Officer David Owen is dismissed from West Midlands Police for gross misconduct.

Coventry City sign striker Viktor Gyokeres on loan from Brighton until the end of the Championship season.

Video calls between children and care home residents are giving boosts to young and old.

Investigators are attempting to establish how the fire in Brierley Hill started.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Nothing had prepared hospital staff for the impact of coronavirus on themselves, the chief executive of a West Midlands hospital said.

Image source, EPA

Professor David Loughton of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said several experienced intensive care consultants had reported trouble sleeping.

"They wake up at four o'clock in the morning and they can remember the faces of the people who they said 'I am going to put you to sleep now and you may never wake up'," he told a meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority.

The infection rate in Wolverhampton has increased to 948.1 per 100,000 for the week up to 10 January compared to 932.6 the week before.

Shrewsbury Town sign former Birmingham City midfielder David Davis on a deal until the end of the season.

A trial date is set for August following the death of 66-year-old Neil Parkinson.

Two rabbits were found in a cardboard box, near Birmingham's Bartley Reservoir, in freezing temperatures.

They were spotted by a local couple out on their daily walk, but if one of them hadn't found its way out of the box they might not have been noticed at all, the RSPCA said.

Image source, RSPCA

The two male rabbits were microchipped, but the chips held no information and RSPCA inspector Nichola Geraghty said: "These rabbits are domesticated and would never have survived on their own.”

The theme park, one of the most popular in the UK, is currently closed due to lockdown restrictions.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Improvement work to Wolverhampton Art Gallery, halted last March, is due to resume in June.

Image source, Wolverhampton City Council

The work, which is phase two of an improvement project, is costing £1,526,000, with an additional cost of £450,000 coming from an Arts Council England.

The cafe will be moved from the top floor to a larger ground floor location, and the entrance will be made more accessible.

Image source, Google

A flood warning remains in place for the River Blithe near Blithbury in Staffordshire.

But there are a number of flood alerts, external in place around Staffordshire, Shropshire and Warwickshire.

This photo was taken in Penkridge earlier and the Environment Agency is warning there could be more flooding, with rain forecast for the weekend

Image source, Hazlenut

Coventry Live

Here are three stories from the Coventry Live website today:

• Member of staff tasered in robbery at a Greggs, external
• Complaints recycling bags are 'lying all over the streets', external
• Police concerned for missing man, external

Scotland captain Rachel Corsie has her loan spell with Birmingham cut short and is returning to Utah Royals in the USA.

The health secretary has again been asked for details of who is getting vaccinated in Birmingham and which organisations are carrying them out.

The request comes in a letter to Matt Hancock signed by Ian Ward, the leader of the city council, as well as Labour's candidate for the West Midlands Mayor elections Liam Byrne, and Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield, Andrew Mitchell.

Image source, Ian Ward

The three complained last week the city was running low on vaccine stocks, and while supply was quickly replenished, they said it was "regrettable" other questions still haven't been answered.

BBC Radio Wolverhampton has been on-air since 06:00 and now Letitia George (pictured below) has taken from Elise Evans as presenter.

The station is available online and on DAB every weekday between 06:00 and 14:00 until March.

The BBC has been considering the idea of extra local radio services for over a decade now but, with the pandemic, it was decided now is the time to launch.

Like Sunderland, which is also about to get a new BBC service, Wolverhampton has seen significant increases in coronavirus case numbers in the last couple of months.

A Wolverhampton family are unable to return home due to a ban on people travelling from South America.

The UK's new travel ban came into force at 04:00 GMT on Friday.

Jon Dent said he and his wife Carla travelled to the Brazilian city of Goiania in October to introduce their baby daughter to Carla's family.

Image source, Jon Dent

Mr Dent said: ""I hope we can get home and not be stranded out here for months. We've got to be patient but at the same time flexible."

Express and Star

Here are three stories from the Express and Star this morning:

• Man pleads guilty to Dudley alleyway attack, external
• Murder trial jury retires to consider verdict, external
• Date set for Power Station chimney demolition, external

The BBC's new local radio service for Wolverhampton launches today.

It's one of two new stations aimed at bringing people local news, sport, travel and weather during the pandemic.

Elise Evans (pictured above) got things going earlier. She'll be familiar to audiences in the West Midlands, having previously presented on BBC Radio WM.

The BBC's head of Local Radio, Chris Burns, said listeners "will get a better sense of what is happening in their area and will feel more in touch with their community even as they stay at home”.

The station can be found online or on DAB radio.

BBC Weather

It's going to be a cold morning, with temperatures as low as -2C (28F) in places.

It should stay dry though, with some light cloud around.

Image source, Ken M

Critical care staff at the Royal Stoke University Hospital say school pupils were behind the gift.