Covid-19 outbreak on blood cancer ward
Freezing conditions expected with snow warnings issued
Four in court accused of killing disabled man
Schools set to benefit from rebuild money
Hotel bookings for quarantine being made 'at pace'
Dancer 'swept away and killed' in storm landslide
School for 900 pupils given go-ahead
Updates from Friday 5 February
BBC News Travel
There's currently eight miles of queuing traffic on the M42 in Warwickshire after an earlier crash involving five cars.
The carriageway was closed for a time between J10 and J9, but all lanes have now reopened.
Image source, Highways England
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Gurdip Thandi
A former education centre in Birmingham is to be converted into a new school that will cater for 900 children.
Image source, Birmingham City CouncilThe plans for Birmingham Ormiston Academy in Nechells were approved by city planners earlier.
The digital specialist secondary school will be built on the former Vauxhall Gardens Education Centre site in Barracks Street.
Image source, Birmingham City CouncilOnce the new building is complete, pupil intake will be incremental and start with 120 Year 7 students on the planned opening date of September 2022.
More youngsters will be enrolled over the next six years with full capacity expected by September 2028.
After a misty start in places, today will have a mixture of sunny intervals and areas of cloud with highs of 9°C (48°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
Twelve-month-old Kim smashes the record for the world's most expensive sheepdog.
Read MoreThe border collie was sold for £27,000, breaking the £20,000 record that held by another Welsh dog.
Read MoreNatalie Davidson said putting on a mask for her jab, despite being exempt, caused severe distress.
Read MoreIt means a £15m investment in Cadbury's Birmingham plant by owners Mondelez International.
Read MoreA major exhibition looking at the musical scene and its influences is planned in Coventry this summer.
Read MoreLive updates have now ended for the West Midlands.
We'll be back with you from 08:00 on Friday with the usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather.
Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC Radio WM
A "drop-and-collect" coronavirus testing scheme is set to resume in Birmingham, the city council leader has confirmed.
Image source, PA MediaIt comes as testing capacity is ramped up in parts of south Birmingham following the discovery of the South African variant.
The door-to-door testing was stopped in October after the BBC revealed used swabs had been handed out by mistake.
Ian Ward said: “What we will be doing is taking steps to make sure there is no repeat of the unfortunate incident of last year.
“We’ll be putting in extra measures and precautions to make sure there’s no repeat.
“One of the things we have to look at is ensuring the kits going out, are going out from one location, and then are returned to a separate location, to ensure we don’t have the kind of confusion that we saw.”
Some of the Express and Star headlines today include:
Elizabeth Webb found out in January, nearly four years after Paterson was jailed for 20 years.
Read MoreAbout one in 10 major hospital trusts in England had no spare adult critical care beds last week, NHS England figures show.
Image source, PA MediaA total of 15 out of 140 acute trusts reported 100% occupancy of all "open" beds each day from 25 to 31 January.
These included University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, the largest trust of its kind in England, along with the George Eliot trust in Nuneaton and Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.
The figure is down slightly on 18 out of 140 acute trusts that reported 100% occupancy of critical care beds each day from 18-24 January.
Another vaccination hub has opened in Shropshire as the county plays catch-up in the fight against Covid-19.
Figures released a fortnight ago revealed fewer people had been vaccinated in Shropshire and Telford than anywhere else in England.
Since then, the Telford International Centre has opened as a mass vaccination centre and on Thursday the Shrewsbury Indoor Bowls Centre opened its doors as well.
Image source, Shropshire CouncilIt is hoped about 600 people a day will be inoculated at the bowling centre in Sundorne, next to the Shrewsbury Sports Village.
Dr Julian Povey, from the Clinical Commissioning Group, described it as "really positive" news and praised the efforts of volunteers.
Some of the Shropshire Star headlines today include:
Snow and ice are set to affect the whole of the West Midlands at the weekend, with yellow warnings issued by the Met Office., external
The West Midlands is one of the areas most likely to see disruptive snow accumulating from later on Saturday until the middle of Sunday.
Some parts could see 5 to 10 cm, possibly 15 cm of snow, it said.
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Andy Street says he has "joined so many others in our region who have lost a loved one" to the virus.
Read MoreThe one-year-old reared on a Shropshire farm fetches a world beating £262,000 at auction.
Read MorePolice are investigating after shots were fired at a house in Birmingham.
Officers were sent to an address in Douglas Road, Handsworth at around 22:15 on Wednesday, West Midlands Police said.
No-one was injured but the property and a car parked outside were damaged.
The road was closed for a forensic examination of the scene.
Image source, Police handoutInsp Nicholas Hill said it followed the recent death of teenager Keon Lincoln in Handsworth and although this incident was not being linked, he understood residents would be worried about what had happened.
“While we do not believe the incident is connected, we’ve stepped up patrols in the area to reassure and engage with local people and businesses over the coming days," he said.
"We are determined to tackle violent crime and will leave no stone unturned in our quest to catch those responsible for violence."
