The Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid remains in the race to be the next prime minister after finishing fourth in the Tory leadership vote today.

He picked up five extra votes to take his total to 38 and joins Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove in the last four after Rory Stewart was knocked out.

Image source, Getty Images

The Home Secretary tweeted to say: "Delighted to make it through to the final day of MP voting. Grateful for the support of many excellent colleagues. We can do this!"

And he thanked Rory Stewart for the "positive impact" he has had on the campaign.

A man has been arrested after reports a car was driven at three teenagers in Stoke-on-Trent yesterday evening.

Image source, Google

Staffordshire Police said it happened at the eastbound slip-road off the A50, near the Meir tunnel, at around 22:15 and the driver of the car is believed to have got out of his car to attack the teenagers.

A 16-year-old boy was taken to hospital with a minor head injury.

The force said an 18-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent was arrested a short time later on suspicion of common assault and failing to stop for police at an address in Longton.

He remains in police custody.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Changes have been made to Coventry City Council's air quality action plan, in the hope of avoiding a government-imposed Clean Air Zone.

Image source, Getty Images

The authority has scrapped its plans to close Coundon Road, and instead is proposing a link-road to create a direct route on to the ring road and help cars avoid the city's most polluted street, Holyhead Road.

New traffic modelling has also been submitted as part of the revised plan sent to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The government rejected the council’s previous plan, submitted in March, and said a Clean Air Zone would be imposed unless the authority could come up with an alternative.

BBC WM

The government's being urged to do anything it can to help a children's hospice which is set to close due to a lack of funds.

Earlier this month, Acorns in Walsall, which looked after 200 children in the last year, announced it could shut at the beginning of October.

The charity cared for about 800 children, plus their families, across the wider West Midlands last year.

Several Black Country MPs, including Wolverhampton's Pat McFadden and Eleanor Smith and Dudley North's Ian Austin, met with the charity this week and agreed to write to Health Secretary Matt Hancock., external

Dudley News

From the Dudley News:

• Brutal murder of grandmother prompts calls for change, external
• Nurse struck off over teen's pool water brain injury, external
• Harry Potter stars join stem cell register to help schoolboy, external

The driver of an ambulance that hit a teenage boy while responding to a 999 call will face no criminal charges, police have said.

The 15-year-old suffered serious head injuries in the crash on Lichfield Street in Walsall in May.

The Environment Agency has lifted its remaining flood warning in Worcestershire and just two flood alerts remain in the West Midlands - both of them in Shropshire.

Image source, Environment Agency

Those flood alerts cover the area where the Severn and Vyrnwy meet and the rivers Tern and Perry.

Hylton Road in Worcester will close for around two hours from 19:00 this evening so the flood pumps can be removed.

BBC Sport

Wolves have been drawn against either Crusaders of Northern Ireland or B36 Torshavn of the Faroe Islands, external in the second qualifying round for the Europa League.

Image source, Getty Images

The matches are due to be played on 25 July and 1 August.

The first round qualifying games are being played next month, so the winner of that tie will be decided on 18 July.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Dare

The inquests this year into the Birmingham pub bombings cost West Midlands Police nearly £217,000.

Chief Constable Dave Thompson revealed the figure at a strategic policing and crime board meeting this week.

A five-week hearing was held earlier this year into the deaths of 21 people in the attacks on two pubs in the city centre in November 1974.

The jury concluded that the victims were unlawfully killed and murdered by the IRA but no errors were made by the police in the way they responded.

Mr Thompson added that the figure didn't cover the costs to the force of helping the coroner and they would need to spend more in further investigating the bombings.

Birmingham Live

The Birmingham Live website's headlines today include:

• Terrified mum dials 999 as thug attacks car with her inside and told to wait 24 hours for a cop, external
• Dudley woman found drunk in charge of young child at holiday resort after staff call police, external
• 'A very dark day' as Birmingham City sack the man who mended the club, external

BBC Weather Watchers

The forecast was for a drier day and we look to have got that in the West Midlands with a lot of cloud around, according to many of the photos from our local BBC Weather Watchers today.

These three are from users Ryan Lewis in Rubery, Worcestershire, Terry Eyre in Leek, Staffordshire and Marguerite in Ellesmere, Shropshire:

Image source, Ryan Lewis

Image source, Terry Eyre

Image source, Marguerite

Shrewsbury Town sign 35-year-old Millwall striker Steve Morison on a season-long loan deal.

BBC Midlands Today

Organised criminal gangs in Birmingham are being targeted with more police officers., external

Image source, West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police has brought in 20 more staff to help disrupt gang activity and make quicker arrests.

The force said it'll also work with youth workers, the probation service and communities to try to prevent young people from getting into criminal activity.

Rich Davis
BBC Weather presenter

We should get a dry start to tonight with clear spells. Here's the full forecast, including for Thursday in the West Midlands:

Keep up-to-date with the weather where you live by visiting the BBC Weather website at any other time.

BBC Politics

Labour MPs in Leave-supporting constituencies have written to Jeremy Corbyn to urge him not to go "full Remain" as the party considers its position on another Brexit referendum.

They include two from Stoke-on-Trent, Ruth Smeeth and Gareth Snell, and Crewe and Nantwich's Laura Smith. , external

The shadow cabinet is currently discussing whether to soften Labour's stance on a further public vote.

Labour has promised one if it cannot get its own deal with the EU passed by MPs or if there is no general election.

Deputy leader and MP for West Bromwich East Tom Watson says such an "ambiguous" stance is harming Labour.

The Mayor of Wellington says he plans to show off his new tattoo at a civic reception hosted by Wellington's twin town in France tomorrow.

Councillor Anthony Lowe, who is 66, decided to get the Love Wellington logo inked onto his arm, after being offered one for free by a new tattoo shop in the town.

Mr Lowe also revealed he had previously forbidden his children from having tattoos and joked: "I've now lost all paternal credibility."

His original idea was to have the town's crest on his thigh, but he went for a simpler design on his arm instead, involving a heart with a letter 'W' for Wellington inside it.

Researchers at the University of Worcester believe a rise in the number of people developing hayfever symptoms could be because of last year's long hot summer.

Dr Carsten Skjoth said "grass pollen has gone into overdrive" because of frequent changes in the weather.

Image source, Getty Images

Dr Skjoth went on to explain that increasingly drier temperatures are causing pollen grains to weaken, affecting more people than usual.

The New Saints say they will release ticket details for their Champions League first round qualifier as soon as they learn who they'll be playing and when the ties will be played.

They've been drawn to face the winners of a preliminary round, involving teams from Kosovo, Gibraltar, Andorra and San Marino, and the final of that round is due to be played next week.

TNS also know they will play FC Copenhagen if they reach the second qualifying round and if they lose they will drop into the Europa League qualifiers, to play either Slovan Bratislava or Sutjeska from Montenegro.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A 15th Century timber-framed pub is going to reopen, nine years after it was devastated by fire.

The owners of Booth Hall in Hereford have been granted planning permission to turn it into a restaurant and hotel with eight bedrooms.

Image source, Google

Hereford Civic Society said it was pleased with the overall plans, which include repairs to the original timber frame and a new front.

BBC Business News

The UK's biggest gambling firms - including Stoke-on-Trent-based Bet365 - are offering the government a significant increase in the money they contribute to tackling problem gambling.

Image source, PA

They and companies including William Hill, Coral Ladbroke and Skybet, will offer to increase the voluntary levy on their gambling profits, the BBC has learnt.

They have offered to up the levy from 0.1% to 1% over the next five years.

The new level would eventually raise £100m per year for gambling charities.

Last year, the voluntary levy raised £10m.