Plans to merge Shropshire's two health commissioning bodies will be discussed later today.

Last week the leaders of the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group voted to push ahead with the move which is intended to cut costs and improve efficiency, and now it is the turn of the Telford and Wrekin CCG to make a decision.

Image source, Getty Images

The idea of the merger has been supported by Shropshire Council, but Telford and Wrekin Council is criticising the plan, with its leader, Shaun Davies, saying people in Telford will be "fleeced".

Shropshire's CCG had a deficit of £28.7m at the end of the last financial year.

BBC Business News

Ceramics maker Portmeirion Group has warned its pre-tax profits for the full year would be “significantly below market expectations”.

Image source, Portmeirion

The Stoke-on-Trent-based firm, famed for its country garden-inspired pottery, has today revealed a steep drop in export sales, especially in Korea.

In its trading update,, external the company said total sales for the first four months of the year were down 10% on the same time in 2018.

BBC News Travel

Engineers have been called to repair a leak on a gas pipe on a road close to Warwick.

Temporary traffic lights have been set up on the A4177 Birmingham Road, at Hatton.

Engineers from local gas network Cadent are working to pinpoint the exact location of the leak and fix it.

It's expected the traffic lights will be in place during the evening rush hour, with motorists being advised to seek an alternative route.

BBC Weather Watchers

The sunny weather's continued in the West Midlands and we thought we'd showcase some of the region's landscape, as photographed by our local BBC Weather Watchers today.

These three are from users Fraser in Harbury, Warwickshire; Videoman in Leek, Staffordshire; and Snapper Simon in Church Stretton, Shropshire.

Image source, Fraser

Image source, Videoman

Image source, Snapper Simon

BBC Shropshire

Shrewsbury Town manager Sam Ricketts insists he won't be rushed into getting fresh talent into his squad this summer.

Image source, Reuters

Shrewsbury flirted with relegation from League One this season before finishing 18th.

BBC Shropshire

A man's been stabbed in an attack in Shrewsbury last night., external

West Mercia Police said it believed the stabbing happened on Greyfriars Road just before midnight.

The victim was attacked by three men as he parked on the street and officers said it was only later that he realised he'd been stabbed.

His injuries aren't thought to be life-threatening.

Coventry Live

Some of Coventry Live's headlines today are:

• One person confirmed dead in Coventry high-rise blaze, external
• Wasps announce major new club partner on two-year deal
• University to launch groundbreaking student recruitment scheme, external

This week a year ago Joe Leach had just completed a match between Worcestershire and Essex. Little did he know he would not feature in a red ball game for 12 months.

The Worcestershire club skipper suffered a stress fracture in his back in a one-day game against Warwickshire 11 months ago and today made his long awaited return. And he was soon among the wickets as he saw off Cameron Steel for five and Gareth Harte for one.

By lunch he’d taken 2-17 in eight overs, with Durham recovering from 14-3 to 77-3 thanks to a partnership of 63 from Jack Burnham (42) and Cameron Bancroft (22).

Image source, BBC Sport

Allen Cook
BBC News

A bus shelter's collapsed , externalafter being hit by a lorry.

Image source, Malvern Hills District Council

Malvern Hills District Council's warning drivers to take care turning into Marsh Lane, Longdon, near Ledbury.

It says the local parish council is investigating what's happened and clearing up the damage.

An inquest into the death of a father whose two sons were killed in a hit-and-run crash has recorded a verdict of suicide.

Image source, PA

Reece Platt-May's body was discovered in a hotel on the island of Corfu in May 2018, three months after the deaths of Coventry boys Corey and Casper Platt-May.

The brothers, aged two and six, were struck in the city by a speeding driver high on cocaine.

Image source, Family handout

Coroner Sean McGovern said he was satisfied no-one else was involved in Mr Platt-May's death abroad.

"It reminds us of the horror of [the crash] and the effect these events can have on people," he told the court.

