Summary

  • Boy sentenced for stabbings near school

  • Birmingham bin dispute 'nearing an end'

  • Best friends killed in pub bombings found 'side by side'

  • Funeral date set for four children killed in fire

  • Attempted murder charge after man hit by van

  • School protests 'helping spread messages of division'

  • Updates from Friday 8 March 2019

  • Click Related Stories for updates from your area

  1. Post-mortem examination into woman's death 'inconclusive'published at 17:50 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Allen Cook
    BBC News

    Police say they still don't know how a woman died after a post-mortem examination proved inconclusive., external

    Beaconview RoadImage source, Google

    Police were called to Beaconview Road in the Charlemont Farm area of West Bromwich on Wednesday and found the 35-year-old's body.

    Officers say more tests are going to be carried out to establish her cause of death.

    A 51-year-old man they arrested on suspicion of murder has been released pending further investigation.

  2. Villa reduce losses for 2016-17 seasonpublished at 17:41 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Aston Villa's owners Recon reduce the club's losses from £80.7m in their relegation season to £14.5m in 2016-17.

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  3. Summer start for Hereford bike share schemepublished at 17:17 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    BBC Hereford and Worcester

    A new bike share scheme is to be launched in Hereford this summer,, external allowing people to pick up a bike from anywhere in the city and use it for as long as they need.

    Two of the bikesImage source, Herefordshire Council

    Herefordshire Council says a phone app will allow people to find a bike and unlock it and then lock it again when they're finished with it.

    The authority says there's no cost to the council as operator Beryl will run and maintain the scheme across the next two years.

  4. Munitions workers honoured for International Women's Daypublished at 16:59 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    BBC Hereford and Worcester

    Dozens of people dressed as munitions workers from the two World Wars have cycled around Hereford today to mark International Women's Day.

    Some of the women who worked at RotherwasImage source, Herefordshire Council

    They rode between historic sites such as the shell store and Bullinghope Church to honour the thousands of women who worked at the Rotherwas factory, near Hereford.

    The women were nicknamed Canary Girls as, for some, the effects of their work were immediately visible - a lurid shade of yellow that stained their skin and hair.

    Today's ride was organised by Lin Mathias as part of her art degree., external

    Quote Message

    We're celebrating our own canary girls, they are the munition workers that worked at Rotherwas so everywhere we go on the ride is something specific to their lives because they didn't just make bombs."

    Lin Mathias, Artist

  5. Protest outside LGBT lessons schoolpublished at 16:50 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Campaigners against the teaching accuse the school of "aggressive indoctrination".

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  6. Firefighters in parrot tree-top rescuepublished at 16:48 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Lee Thomas
    Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

    Firefighters have sprayed water at a parrot to get it down from a tree., external

    Stock photo of a parrot
    Image caption,

    Stock photo of a parrot

    They were called to Wistaston Road, Crewe, Cheshire, yesterday afternoon after the bird escaped from a property.

    It took 10 minutes to get the parrot to come down.

    Firefighters say they took RSPCA advice on what to do and the parrot "was fine".

  7. Tigers need to show 'heart and desire' to win league titlepublished at 16:28 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    BBC Sport

    Telford Tigers go into the final four games of the season, knowing they might have to win all of them if they're going to lift the league title.

    After a trip to Blackburn Hawks, they host title-rivals Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday and head coach Tom Watkins said his side showed "huge heart and desire" in winning the second leg of the Northern Cup against the same opponents last weekend.

    The 3-1 result wasn't quite enough following a 6-2 defeat in the away leg, but Watkins said: "I think if we have the same mentality, desire and commitment then we give ourselves a chance."

    Tigers playersImage source, Steve Brodie

    Coventry Blaze have back-to-back games against the Elite League's bottom side, Milton Keynes Lightning and after four successive defeats they need wins if they're going to climb up into the playoff places.

    Solihull Barons also have a game against the Steeldogs, travelling to Sheffield tomorrow, before hosting Solway Sharks on Sunday.

  8. Forty TVs and one remote - nurses appeal for helppublished at 16:11 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    BBC Shropshire

    An appeal's been launched to get some vital equipment for a hospital - remote controls!

    One ward at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital had 40 TVs, but just the one remote control, leaving nurses run off their feet and taken away from more vital work, according to a charity.

    Andrew Perkins donating remote controlsImage source, Severn Hospice Furniture Store

    The Severn Hospice Furniture Store in Shrewsbury, however, has come to the rescue, external - handing over 40 remote controls to desperate staff.

    Since then, the shop says it's had more requests from other wards at the hospital so it's now started an appeal for people to donate their unwanted remotes, external.

    Quote Message

    It might not seem much about a remote control but if you're lying there in bed, not feeling very well and you can't change the channel it's pretty frustrating but it's even more frustrating for the nurses as they're getting called away from doing vital work to change somebody's TV channel."

    Andrew Perkins, Severn Hospice Furniture store

  9. Trees felled at Commonwealth Games aquatics centre sitepublished at 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Ben Godfrey
    BBC Midlands Today

    Sandwell Council has denied that construction of the new Commonwealth Games aquatics centre has begun before it's been formally approved.

