Who will be elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire on 6 May?

Anne Linton and a man who burgled her swap Christmas gifts and he regularly does her gardening.

On Thursday night there were four West Midlands MPs among 76 who opposed the extension of emergency coronavirus powers for the government.

Tories Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) and Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire); and Labour's John Spellar (Warley), and Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) all voted the powers are no longer needed, but 484 members voted to extend them for another six months.

Image source, UK Parliament

Other MPs to oppose the extension included former Conservative Cabinet ministers David Davis, Esther McVey and John Redwood, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an independent, ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell and one-time Labour leadership contender Rebecca Long-Bailey.

The Liberal Democrats also opposed the extension, along with the only Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.

BBC Midlands Today

People over the age of 50 will be able to receive a Covid vaccine without an appointment at three centres in the Black Country for the next week.

Anyone eligible for a jab can turn up at The Saddlers Centre in Walsall, Tipton Sports Academy and VW Active Aldersley, in Wolverhampton.

Some people who are due to have a first vaccination have not booked and organisers hope the move will ensure all available vaccine is used.

Sally Roberts, chief nurse for Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Groups, said the move came after feedback from the public.

"People, when they are waiting for appointments, they would rather be seen quickly, come and get their vaccine and get about their daily work and this opportunity is here now for a week," she said.

About 600 people were made redundant when a car parts firm went into administration last year.

BBC Weather

It will be a cloudy morning with outbreaks of rain followed by a brighter afternoon with highs of 10°C (50°F).

Brandon Williams' lawyer Nick "Mr Loophole" Freeman argued he should not get points on his licence.

PC Michael Darbyshire denies rape and five counts of sexual assault at Worcester Crown Court.

Liam Mooney is thought to have been a pillion passenger on a moped which was in collision with a car.

More than four million people in the Midlands have now received a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the latest NHS figures.

In total, 4,638,951 people in the wider region had received their first dose by 21 March.

Among the 50s age group - the current priority for vaccinations - 1,092,448 have received a first dose.

Some 89% of those aged over 50 are now thought to have had at least one dose of a vaccine.

The chief executive of the Royal Stoke and County hospitals has said there is a sense of relieft as coronavirus patient numbers fall.

Tracy Bullock said they're currently treating about 50 patients across both hospitals, with seven in critical care.

Image source, Google

Ms Bullock said staff have "faced problems that have required all of us to think very differently" while they were "dealing with a highly infectious disease that none of us had ever encountered".

And she said the trust had been forced to redesign the hospitals, to reduce the risk of infection.

Nuh Raheel, 19, is accused of collecting terrorist information and will face trial in June.

Azam Mangori, 24, tells the court "the only thing I have ever cut up in my life is chicken meat".

The BBC understands as many as 1,000 more midwives and 80 obstetrics consultants will be hired in England.

Warrington Wolves' Super League match with Huddersfield Giants has been moved to accommodate the return of fans on 17 May.

Christopher Guest More Jr denies murdering Brian Waters who was tortured and killed in Cheshire.

Johnny Robbins went missing in 2018 and police say his death is linked to another murder in Coventry.

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the stories on the Shropshire Star website today:

• The Post Office ‘systematically misled’ the criminal courts about flaws with its computer system, a court hears, external
• Five people have been arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of a woman in Telford, external
• 'Before I was just surviving, now I am living my life to the full': New drug has changed James' life, external

Seren Griffiths uses a walk along a sandstone ridge in northern Cheshire to explore the way a landscape can hold multiple histories, and in doing so make it easier for us to contemplate distant futures.

The landscape in question is bordered on the north by the M56 motorway. Commuters making their way into Manchester see it to their right for all of about a minute. But up on the ridge you can see that it stretches south towards Whitchurch in Shropshire. Seren starts her journey in a quarry used variously by the Romans, Iron Age settlers and latterly the Victorians. She makes her way up to one of the string of hill top forts that can be found along the sandstone escarpment, and then moves along to an old Cold War listening station, and not far away, the Frodsham Anti-Aircraft Operations Room. And all the while the vista shows the canal work of the industrial revolution, the chemical plants of the 20th century and the wind turbines of the last decade. The ancient landscape hums with history and archaeology that bring its past into focus in the present.

For Seren, and many before her, this is a magical, mysterious place which draws out timelines like a strand, with artefacts from the past projecting forwards, enduring into the present.

Producer: Tom Alban

Santander is going to close five of its branches around the West Midlands by the end of August.

They're among 111 to go around the country, with the bank saying it's because fewer people are visiting them.

Image source, Getty Images

Santander said the 840 staff affected will be found other jobs.

These are the affected sites and their expected closure dates:

• Dudley Merryhill - 24 June
• Newcastle-under-Lyme - 15 July
• Halesowen - 22 July
• Birmingham Erdington - 29 July
• Harborne High Street - 5 August