Alec Elwell, 48, had worked for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service since 2005.

The 19-year-old was attacked on George Elliot Road on Saturday night.

The council reassures residents following letters sent saying people may need to travel 45 minutes.

Players and clubs say golf could be safely resumed within Covid-19 regulations.

Police had warned people against gathering but said nearly 150 people "chose to ignore our pleas".

Police speak to 200 people and fine three people in a day of action across the city.

Staffordshire Police stopped a car that had travelled from Manchester to Uttoxeter.

Six years after first caring for a baby in Uganda, Emilie Larter brings her adopted son home.

Hundreds of people get a jab on Friday after Lichfield Cathedral is transformed.

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

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

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

Police officers should be next in line for the coronavirus vaccine, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has said.

David Jamieson said he recognised health workers should be given first priority, but pointed out: "police officers have constant contact with the public" and also needed the jab.

"I think there is a risk to the effectiveness of the police if we don't get some of them vaccinated and we don't reduce the number of people who are ill and sick," he said.

Mr Jamieson said he had written to the vaccines minister and the policing minister, along with the West Midlands Chief Constable and the local chair of the police federation, to ask for police officers and staff to get priority.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Some operations for cancer patients could resume next week in Worcestershire.

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust postponed all non-urgent operations last weekend to focus on urgent and emergency care.

Last week it only dealt with two "major cancer cases".

Image source, PA Media

Paul Brennan, chief operating officer, said it was now working with the independent sector to start to get back up to speed with some cancer procedures.

He hoped to resume some treatments from Monday.

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.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The redevelopment of Perry Barr railway station is going to cost nearly £10m more than originally planned, the leader of Birmingham City Council has said.

But Ian Ward told a meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority it was important the work goes ahead, because it will be used by visitors to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the city.

Image source, West Midlands Combined Authority

The original budget for the scheme was just over £21m and that has risen to £30.98m.

Council leaders from across the West Midlands plan to meet to look at how this will be funded.

BBC CWR

Faith and community leaders have a big role to play in ensuring a high take-up of the coronavirus vaccine, vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has said.

He added the government was taking steps to tackle online disinformation around the vaccine, as well as making sure vaccine guidance was available in many different languages.

A recent poll, commissioned by the Royal Society of Public Health, suggested just over half of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people would be happy to have the coronavirus vaccine.

Image source, PA Media

The organisation also found certain ethnic and religious communities were being targeted with anti-vaccination messaging online.

These included querying the vaccine's longer-term effects and whether the ingredients were vegetarian or halal.

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.”