Robert Brown, 53, who was jailed for 10 and a half years for killing the brothers, was later found dead in prison.

A woman who former JLS star Oritse Williams is accused of raping was in a "zombified" state when she went to his hotel room, a court has heard.

He is accused of raping her after a concert in Wolverhampton in December 2016.

Prosecutors at Wolverhampton Crown Court alleged it took place after the woman and two of her friends met Mr Williams and his tour manager.

Image source, PA

After one of the women "blacked out" and had to be put in a taxi home, the alleged victim and her other friend went back to the hotel, the court heard.

Opening the Crown's case, prosecutor Miranda Moore QC told the court all three women started to feel "a lot more affected by alcohol than they felt was normal".

Ms Moore added one of the women felt she had been drugged, and told the court: "That was her feeling but there is no forensic evidence to support that."

The 31-year-old singer denies the charge.

BBC News Travel

Trespassers on the line are delaying rail services through Bescot Stadium and Walsall, says West Midlands Railway.

A tourist attraction previously free to the public is to introduce admission charges to help "secure its future".

Coventry Transport Museum is set to charge up to £14 for an adult from July this year, although city residents will still be able to enter without paying.

Culture Coventry, which runs the venue, says the income will be used to "refresh and enhance" it.

The museum is funded through grants from Coventry City Council and Arts Council England and the changes to admission are designed to supplement this alongside income generated through other commercial activities.

Culture Coventry also manages the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and Lunt Roman Fort.

Birmingham Live

Birmingham Live's stories today include:

• Teenager suffers head injuries after being hit by ambulance, external
• Bomb sweep after 'pebble' mistaken for unexploded device, external
• Teen arrested after violence breaks out at Oldbury school, external

BBC Business News

The unemployment rate in the West Midlands in the first three months of the year fell to 5.1%, according to new data.

The Office for National Statistics said , external2.8m people aged 16 years and over were in employment - 9,000 more than for the same three months a year earlier.

Overall, the UK’s unemployment rate has fallen to 3.8%, its lowest since late 1974.

The University of Warwick is launching its new £10m social mobility programme.

Image source, University of Warwick

Warwick Scholars aims to change the lives of hundreds of young people who have the potential to study at Warwick, but who might face social or economic barriers to getting there.

It's aimed at students from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-represented groups in higher education who live within 30 miles of the university.

The first Year 12 students to participate in the scheme will be identified in the summer of 2019 and the first entrants to Warwick will be in 2020.

A fifth man has been arrested in connection with the stabbing of a man found dead at a house.

The body of Daniel Pitham, 33, from Bedworth, was discovered at an address in Bulkington Road in the town on 6 May.

Image source, Warwickshire Police

In the latest arrest, a 27-year-old man from Bedworth has been detained on suspicion of assisting an offender and is in police custody.

Previously, Scott Warner, 35, of Missing Oak Close, Bedworth, and John Robert Allison, 33, of Bulkington Road, Bedworth, have been charged with murder.

Two more men, aged 39 and 35 and from Coventry, were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. They've both been released under investigation.

A watchdog report said vulnerable children were not being protected by Stoke-on-Trent city council.

A man has been charged with attempted murder after a 21-year-old man was shot in the face in Birmingham.

The victim was found in cardiac arrest by paramedics at a flat in Edgbaston Road, Balsall Heath, on 30 April.

He remains in a critical but stable condition, police say.

Nathan Emanuel, 44, of Grange Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, is due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court later.

He's also been charged with wounding, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and robbery in relation to an alleged attack minutes earlier, which left another man, aged 19, with facial injuries.

A man has been arrested in connection with a major investigation into human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

He was detained at an address in the West Midlands and is being questioned by officers from the National Crime Agency.

A number of other properties are being searched in the West Midlands, west London and Northamptonshire areas.

The operations are being conducted with the support of Immigration Enforcement, West Midlands Police, Metropolitan Police and Northamptonshire Police.