoads in Birmingham and the Black Country have been named as some of the most congested in the UK.
Image source, Getty ImagesDrivers sit in queues for about two and a half days each per year on the UK's most congested road, research suggests.
Traffic data firm Inrix said drivers lose 44 hours a year on the A34 Stratford Road, between Highfield Road and Highgate Middleway in Birmingham.
Stephanie Barnard
BBC News
Hayley Marie Ashley quite literally lives the life of a princess.
The mum-of-two surprises children at birthday parties when she appears dressed as fairytale characters.
Fairy princess: How I created my dream job
The 29-year-old, from Stoke-on-Trent, set up her business, Wish Upon A Princess, three years ago while she was on maternity leave.
Ms Ashley launched her business on social media and says she's living her dream.
Coventry Live
Some of the Coventry Live headlines today are:
Talks aimed at preventing next's week's escalation of industrial action by bin workers in Birmingham have broken up with the council being accused of "acting in a deceitful and deliberately misleading manner" by the union.
Image source, Getty ImagesUnite members have been working to rule since 29 December over a payment given to GMB members and are set to strike twice a week from 19 February.
At a meeting of the council's cabinet earlier members agreed to make a fresh offer to Unite and Unison - who councillors said are also pursuing litigation.
But they said if this was not accepted by the close of business today, it would reaffirm the council's decision to take an injunction "to prevent further unlawful industrial action".
After talks at Acas today, the Unite union said the terms of settlement proposed by the council "are worse than the unacceptable terms previously on offer".
“Under those circumstances the talks collapsed immediately and given the attitude of the council there is little prospect of further talks taking place in the near future," it said.
