Matt Sandoz
Stoke City commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke City manager Nathan Jones hopes his side are finally turning their season around as they seek their first back-to-back wins since October.

Image source, Getty Images

The Potters' victory against Nottingham Forest secured their second win under Jones in his ninth league match in charge, a result which lifted them to 16th.

Now, they visit Queens Park Rangers who are 18th in the Championship.

BBC Hereford and Worcester

Staff at the Royal Worcestershire Hospital are currently facing "very significant challenges", according to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Image source, Google

It follows his visit to the hospital yesterday, where he spoke to staff and patients about the problems with the NHS trust that's in charge of the county's three main hospitals.

The trust has been in special measures since December 2015 and is rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission., external

Uday Senapati, 40, said he was moving his car to avoid a parking ticket on a night out with friends.

Unite says an agreement "that meets the union's expectations" has been put on the table.

More than 40 people have been fatally stabbed in the UK this year - the BBC has tracked the first 100 killings of 2019 revealing those who have tragically lost their lives.

An LGBT rights campaigner says he's been left "shocked" by the protests outside a Birmingham school for teaching same-sex education.

Parkfield Community School, in Alum Rock, Birmingham, has seen protests over its No Outsiders project, which teaches children about differences in society, including LGBT issues, race, religion and gender identity.

Shamal Waraich told the Victoria Derbyshire programme if he'd received similar classes at school "It would have made me a lot more open to understanding my sexuality as I was growing up".

Worcester News

Here are a few of the stories appearing on the Worcester news website today:

• Acid conspirator Jabar Paktia has been attacked three times in jail already, external
• Gang of youths outside McDonald's cause chaos in Worcester, external
• Councillor buys anti-burglary kits for St Peter's, Worcester, external

A jury at the inquests into the Birmingham pub bombings has heard how the bodies of two friends were found lying "side by side" at the scene.

Neil "Tommy" Marsh, 16, and 17-year-old Paul Davis were discovered outside the Mulberry Bush pub, after the premises had been cleared of casualties, a police officer said.

Giving evidence, former police constable Rod Hazlewood, who was 22 at the time, described how he and two colleagues had initially called taxis from nearby to help get the wounded to hospital after being one of the first on the scene.

The two teenagers were found outside the pub "a bit of time" after the explosion, he said.

Asked if he checked for signs of life, he replied: "Yes, we would have obviously done that immediately and there was absolutely no sign of movement and obviously they'd been there whatever time it was."

The Telford Steam Railway has been given three wrought-iron roof trusses from Paddington station, thought to have been designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel around 1840.

The chairman of the railway, Paul Hughes, said they originally supported "an elaborate roof" over an entrance to the station and that it was a glass construction to "let lots of light in".

Mr Hughes explained they'd become available because part of the station was being redeveloped as part of London's Crossrail, external project.

The heritage railway group had to bid for the arches, which are expected to be put up over the planned new station at Lawley.

Industrial action by bin workers in Birmingham could be nearing an end after council cabinet members met to discuss a new deal.

Strike action due to take place today was suspended after the offer was agreed late yesterday.

The unions and the city council have been in a dispute since December over claims that GMB union members, who did not take part in previous strikes in 2017, had been given extra payments by the council.

A further council meeting has been called for 15 March to approve the agreement.

The Leader of Birmingham City Council Ian Ward says he's confident the dispute will come to an end soon.

"They're due to go on strike again next Tuesday and Wednesday," he said, "but my anticipation is that strike action will be now suspended.

"We'll take the further cabinet report next Friday and that should bring this dispute to an end".

BBC Hereford and Worcester

Worcester Warriors director of rugby says blame for their defeat to bottom side Newcastle Falcons can't be put on replacement hooker Isaac Miller.

Image source, Getty Images

Worcester struggled with their lineout in the crucial relegation match and ended up losing 17-6, leaving them just five points above Newcastle in the table.

