BBC Radio Shropshire

Shrewsbury Town Council has agreed to freeze its portion of the council tax, saying it wants to help residents during the pandemic.

It means the council will face a projected loss of around £11,000 in the coming financial year.

Some councils have warned they will have to make big council tax increases this year to cover the costs of the pandemic and the loss in income.

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

Andy Giddings
BBC News

Welcome to our live service for Friday.

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

We love to hear from you, so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email, Twitter , externaland Facebook., external

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

Leanne McDonald benefits from a charitable scheme which refurbishes old laptops for children.

Parents lay bare the contents of free school meal parcels sent for their children.

Andy Giddings
BBC News

We'll be back with the news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 tomorrow.

The BBC's new radio service for Wolverhampton goes on air at 06:00 tomorrow and Elise Evans will be its first presenter.

She'll be familiar to listeners to BBC WM and said she was "thrilled to be given the opportunity to wake up my home city every morning".

Elise will be followed by Letitia George, who is currently a presenter on BBC CWR.

She said: "With such a fantastic local community who are passionate about their city, who wouldn't jump at the chance to be involved. I can't wait to take you through your weekday mornings and share your incredible stories.”

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has announced it's going to remain closed for the rest of the year, to allow "essential electrical work" to be carried out.

The whole of the Council House complex is being upgraded.

Image source, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

The museum and art gallery aims to reopen in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and said while the electrical work won't start until June, 2,150 items from the collection will have to be moved to safety first.

A further 33,000 items will be moved while the work is going on.

The city council, which owns the building, said the electrical work was "needed to future-proof the building making it safe for staff and visitors".

Christmas recycling bags have gone uncollected in Coventry because of staff shortages caused by the coronavirus.

The city council apologised, but said staff were either off because they were isolating or shielding.

The local authority said crews had been sent out on Saturday and "were successful in clearing the majority of the outstanding collections from last week".

It said the outstanding bags would be collected this week.

BBC Weather Watchers

The rain in Staffordshire has led to some flooding in parts of the county today, by the look of these photos from BBC Weather Watchers.

User Z70 took this in Stafford where the River Sow has burst its banks in Victoria Park, prompting the closure of a footpath:

Image source, Z70

The Environment Agency has a flood warning covering Oakamoor, external, near Cheadle, and user Mrs M Penberthy Photos took this photo of a fast-flowing weir:

Image source, Mrs M Penberthy Photos

The forecast for the county on Friday is drier.

User Drummer56 took this photo of flooding in Cheddleton:

Image source, Drummer56

A suspected drug dealer had a spot of toilet trouble when police raided a flat and found more than 500 wraps of suspicious powder in the loo.

West Midlands Police executed a warrant at the flat in Coventry, at 07:30.

Officers arrested a man and woman before discovering a stash of what’s believed to be crack cocaine and heroin in the toilet bowl.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Police said it's suspected the pair made a dash to the bathroom as officers moved in but failed in their bid to flush away potentially vital evidence.

A man aged 23 and a 19-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply. They remain in police custody.

Det Sgt Tony Ashton said offices also seized £2,000 in cash.

Image source, West Midlands Police

BBC Weather Watchers

Snow is still falling in the Leek area this afternoon and it appears to be settling.

This photo was taken by BBC Weather Watcher California Dreaming.

But so far we're not seeing snow fall elsewhere in the West Midlands.

Image source, California Dreaming

The force says it made 191 arrests, which accounted for almost 30% of the total over the period.

Scammers sending fake texts telling people in Solihull they are eligible for their Covid-19 jabs and asking for their bank details are “beneath contempt”, say health bosses.

Paul Jennings, chief executive of Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said officials had been contacted by "a number" of elderly people for advice.

The bogus messages ask people to follow a link to a website, designed to look like an official NHS page, where they are invited to input their bank details and other personal information to verify their identity.

Image source, Getty Images

Healthwatch Solihull, an independent group for patients, is urging the public to be vigilant.

“NHS England would never require payment or ask you to provide personal details by responding to a text.”

Solihull's Trading Standards team, added: “Scammers will use any situation to try and rip you off.

“Just delete [the text] and do not click on any links.”

A number of flood warnings have been issued for the River Churnet in Staffordshire and one for the Marchington Brook.

The Environment Agency said it's come about because of heavy overnight rain, but has so far not given any estimation on when the river levels will peak

Image source, Environment Agency

Flood alerts are in place for a number of other rivers around the West Midlands and you can find a complete list here., external

Birmingham Live

These are three of the stories featured on the Birmingham Live website today:

• Met Office warn of snow and ice, external
• Banker sacked after confronting a 'racist passenger', external
• Police investigating McDonald's sex attack, external

More than 5,000 delays of longer than an hour are recorded across acute trusts in England.

BBC Midlands Today

Hundreds of people in Telford have been getting a Covid vaccine today at a high street pharmacy as part of a new scheme.

Six chemists across the country, including in Telford, have been the first to offer appointments to priority groups invited by letter.

Ann Holden, 83, from Shifnal, has been among the first to get her Oxford-AstraZeneca jab at Woodside Pharmacy.

"I am feeling very elated, very happy. I have not got to wait for that phone call any more and more relaxed about the future. I can look forward to going on holiday etc in the future," she said.

Four hundred people are due to be vaccinated on Thursday at the Telford site.

Superintendent Pharmacist Sanjeev Samrai said staff had been delighted to be picked to carry out vaccinations.

"We applied and we just wanted to do anything we could to help the local community and just contribute to the national effort really," he said.

"Pharmacies are in a great position to help with these kind of things and us doing the vaccinations here today just showcases that pharmacies have got the staff available and the expertise to do that - so why not utilise it."

BBC Weather Watchers

The Met Office said we might have a bit of snow or sleet today and it's just started to come down in Staffordshire.

This photo was taken in the last hour in Leek by BBC Weather Watcher Videoman.

Image source, Videoman