    Aquatics centreImage source, Sandwell Council

    Preliminary work, is under way on the £60m development at the Londonderry Lane playing fields in Smethwick, where some trees have been felled to create access to the site.

    Local campaigners have accused the authority of unfairly targeting public green spaces for major developments.

    In a statement, Sandwell Council said construction had not started at the site, but "diseased or damaged" trees had been removed.

    It said if the works hadn't been carried out "we would not be able to complete the aquatics project on time."

    "There is no alternative brown field site."

  10. Honour for man who saved 10,000 from Nazi Germanypublished at 15:40 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Local Democracy Reporting Service
    George Makin

    An MI6 agent - nicknamed "the pimpernel of the Jews" after rescuing more than 10,000 men, women and children from Nazi Germany - could be honoured with a blue plaque in his home town.

    Major Frank FoleyImage source, PA

    Councillors are being asked to fund the commemoration to Major Frank Foley, who lived in Stourbridge until his death in 1958.

    Members of the locally based 63 Military Intelligence Company charitable fund are asking for £1,650 for the design, casting and installation of the plaque on 32 Eveson Road, Norton.

    Before the outbreak of war, Major Foley used his cover as passport officer in the British Consulate in Berlin to give Jews visas they needed to escape the country, even entering Nazi concentration camps to help extract them.

    He is credited with saving as many as 10,000 people by ignoring the rules limiting the number of passports granted at the time by the British government.

  11. Hundreds of climate change protesters lobby councilpublished at 15:29 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Climate change protesters say they'll keep up the pressure on Herefordshire Council to take action after members today voted unanimously to make the issue a priority.

    Several hundred people lobbied a meeting at Shirehall with banners and chanting.

    Media caption,

    Hundreds lobby council over climate change

  12. Crufts: Life-saving dogs centre-stagepublished at 15:19 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    It's day two of Crufts at Birmingham's NEC and it's not just some of the best in breed strutting their stuff.

    West Midlands Police Dogs are giving daily displays in the Good Citizen ring, among dozens of other groups.

    Today Medical Detection Dogs have been showing what they can do.

    The dogs are specially trained to alert people with diabetes, severe allergies and certain heart conditions when they're about to have a medical emergency.

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  13. Home Secretary meets officers tackling knife crimepublished at 14:59 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    The Home Secretary Sajid Javid has been in the West Midlands today speaking to officers about knife crime.

    Sajid JavidImage source, West Midlands PCC

    The Bromsgrove MP this week called for knife crime to be treated "like a disease" after meeting police chiefs from seven forces most affected by violent crime.

    The talks followed a spate of fatal teenage stabbings which has prompted debate about falling police numbers.

    Three people were fatally stabbed in Birmingham over the courst of just 12 days, and several others badly injured in incidents.

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  14. 'Mass protest' planned by taxi drivers over council planspublished at 14:47 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Local Democracy Reporting Service
    Joe Burn

    Taxi drivers are planning a protest outside a council's offices in a row over licensing.

    Drivers in Newcastle-under-Lyme say they've not been listened to by the borough council, whose new policy asks them to switch to electric cars and also prevents cars over a certain age being licensed.

    Taxis in a rank in Newcastle-under-LymeImage source, Google

    Taxi operators say the first condition is too expensive and the other one isn't acceptable.

    The government's told both Newcastle under Lyme Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council to draw up improvement plans by October, to cut dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide

    Drivers in Newcastle-under-Lyme say they'll hold a mass protest outside the council's officers after 14 March, the end date for a consultation on the changes, if they're not listened to.

    The authority says it's consulting on the changes and welcome any views drivers have over the proposals.

  15. Shaw leaves role as Wolves head coachpublished at 14:36 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    Worcester Wolves announce Ty Shaw is leaving his role as the club's director of basketball and head coach immediately.

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  16. Your photos: Local wildlifepublished at 14:35 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    BBC Weather Watchers

    As well as weather-related photos, our local BBC Weather Watchers often snap pictures of wildlife in the West Midlands.

    Here are three today, from users Chase Watcher in Burntwood, Staffordshire, Osmunda in No Man's Heath, Cheshire and Littleacorns in Southam, Warwickshire:

    BurntwoodImage source, Chase Watcher
    No Man's HeathImage source, Osmunda
    SouthamImage source, Littleacorns
  17. More than 60 'at risk of child exploitation'published at 14:19 Greenwich Mean Time 8 March 2019

    BBC Shropshire

    More than 60 children in the Shropshire Council area have been highlighted as being at risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE).

    Shropshire Council HQ

    The local authority's Health and Wellbeing board heard how 20% come from outside the county and are in care in Shropshire.

    The report from Shropshire Safeguarding Children Board said none are currently being exploited but 15 are classed as "high risk".

    The board said it was confident overall understanding of CSE is improving, but there are still some parts of the country where referral rates are low.