Miller came on after 14 minutes of the game when hooker Jack Singleton was forced off with an elbow injury.

Worcester are going with Niall Annett for this weekend's game in the middle of the front row.

England all-rounder Chris Woakes signs a new contract extension with Warwickshire for the next three seasons at least.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Ten new fire engines have been delivered to , externalfire stations in Herefordshire and Worcestershire at a cost of £2.5m.

The fire service says the new engines have bigger water tanks and cameras, which give views all around the vehicles.

Image source, Hereford and Worcester Fire Service

BBC Shropshire

The leader of Telford and Wrekin Council has promised to send a formal request within days asking the government to review a planned reorganisation of hospital services in Shropshire.

Image source, SATH

Yesterday, on a tour of Telford's hospital, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he couldn't intervene over the decision to move the main emergency care centre and maternity services to Shrewsbury as he hadn't been formally asked to.

Shaun Davies, leader of the Labour-run council, told BBC Shropshire the legal request would be sent off, but people in the borough "would not thank me if we rushed those technical papers".

However, the chief executive of the NHS trust running the hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford says he doesn't want any further delays to the scheme.

Simon Wright said: "The public have been very consistent in one answer all the way through consultation which is just get on with it."

A cap and coat worn by Cillian Murphy in his role as a mob boss are being sold in a charity auction.

Image source, Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd 2017

The Irish star, who plays Tommy Shelby in the Birmingham-based gang drama Peaky Blinders, has donated items from his on-set wardrobe to raise money for a cancer care trust.

Image source, PA

The actor donned the overcoat in the third series of the drama and the cap in the fifth instalment, which is due to air on BBC One.

Cold feet star John Thomson is hosting The Christie Charity Ball on Saturday, in Manchester, where people will be able to bid for the items., external

BBC Shropshire

Shrewsbury Town defender Luke Waterfall says the side need to pick up points in their next two games to make sure they avoid relegation.

Image source, Getty Images

They're currently three points clear of the bottom four in League One, but head to third-from-bottom Rochdale this weekend, followed by mid-table Plymouth on Tuesday.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

The Stoke-on-Trent Live page has these headlines today:

• Barefooted would-be arsonist was 'off his head' on monkey dust when tried to spark blaze, external
• Angry motorist boycotts M&S store after landing £85 parking fine for overstaying time limit, external
• Police smash way into house and find woman dead on settee, external

A dancing dog, and his owner, have won the heelwork to music freestyle final for the fifth time at Crufts dog show.

Image source, Crufts

Border collie Skiffle and trainer Lucy Creek, from Newbold-on-Stour, Warwickshire, beat nine other finalists at the competition on Thursday.

The participants devised routines of up to four minutes, set to music, and performed them with their dog at the NEC, Birmingham.

Owner Lucy said: “'I love hearing that roar of the crowd! Crufts is a chance to see all your friends in the doggy crowd."

Here's a video we made about the pair in 2017.

Officers investigating an attack on a couple in their 70s, in an attempted carjacking by an armed man, have issued a fresh appeal for information.

Image source, West Midlands Police

The 71-year-old woman was on her driveway in Stevens Road, Stourbridge at 15:00 on 11 February, when she was approached by a masked man with a machete, who threatened her demanding car keys, police said.

The woman and her husband, also 71, managed to get inside the house, however they were followed by the suspect who tried to attack the man with a chair, officers added.

The attacker eventually fled on a scooter.

In an appeal for information she said: "I often think of this knife now, I will never forget the knife, it was quite big.

"I just don't want it to happen to anyone else."

Lucy King
News Editor, BBC Radio Stoke

Women who've worked or are working in the pottery industry are being urged to be part of a new film celebrating their role in ceramics.

The Stoke and North Staffs Women's Network is behind the project , externalwhich aims to celebrate "women in ceramics past and present".

It's being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and is called Bound by Clay, launching today on International Women's Day.