James Pearson
Political reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

A Labour Party volunteer has been attacked while campaigning in Herefordshire.

The assault happened on High Street, Bromyard, on Saturday morning.

Witnesses told the BBC the victim, aged in her 70s, was thrown over the bonnet of a parked car and had to be checked over by paramedics.

West Mercia Police said enquiries are ongoing but no arrests have been made.

A Labour Party spokesperson said the assault was "deeply shocking" and thanked the emergency services for their help.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Water levels are starting to fall on the River Severn in Worcestershire after the flooding earlier this month, the Environment Agency has said.

Image source, Environment Agency

Heavy rain brought flooding to numerous parts of the West Midlands and several rivers burst their banks.

The Environment Agency's Dave Throup's been in Worcester today, external where he says the levels are "dropping slowly".

However, more rain's forecast from tomorrow and the Met Office has a yellow weather warning tomorrow for rain covering parts of Worcestershire., external

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Dare

The decision by Transport for London not to renew Uber’s licence in the city, will be taken into consideration when Birmingham City Council reviews Uber's licence next year.

Image source, Getty Images

The taxi app service will continue to operate in Birmingham until at least next year, with a review of its licence not due until the end of January.

It was announced today that Uber would not be granted a new licence to operate in London after repeated safety failures resulting in at least 14,000 fraudulent trips.

The company has announced its intention to appeal the decision, and will continue operating in the capital until this process is complete.

It is set to take the form of a bench with a design featuring a paramedic giving treatment.

Vicky Norton
BBC Radio Stoke

Construction and engineering tests are to be carried out at Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council's headquarters after a report said staff at the site have been complaining of headaches.

Image source, Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council

Castle House is a base for the town's library, local Staffordshire Police officers, Aspire Housing and borough council services.

The building, which opened in July 2018, was also used to host weddings until earlier this year when problems with mould were discovered.

The local authority's health and safety report says initial readings for light levels were found to be excessive in some areas and may be part of the headache problem.

BBC News Travel

Part of the A49 in Hereford's been shut as engineers investigate reports of a gas leak.

Herefordshire Council said the right-hand turn lane on the road was closed for drivers travelling north past Hereford FC's ground while they investigate., external

Marian McNamee
Reporter, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire

The family and friends of a Coventry teenager who was killed a year ago have remembered him with a candlelit "walk of hope".

Jaydon James, known as JJ, was injured in Deedmore Road, Wood End, last November and died shortly afterwards in hospital.

Mourners holding candles walked between St Chad's and St Laurence's churches in Wood End on Sunday.

Three people have been charged with his murder.

BBC News

When the UK goes to the polls on 12 December, politicians wanting to win marginal seats in the West Midlands are probably going to have to work hard to try and get nearly a third of non-voters to their polling stations.

BBC analysis has looked at turnout in cities at the last election in 2017 and Stoke-on-Trent was in the bottom five with just 62% of the electorate voting.

Changing that figure could prove crucial as, at that poll, the Conservatives took the Stoke-on-Trent South constituency from Labour by just 663 votes.

Stoke-on-Trent's not the only West Midlands city with a previously low turnout - Birmingham's in 2017 was 64% while Coventry's was 65%.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games board will discuss today whether to suspend one of its members - Zara Hyde Peters.

Image source, Birmingham 2022

She will not take up a position as UK Athletics' new chief executive after allegations made about her husband came to light.

The Times , externalalleges Hyde Peters was vice chair of Coventry's Godiva Harriers club where her husband Mike Peters was allowed to continue coaching despite being previously banned from teaching over an "inappropriate relationship" with a 15-year-old schoolgirl. He was, however, cleared of sexual misconduct.

According to The Times, Hyde Peters admitted her husband had coached after his teaching ban, but insisted that "he never coached athletes under the age of 18".

Zara Hyde Peters has been approached for a response by the BBC.

The governing body, the Commonwealth Games Federation wrote to the Birmingham 2022 organising committee urging them to suspend her from those two roles pending an investigation.

Hereford Times

A few of the stories on the Hereford Times website:

• Damaging 'substance' thrown over cars in Herefordshire village, external
• Police hunt for woman after spate of distraction thefts in Herefordshire, external
• Developer's boost for Herefordshire village causes, external

A woman's been badly hurt after being hit by a van.

