Allen Cook
BBC News

The River Severn is still covered by more than 15 flood warnings in Shropshire and Worcestershire , externalwith water levels expected to stay high over the next couple of days.

Image source, Telford and Wrekin Council

The Environment Agency's put flood defences up along the waterway to protect homes and businesses including on Hylton Road, Worcester, external (pictured), for the first time since 2014.

Many roads across the counties have been underwater at times, following nearly a month's worth of rain in 24 hours..

Image source, Worcestershire County Council

The agency's expecting more rain tomorrow and into the weekend, keeping river levels high., external

Express and Star

The Express and Star's headlines today include:

• Killer driver freed from prison early, external
• Anger over car park plan for travelling staying at transit site, external
• Move backed for taxi drivers to undergo drug and alcohol testing, external

BBC Sport

Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough said his side "gave them a game" despite losing 3-1 to Premier League team Leicester City in the fourth round of the EFL Cup.

Image source, Getty Images

Goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and Youri Tielemans put the visitors in charge.

James Maddison's close-range effort (pictured) then secured the win after Liam Boyce scored with a 20-yard drive for the hosts.

BBC Politics

Stourbridge MP Margot James will be able to stand as a Conservative candidate in December's general election after having the whip restored by Boris Johnson.

Image source, UK Parliament

The former minister was one of 21 Tory MPs expelled from the parliamentary Conservative Party after backing efforts to pass legislation to block a no-deal Brexit.

She had said voting against the government last month was"the most difficult decision I've ever had to make".

But 10 of the 21 rebels were welcomed back by the prime minister, shortly before MPs backed his plan to hold an early general election on Thursday, 12 December.

Those who have had the whip restored are now eligible to stand as Conservative candidates at the election if new candidates have not since been chosen.

Timetable changes, introduced earlier this year, are being partly blamed for the disruption to rail travel, external in and out of Birmingham throughout the day yesterday.

Many services were cancelled or delayed because of a broken-down train between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

West Midlands Railway said the new timetable brought a "layer of complexity" which meant "when something goes wrong on the network, the knock-on effects are more significant and the disruption caused is greater than it would previously have been."

The rail operator also said: "We fully acknowledge this timetable is not working as it should be. We are taking steps to fix it as quickly as we can by reducing this level of complexity at the next timetable change in December."

It also said it had been hit by staff shortages. On Monday, buses replaced trains on several lines across the network because of a lack of train crew.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

Staying dry today with long sunny spells mixed with some patchy cloud cover:

You can get a latest forecast at any other time for your area by going to the BBC Weather website.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Welcome to our live service for Wednesday.

We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.

You can get in touch via email,Twitter , externaland Facebook, external.

Andy Giddings
BBC News

We'll be back with the news, sport, travel and weather from 07:00 tomorrow.

The long-term future of two Herefordshire minor injury units is going to be discussed.

The units in Leominster and Ross-on-Wye are due to close on Monday so that staff can be temporarily redeployed to County Hospital in Hereford over the winter.

The local clinical commissioning group says it now needs to consider a long-term solution to help the NHS deal with winter pressures.

Image source, Google

Local Democracy Reporting Service

There are plans to turn a former village church in Herefordshire into an artisan bakery and cafe.

St Michael and All Angels is Grade II listed and was closed by church commissioners in 2008 after the cost of making the site safe became too high.

Image source, Google

The Diocese of Hereford formed a partnership with the Brampton Abbotts Church Regeneration Group, which has received £215,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a restoration project known locally as The Daily Bread.

The grant was used to bring the building up to scratch.

Now the group has submitted plans to Herefordshire Council to set up a bakery in the vestry.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

It will be a dry night with some clear spells and lows of 3C (37F).

Shropshire Star

From the Shropshire Star:

• Moped rider seriously injured in crash with tractor, external
• Telford MP's campaign to stop Future Fit, external
• River levels peak and expected to fall, external

BBC Radio Stoke Sport

Port Vale boss John Askey says the club has a lack of options at left-back with Adam Crookes out injured for a number of weeks.

Crookes suffered a thigh muscle injury in training and Askey said Cristian Montano is the only naturally left-footed player who could replace him.

Image source, Getty Images

Crookes has gone for a scan to discover how serious the injury is, but Askey is expecting him to miss a number of games over the coming weeks.

A woman who smuggled cocaine in the lining of a case through a Birmingham airport has been jailed along with the rest of a West Country gang.

Jordane Morris, 27, was filmed returning home from a "dream holiday" to Jamaica but police were waiting for her as she had 250g of high grade cocaine in her case.

Morris was smuggling the drug for gang boss Nathanial Freeman, 34, and her partner Ryan Chard, 37, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

Image source, Google

Freeman's second in command, Steven Doukoure, 25, paid more than £4,000 of the gang's cash into Morris' account so she could take the two week trip - and take an innocent friend with her.

All four were convicted of smuggling cocaine after a six-week trial.

Freeman, from Cornwall, was jailed for 16 years, Doukoure, from Plymouth, for 12-and-a-half years, Chard, from Cornwall, for seven years and Morris, of North Road, Holsworthy, Devon, for six years.

Freeman and Doukoure had also been convicted of two counts of conspiracy to smuggle Class A drugs in 2017.

A man was attacked with pepper spray before being stabbed in the arm and back, said police.

A CCTV image has been released of a man officers would like to trace in connection with their investigation into the attack on the 33-year-old in Wolverhampton.

Image source, West Midlands Police

It happened on Staveley Road, Whitmore Reans, at 11:30 on 21 October.

BBC WM Sport

Cradley Heathens speedway captain Max Clegg has won the club's annual Golden Hammer event which concluded the season at Monmore Green in Wolverhampton.

Image source, Cradley Heathens / Paul Rose

Clegg scored a maximum 15 points in the qualifying heats and then confirmed his first Hammer victory in the Grand Final.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

From the Stoke Sentinel:

• Woman dies trying to escape fire, external
• Cops arrest volunteer crime-fighter, external
• Pub decorated with giant poppies, external

The skull of a critically endangered crocodile species has been seized from a home in Leamington Spa, police say.

Image source, Warwickshire Police

According to the Warwickshire force, a woman bought it on eBay from a trader in China and it was unknowingly imported, despite the species being protected under trade regulations.

The buyer "was horrified at the realisation she had acquired such an endangered artefact and had no idea about the implications of her purchase," said a police spokesperson, citing an "honest mistake".

The woman was given a warning over the skull - of the species Siamese Crocodile.

These aerial photos from the Environment Agency show the extent of flooding in Bridgnorth today.

The River Severn peaked there this morning at 4.72m and with no more heavy rain forecast, the level is set to fall slowly over the next few days.

Image source, Environment Agency

Image source, Environment Agency

Image source, Environment Agency

River levels in Upton upon Severn are expected to rise to 5.4m, with the Environment Agency telling the town's residents that water will remain high until Thursday.

It has barriers in place along the riverside, but is warning people to keep away from low-lying areas.