Services across northern England and the Midlands will receive up to £68m from the government.

BBC Radio Stoke

Plans to rebuild a retirement complex that was destroyed in a huge fire are due to be examined next week.

Image source, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

About 150 people lost everything when homes at Beechmere residential site, in Crewe, were ravaged by the blaze in August 2019.

Advantage, which ran the old site, wants to replace it with a new building made of 132 apartments.

It say in the application it will have block and brick walls for better fire protection, external.

Councillors are due to make a decision on Wednesday.

Cordelia Farrell stabbed Wayne Coventry with a kitchen knife at his brother's home in Bromsgrove.

Shop staff have been threatened with a sword or large machete during a robbery in Solihull.

Image source, West Midlands Police

It happeend on 12 October at the One Stop store on Prospect Lane, West Midlands Police said. , external

They have released CCTV footage of two people they want to speak to in connection with the robbery.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

The Stoke-on-Trent Live website's headlines today include:

• Ninety-four Covid patients being treated at Royal Stoke as infection rate soars, external
• Oil spill wreaks traffic havoc as main road into Hanley could be closed for days, external
• Police patrols as 'disrespectful idiots' wake up families with booming fireworks, external

BBC Radio Stoke

The UK's last working Victorian pottery factory is facing "an uncertain winter" unless it manages to raise £12,000 to cover the impact of Covid-19.

Bosses a Middleport Pottery in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, said, external coronavirus restrictions had forced them to cancel events like factory tours, school visits and their Christmas lights switch-on.

While they have received £26,000 from the government's Culture Recovery Fund, they said it hasn't covered the income lost from the cancelled events.

Middleport owners Re-Form Heritage said the £12,000 is for essential maintenance on the Grade II listed buildings which have hosted the TV show The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Director Clare Wood said "we still have a wonderful site, but our wonderful site costs us an awful lot to keep running and maintaining".

Trams lines hidden for decades have been unearthed during resurfacing work.

Image source, Stoke-on-Trent City Council

The rails were discovered on High Street, Tunstall, this week as the route was repaired, Stoke-on-Trent City Council said. , external

The local authority said the last tram to use the lines ran in 1928 as part of the Potteries Electric Traction Company.

Caroline Gall
BBC News

Supporters of an ancient ceremony say they are "extremely sorry" it has been cancelled for the first time in a century due to coronavirus.

Image source, David Eadon Collection

David Eadon, 82, has not missed the The Wroth Silver ceremony in Warwickshire since 1938, but said he reluctantly accepted it could not go ahead.

The event is derived from the annual tax paid to the lord of the manor, and features in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The ceremony sees volunteers put 46p in the hollowed-out base of an Anglo-Saxon cross.

Couples who postponed weddings during the pandemic tell of their battles to get their deposits back.

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC WM

More Covid financial support is needed in Birmingham, to prevent the city facing a "pandemic of poverty", local politicians have said.

Birmingham, along with much of the West Midlands, is in tier two meaning pubs and restaurants must close at 22:00 and there is no household mixing indoors.

The Labour-run city council's leader Ian Ward, deputy leader Brigid Jones and Hodge Hill Labour MP Liam Byrne held a joint press conference on Thursday morning.

They described current measures as wholly inadequate and said the furlough scheme should be extended beyond October to pay 80% of workers' pay along with a better package of support.

Mr Byrne said: "Nobody now wants to see the Covid pandemic trigger a pandemic of poverty."

"If the prime minister is serious about doing whatever it takes to get through this crisis, then we ask him to listen and reflect and learn from the proposals we are tabling today."

Image source, EPA

The government's Job Support Scheme replaces the Job Retention Scheme (better known as furlough) from the beginning of November and is expected to cost the treasury hundreds of millions of pounds a month.

In September, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said it was designed to support jobs as far as possible, but added: "We obviously can't sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis."

He's expected to unveil new support for workers in parts of the UK under tier two restrictions in the Commons on Thursday.

Anna Bailey
BBC Radio 4 reporter

Acclaimed Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta says "it feels great" to be venturing back to staging indoor performances for a live audience in the UK after months of being prohibited from doing so because of the pandemic.

Image source, Tyrone Singleton

"It feels great because we've been in lockdown for far too long and it's a kind of career where if you don't exercise your body for a week you go back and pay for it," says Acosta, who is now the director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

"We were given Zoom classes at home but it doesn't stress your body to the level you want because you can't jump and use the space, so it's great to be back in the studio."

