Updates from Monday 1 April to Sunday 7 April
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A cashier has been hurt in an armed robbery at a convenience store in Crewe overnight.
Cheshire Constabulary say two men went to the McColl's shop on Gainsborough Road at around 22:00 and one of them threatened the woman with a knife, telling her to open the till.
Image source, GoogleShe suffered a minor wound to her right hand while trying to stop him.
BBC Radio Shropshire Sport
Shropshire have signed former Kent seam bowler Charlie Hartley and Birmingham League batsman Alex Phillips ahead of the start of the new minor counties season.
Hartley (pictured below), who is 25, has played three first class matches and took 50 wickets for Halesowen in the Birmingham League last season and has a point to prove, saying he feels "a bit unlucky" after an unsuccessful trial with Derbyshire.
Image source, Getty ImagesPhillips, who is 27 and can keep wicket and open the batting, played for Herefordshire against Shropshire last season and scored 824 runs in the Birmingham League premier division last year - more than any other player.
Another ward at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital has been closed because of a number of cases of diarrhoea and vomiting.
Ward 22, which is an orthopaedic and trauma ward, has been closed to new admissions and visitors are asked to avoid coming in and to check with the ward before travelling.
Three other wards at the hospital which were forced to close after a norovirus outbreak reopened last week.
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Carl Jackson
Birmingham City Council has been accused of blame-shifting for recent failures with one member comparing it to the Shaggy hit song 'It wasn’t me'.
Image source, PAEdgbaston Conservative councillor Matt Bennett earned a round of applause in the council chamber after quoting lyrics from the 2000 track.
He argued the ruling Labour administration had avoided taking responsibility for recent controversies such as the bin worker and enablement disputes, general state of the finances as well as recent failures surrounding a children’s contract.
Mr Bennett accused them of using the 'Shaggy defence' and went on to adapt the lyrics of 'It’wasn’t me' to reinforce his point.
He said: "Black hole in the budget 'It wasn’t me', rubbish piled in the streets 'It wasn’t me', care workers on strike 'It wasn’t me', commissioning disaster 'It wasn’t me'."
It came as the full council discussed the final report of the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel, which has stepped down after overseeing the city council in the wake of the 2014 Kerslake report.
The council leader, Labour's Ian Ward, admitted Mr Bennett’s Shaggy reference had 'given me something to smile about'. Turning to the report itself he said: "We all in this chamber have to be realistic with ourselves and no longer put our heads in the sand."
The parents of a woman who took her own life at a mental health hospital say failings in her care were "unbelievable".
Image source, Family photoClaire Greaves, 25, from Pontypool, who had suffered with anorexia and a personality disorder from an early age, was a patient at Cygnet Hospital, Coventry.
An inquest jury found care failings contributed to her death in February 2018 and reached an open conclusion.
Cygnet said it had learned lessons from the investigation, while Aneurin Bevan health board is reviewing placements for people with complex needs.
Claire was placed in "seclusion and long-term segregation" and her parents were told they could not contact her for several weeks.
"She told us that she had no furniture in the room, that her mattress was brought in at night for her to sleep on and then taken back out," Mr Greaves said after a phone call in January 2018.
"She also mentioned that there had been poor support for her hygiene whilst she was in there."
One person has been arrested after police discovered a cannabis farm at a house near Much Wenlock this morning.
They raided the property in Benthall and said they found a number of plants including seedlings and mature plants, along with harvested cannabis.
Image source, West Mercia Police
Image source, West Mercia PoliceJurors at the inquests into the deaths of 21 people are told the blasts were "murder in ordinary language".
Read MoreMore than £3m worth of GP appointments across Herefordshire and Worcestershire have been wasted because people failed to turn up.
Image source, Getty ImagesFigures from NHS England show there were 124,000 missed appointments here in just eight months - it's led to renewed calls for patients to be fined for failing to attend without any warning.
NHS England has warned people against not turning up, saying 15 million consultations went to waste last year - the equivalent of a year's salary for 2,300 GPs.
Quote MessageEvery wasted appointment is a cost to the system and it means that somebody doesn't get seen that could have got seen and it puts delay in the system. So it's never the right thing to do."
Dr Paul Harris, Belmont surgery in Hereford
A man has been banned from keeping animals over Jinx's ordeal during which 15 puppies died.
