BBC Sport

West Bromwich Albion have contacted police over an alleged racist message sent to midfielder Romaine Sawyers.

West Brom say an "abhorrent message" was sent to Sawyers on social media during the loss to Manchester City.

Image source, Getty Images

Saint Kitts and Nevis international Sawyers, 29, played for West Brom between 2009 and 2013 and rejoined the club from Brentford in 2019.

They have called for "the toughest available legal punishment" and will ban the individual responsible from The Hawthorns for life.

A string of flood warnings remains in place in Worcestershire and part of Warwickshire after heavy rain.

In Worcester, the River Severn is expected to peak this evening. However, the Environment Agency said more rainfall was expected in the next 24 hours.

Last night Worcestershire County Council closed Hanley Road at Upton upon Severn.

Dave Throup from the Environment Agency said last night the rain, while "modest" was on top of already high levels on the Severn and Avon.

This was the scene in Worcester at the weekend:

Image source, PA Media

Current warnings:

• Worcester
• Court Meadow, Kempsey and Callow End
• Upton upon Severn
• Bredon
• Wyre Piddle
• Evesham
• Offenham
• Aston Cantlow
• Walton

BBC Midlands Today

Hospital Covid-19 admissions in Dudley are starting to come down, but it's slow going after peaking on the week up to 17 December.

Staff at Russells Hall Hospital told the BBC they were struggling after fighting the pandemic for so long.

Amateur investors are responding with outrage after trading platforms curbed buying of shares in the US games firm GameStop and other companies.

If you're not sure what Gamestop is and what it has to do with Reddit and the stock market here's a guide.

Image source, Myron Sakkas

Myron Sakkas, 18, of Coventry, who is studying at Warwick University, lost £30 on GameStop shares, which he owned for "a couple of hours" and sold when he saw what was happening.

For him, there was a definite target in the GameStop share wars: as he puts it, "the people that were responsible for [the financial crisis of] 2008 and were never held responsible".

You can find more on the amateur traders fighting Wall Street here.

Birmingham Live

Some of the Birmingham Live stories today include:

• Intensive care doctor speaks of 'sheer horror' of so many sick and dying, external
• Nurse hit with £100 fine after parking in designated space to get Covid jab, external
• Police apology after man bundled into patrol car for refusing to give his name, external

Snow is expected to cause travel disruption on Saturday across the West Midlands, the Met Office is warning.

A yellow warning has been issued, external for the whole of the region from 03:00 until 18:00.

BBC Sport

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo has donated £250,000 to help tackle poverty in Wolverhampton.

Image source, Getty Images

The 47-year-old gave the money as part of the Wolves Foundation's , external£500,000 Feed Our Pack project.

Nuno said: "Wolves fans and the people of Wolverhampton have been fantastic to me since I arrived here almost four years ago.

“I wanted to give something back and help the people who are struggling during the [coronavirus] pandemic.”

BBC Weather

It is set to be a blustery day with spells of sunshine and the chance of a few scattered showers with highs of 10°C (50°F).

Vanessa Pearce
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, external and Facebook., external

Tristan Copeland thinks cousin Gary Matthews would be alive if he had not listened to conspiracies.

A force apologises over viral footage of an officer calling him an idiot amid "lock up" threats.

A male officer's behaviour has been described by his force as unacceptable.

Recent figures showed fewer people had received a vaccine in Shropshire than anywhere else in England.

Live updates have now ended for the West Midlands.

We'll be back with you on Friday from 08:00 with the usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather.

Emergency work is taking place to repair a landslip on the railway line between Milton Keynes and Birmingham.

Image source, Network Rail

The damage near the Hillmorton junction, south of Rugby in Warwickshire, has been caused by recent heavy rainfall, says Network Rail.

Image source, Network Rail

Specialist earthwork engineers testing the site show the ground is still moving underneath several tracks on the West Coast Mainline.

All services are still running but are being diverted via Northampton, adding about 30 minutes to journey times.

The woman suffered a broken leg in the collision in July but her pet died at the side of the road.

BBC CWR

The coronavirus pandemic has caused the number of people waiting for routine treatments across Coventry and Warwickshire to shoot up from 72 to 3,714.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Groups said they was doing what they could to reduce the backlog and pointed out there were similar problems all over the country.

Image source, Google

Phil Johns, chief executive of the CCGs, told Coventry City Council's Health and Wellbeing board this week that those who required urgent treatment were being prioritised.

A shop worker talks about abuse by customers, as police say attacks have increased.

Clothes being dried too close to a heater are believed to have caused a severe house blaze, the fire service said., external

Firefighters were called to Yardley Road, Birmingham.

They have not said if anyone was hurt.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

Many people with Covid-19 temporarily lose their sense of smell, and as they recover it usually returns.

But some, including Clare Freer, are finding that many things smell different, and what should smell nice, such as food, soap, and even their loved ones, smell repulsive.

Image source, Clare Freer

The 47-year-old from Sutton Coldfield says she ends up in tears whenever she tries to cook for her family of four.

"I go dizzy with the smells. A putrid smell fills the house as soon as the oven goes on and it's unbearable," she says.

The 47-year-old from Sutton Coldfield has been living with the condition - called parosmia - for seven months and it makes many everyday smells disgusting.

"I can't even kiss my partner any more," she says.

You can read more on the story here.