Acosta and the Birmingham Royal Ballet are following in the footsteps of The Royal Ballet in London which recently performed in front of a live audience in a reduced-capacity auditorium, external.

BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke-on-Trent is heading towards being moved to a higher Covid-19 tier as infection rates soar, the council's leader said.

The city is currently in tier one, but the infection rate has risen from 113.5 per 100,000 in the seven days to 10 October up to 185.7.

Image source, Reuters

There are also 94 people with Covid-19 being treated in the hospitals run by the University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust compared with just seven in the previous fortnight.

City council leader Abi Brown said: "In the last five to six days we’ve seen a big increase in our number in Stoke-on-Trent which is extremely concerning.

"I think potentially we are [heading for a higher tier]. We need residents to continue to follow the guidance especially over half-term."

The NHS trust's chief nurse, Michelle Rhodes, said their beds were filling up with Covid-19 patients. She said both staff and patients had tested positive.

"At the minute, we are able to continue to do as much planned elective surgery that we possibly can but if the numbers continue [to rise] that will be at risk going forward," she added.

William Henry and Brian McIntosh were found shot dead in a Dudley car park last month.

Express and Star

The Express and Star has these headlines today:

• Councils in region to receive millions more to fund fight against Covid-19, external
• Russells Hall Rainbow within a whisker of hitting £30k fundraising target, external
• Call for residents to follow guidelines as hospital deaths rise, external

Talks are taking place today to try to avoid a two-day strike by hospital porters.

Image source, Google

The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust wants to bring in a rotating shift pattern at Heartlands Hospital.

Health bosses said it would create fair working practices across its sites but Unison said the workforce were some of the lowest paid in the NHS and many cannot afford to work flexibly.

The union said 92% of members at the hospital voted in favour of the 48-hour stoppage from 30 October.

The talks are being held today at the independent arbitration service Acas.

BBC Radio WM

Band UB40 are offering to help new artists during the coronavirus pandemic by offering them the chance to tap into their fanbase.

Image source, Getty Images

They're asking up and coming musicians to send in their music for the chance to perform to fans on their social media channels.

Guitarist Robin Campbell said it might not change the world but it could really help some musicians.

"We could change it for one or two artists if we can use our platform to give them a hand at just getting out to an audience which might not otherwise have heard them," he said.

UB40 formed in Birmingham in 1978 and went on to have hits such as Red Red Wine and Falling In Love With You.

Monica Rimmer
BBC News

Couples whose plans to get married during 2020 were scuppered by the coronavirus pandemic have faced struggles to reclaim deposit money, often thousands of pounds, which venues and suppliers have sometimes refused to refund.

Image source, Getty Images

"We're not talking a few quid here, we're talking thousands of pounds for their dream day," said wedding planner Lorraine Carroll.

When Alisha Rehman spoke to BBC News about her battle to get back £16,000 from Excellency Midlands, it prompted more couples to get in touch and share their frustrations.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published guidance , externalin September outlining "where lockdown laws prevented a wedding from going ahead on the agreed date as planned, the starting point under the law is that the consumer should be offered a full refund". This, however, has not always been straightforward in reality.

Read more of their stories here on the BBC News website.

A women's basketball team is lobbying MPs and the government after being told its players can no longer train due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Image source, Bromsgrove Bears

Bromsgrove Bears has over 90 members with teams from under sevens to adult level.

But the club's director, Dawn Hall, said they have had recent issues with their women's team joining national leagues and have now been told they can't train.

The Bears are based in Rednal, south Birmingham, which is in tier two zone - which only allows organised indoor sport if households don't mix. , external

Mrs Hall said the news has "left our women devastated" and could have a "detrimental effect" on the players' mental and physical health.

BBC Weather

It's set to be cloudy this morning with the chance of a few blustery showers before more sunny spells, with winds easing this afternoon. High: 13C/55F

Image source, Desmondo

Expect cloudy spells this evening with the chance of a shower before it turns mainly clear tonight. Feeling cool, with a low of 6C/43F.

Get a forecast for your area at any time by going to the BBC Weather website.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Welcome to our live service for Thursday.

We'll be bringing you all the latest updates for the West Midlands.

You can let us know about stories in your area via email, Twitter, external and Facebook., external