Read MoreThe County Championship is back on Friday. BBC Sport takes a look at what to expect in 2019.
Read More
BBC Midlands Today
Researchers at the University of Birmingham believe they may have found a viable alternative to antibiotics, in the form of honey.
Antimicrobial resistance is becoming increasingly common and stops antibiotic drugs from working properly.
Many believe they've been over prescribed and are becoming less effective.
Scientists in Birmingham are working to produce medical products from honey, which is a natural antibiotic.
They're appealing for help with funding for a medical trial.
Quote MessageAntimicrobial resistance is predicted to kill more people than cancer by 2050 and if we get to a stage where we have no working antibiotics, it would essentially mean the end of modern medicine."
Dr Sophie Cox, University of Birmingham
BBC Radio Stoke Sport
Port Vale's supporters club says it will suspend its protests against the owner, Norman Smurthwaite, to allow takeover talks to take place.
Carol and Kevin Shanahan, who own Synectics Solutions in Burslem, have started talks to buy the club and Vale Park and the club says it hopes to have a deal done by 5 May - the date Mr Smurthwaite said he will walk away from the club.
Image source, Getty ImagesMark Porter, who chairs the group, said it was important for the community that a deal was done, because "Burslem relies on Port Vale football club", and added: "The city needs two clubs."
Meanings are being changed in a time when it's not easy being a political editor.
Read More
Giles Latcham
BBC Midlands Today
The coroner at the Birmingham pub bombings inquests has told the jury to set aside their feelings in reaching their verdicts.
Sir Peter Thornton QC has begun summing up at the end of almost six weeks of evidence about explosions at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs in November 1974.
He said: "You have heard a great deal of moving and distressing evidence, which as fellow human beings we are touched by. Whatever your feelings you must put them to one side. Come to your decisions coolly and calmly on the evidence."
Twenty one people were killed in the blasts and 220 were injured.
The jury has heard from two former IRA members who said the IRA was responsible for planting the bombs.
Sir Peter said it was not for the jury to name the alleged bombers. That, he said, was a matter for the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts.
It felt more like winter than spring for some people in Shropshire this morning, with a light snowfall in parts of the county.
These photos were taken by BBC Weather Watchers in Longnor, Aston Pigott and Lydbury North.
Image source, Peter Steggles
Image source, Ken M
Image source, HillyJillyRegional airline Flybe has cancelled dozens of Wednesday morning flights as it enters discussions over potential job losses.
Image source, PAIt is not clear whether the flight cancellations and job discussions are connected.
Flights from Belfast City Airport and Birmingham are among those affected.
Most of the flights are within the UK. The airline said it would like to "sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused".
Here are three headlines from the Shropshire Star today:
BBC WM Sport
Wolves captain Conor Coady says they deserved to beat Manchester United again at Molineux.
Nuno's team remain in seventh place in the Premier League, after defeating United 2-1, a fortnight after beating them by the same scoreline in the FA Cup.
Image source, ReutersDiogo Jota equalised last night and an own goal from Chris Smalling proved to be the winner, after the visitors had Ashley Young sent off.
Afterwards, Coady (pictured) paid tribute to the performance of goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
Quote MessageWe weathered the storm and we've got a world-class keeper in goal who made some outstanding saves tonight he really did and we know how good he's been this season, but some of the saves he made tonight were brilliant. We needed to bounce back from Saturday [at Burnley]. I thought the boys dug in. I thought we deserved the win in the end with the way we played and the way we [did] things."
Conor Coady, Wolves captain
A section of the M5 in Worcestershure is expected to remain closed until midday, Highways England has said.
The northbound stretch between J5 and J4A was closed after a two-car crash at 05:40 in which a woman died and the police are carrying out investigations.
Highways England said there is now "severe congestion" in the area and it is working to release vehicles trapped between those junctions.
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
About 20,000 bees have been removed from a house in Coventry and rehomed with local beekeepers.
Image source, Delta Pest ControlThe insects thrived in a cavity due to the mild winter.
Dave Bird from Delta Pest Control in the city says he used a vacuum cleaner to make sure they didn't just buzz off.
Quote MessageWe hoover bees just with a normal vacuum, but we vacuum out of the sealed tub. They get vacuumed into there very gently. They get put into the bucket and then they're transferred from that bucket then into a transport box for bees."
Dave Bird, Delta Pest Control