Image source, Google

The 87-year-old was on foot on Friday morning at the junction of Stafford Street and High Street, Newport, Shropshire, when a Ford Transit hit her, West Mercia Police said. , external

Officers said her injuries were potentially serious and she was airlifted to the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Allen Cook
BBC News

People in Herefordshire and Worcestershire are being warned there could be more flooding tomorrow.

Image source, Met Office

The Met Office has extended a yellow weather warning to now include parts of the two counties. , external

The alert runs from 06:00 on Tuesday until 15:00 on Wednesday and says there could also be travel disruption.

There has been a call for a boycott of Vue and Showcase cinemas, which have banned a film after a brawl at a Birmingham multiplex.

Britain's biggest cinema chain, Cineworld, has said it won't stop showing the film Blue Story.

Two other groups, Vue and Showcase, have decided not to show the movie, which is about gangs in south London.

The clothes designer William Adoasi, 29, is urging people to boycott the cinemas which have pulled the film.

"If anyone's actually seen Blue Story, they realise that it shows how empty the gangster lifestyle is and and how that street lifestyle is actually robbing people of friendships and relationships."

He says the decisions made by Vue and Showcase highlighted "negative biases instantly".

"If a white filmmaker created a film, and it caused an uproar, people would not attribute that to all white people," he says.

"They wouldn't shut down every cinema because of one incident. But you've got to ask yourself, why have they done that in this instance? And that's why it's really upsetting."

Worcester News

A few of the latest headlines from the Worcester News:

• Young man in hospital after suffering serious assault, external
• University should use its 'millions' to build more campus accommodation, councillor says, external
• Councillor hits back at 'betrayal' claims over crossing, external

Actor Vic Santoro, who appears in Blue Story, described the decision to pull it from some cinemas as "hasty".

"It's unfortunate that that incident occurred [but] I don't feel that Blue Story had any sort of impact," he said.

The film has been portrayed as "a violent gang movie when that's not necessarily the case", he added.

"It highlights that a school can do their job, a parent can do their job but a young person can easily find themselves in a gang or in a situation where there are these types of feuds taking place.

"We have to be more aware and more vigilant, it takes a village to raise a child."

Students across the UK face disruption today as lecturers and support staff in 60 universities start an eight-day strike.

Members of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) are taking action in two separate disputes, one on pensions and one on pay and conditions

The strikes affect almost half of all UK universities, including:

• Aston University
• University of Birmingham
• University of Warwick

Image source, UCU

The universities say strikes are not the way forward and promise to do all they can to minimise the impact of industrial action on students.

In addition to striking, union members will begin other forms of industrial action when they return to work, including working strictly to contract, not covering for absent colleagues and refusing to reschedule lectures lost during the strikes.

Blue Story, pulled from two cinema chains, is still available to see at Odeon, Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas.

Odeon said while it was not withdrawing the film, it had "a number of security measures in place" for screenings.

UK music artist and film director Rapman is well-known for his short films, narrated in the form of a rap.

His Shiro's Story trilogy has had more than 20 million views online and led to him signing a deal with one of the richest artists in the music industry, Jay-Z.

The London-based film was released to cinemas on 22 November.

The organisers of the Mobo Awards have called for the decision to ban Blue Story from some cinemas to be reviewed.

The awards, which have celebrated music of black origin since 1996, are set to return in 2020 after a two-year break.

Announcing it was following Vue in cancelling all screenings, Showcase said: "Due to the recent incidents tied to screenings of the film Blue Story, after careful consideration with the film's distributor, Showcase Cinemas has immediately removed the film from all of our participating cinemas."

Mobo Awards tweeted it was "disappointed" and it hoped the decision would be reviewed.

Vue and Showcase Cinemas have pulled the film after seven police officers were injured in a disturbance at an entertainment complex.

BBC Weather Watchers

It's still looking pretty soggy in parts of the West Midlands as the rain's returned and our BBC Weather Watchers have sent in their photos.

These are from users Videoman in Leek, Staffordshire, Step Counter in Bodenham, Herefordshire and Littleacorns in Southam, Warwickshire:

Image source, Videoman

Image source, Step Counter

Image source, Littleacorns