BBC Midlands Today

The prime minister's paid tribute to a student paramedic who died after the ambulance she was in was involved in a crash with a car.

Image source, Staffordshire Police/Family handout

Tammy Minshall, 31, was airlifted to hospital and later died after the crash in Needwood, near Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, last week.

Ms Minshall, from Stretton, Burton-upon-Trent, was a first year student at Staffordshire University and was travelling in the back of the ambulance.

A claims assessor at the Department for Work and Pensions alleges he was sacked for his Christian beliefs.

Allen Cook
BBC News

A squirrel has had to be put down after it was shot in the head with an air gun.

The animal was found on a field on St James Road, Cannock, on 27 June after being spotted "writhing in pain" by a member of the public, the RSPCA said, and had to be put down.

BBC Shropshire

One of Shrewsbury's best known hotels, The Lord Hill, is going to close in January.

The family-owned three-star hotel, which is in a Grade 2 listed building, has been sold to local developers SY Homes.

Image source, Google

The hotel on Abbey Foregate says it's working with those who've booked their weddings or other private functions there next year to find alternative venues.

A police officer who's been jailed for building relationships with victims of suspected crime sent naked pictures of himself to two women, including one taken at a police station, a court's heard.

Palvinder Singh, from the West Midlands force, sent "hundreds and hundreds" of flirty messages to four victims, including about bondage and threesomes.

Image source, Getty Images

Birmingham Crown Court was told the married 39-year-old, who had previously been commended for bravery, invited one of the woman to his family home for sex while his wife was away.

The court also heard one of the women performed a sex act on him in a car park after they exchanged 733 messages in three months last year.

Singh, of Burns Road, Wednesbury, was jailed for 14 months after pleading guilty at a previous hearing to five counts of the improper exercise of police powers and privileges.

Coventry Live

These stories are among those featuring on the Coventry Live website today:

• Banned driver caught behind the wheel for 12th time, external
• Coventry man arrested on suspicion of modern slavery, external
• Complaints could prompt changes to festival, external

The prime minister has been asked to back a campaign to reopen Meir train station, external in Stoke-on-Trent.

Jack Brereton, the Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent South has set up a petition, asking the Department for Transport to restore rail services to the area, saying it would make it "easier for people to get around and access better job opportunities".

He got to put his case to Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions this lunchtime.

Jennie Aitken
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

A university graduation ceremony with a difference has taken place this morning - on a rollercoaster.

Students from Staffordshire University's Visitor Attraction and Resort Management course boarded the Oblivion ride at Alton Towers in caps and gowns.

They were given their certificates before the rollercoaster climbed into the air and then dropped them in freefall:

West Midlands Police have arrested 34 people this morning, as part of an operation targeting knife crime and other violent offences.

The force said 11 were robbery suspects, 11 wounding suspects and five were wanted for possession of weapons.

Image source, Getty Images

Dozens of officers were said to have been involved in a series of raids around the force area overnight and into this morning.

BBC Sport

Coventry Blaze have signed 26-year-old US forward Matt Pohlkamp, the brother of their defenceman, Chris Pohlkamp.

He says he was looking for a place to play in Europe and when Chris signed for Coventry earlier in the summer, he decided to have a conversation with their head coach Danny Stewart and "loved everything he had to say about the Coventry Blaze organisation and the city".

Image source, Reading Royals

The 6ft right-shooter has played 144 games in USA's East Coast Hockey League and recorded 41 goals and 41 assists for the Reading Royals last season.

Sophie Madden
BBC News

An officer who used his police-issued mobile phone to build sexual relationships with four victims of suspected crime has been jailed for 14 months.

Palvinder Singh, from the West Midlands force, also used police systems to research local sex workers, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The married 39-year-old, from Wednesbury, admitted five counts of the improper exercise of police powers and privileges.

BBC Weather Watchers

It's forecast to stay overcast for most of the day, but the BBC Weather Watchers have managed to find some colour among all the grey... and some ducks too.

These photos were taken near Lydbury North in Shropshire and Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire.

Image source, Ken M

Image source, Keiths

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Hundreds of people who faced losing their jobs with the closure of a branch of an insurance firm are going to be offered new work.

Image source, Google

In January, Ageas announced it was reorganising its sites in England and that meant a call centre at a leased office on Trentham Lakes, Stoke-on-Trent, would shut.

Now, the Atlanta Group, which owns insurance firms Autonet and Swinton, says it's taking on the lease of the site from September.

The company says it'll offer work to most of the 220 staff in the offices.

Dudley News

A few of the headlines from the Dudley News:

• Council bans sky lanterns over fire fears, external
• Plan lodged to turn Stourbridge pub into apartments, external
• String of Halesowen roads to close for street cleansing, external

Phil Bowers
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

A fly-over's going to stay shut in Stoke-on-Trent while specialists examine "safety concerns" over part of the structure.

Image source, Google

The city council closed the section of the A53 in Etruria yesterday afternoon, external and says it's due to a problem with one of the expansion joints.

They are used to safely absorb the expansion and contraction of the structure as the temperature changes.

Drivers are being urged to find alternative routes as the authority says it won't know when it can be repaired and reopened until the specialists have finished their investigations.

Birmingham City Council's chief executive's going to leave the authority after 16 months for a role in New Zealand., external

Image source, Google

Dawn Baxendale's going to take on the same position at Christchurch City Council, although her leaving date's not been revealed.

Council Leader Ian Ward says she's helped the authority make "significant steps forward".

He highlighted the work on the Commonwealth Games, improvements to children's social care in the city and the controversial - and now delayed - Clean Air Zone.

However, in April, the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel warned the council's financial position remained "immensely serious".

The leader of the council's Conservative group, Robert Alden, said she would be "sorely missed".

Mitch Stafford now wants to raise awareness of the impact of littering on wildlife.

A man from Coventry is released under investigation after being held on suspicion of human trafficking and slavery.

Is enough being done to feed school children from poorer families in England?

Birmingham Live

A few of the stories making the headlines on the Birmingham Live website today:

• Three friends jailed for nearly 40 years after glamorising guns in YouTube video, external
• Police appeal as woman with baby assaulted and spat at on bus, external
• Aston Villa receive a huge cash injection to boost summer spending spree, external