Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC Radio WM

Police are at Birmingham New Street today as part of a knife crime initiative.

A knife arch has been set up inside the station which can detect the weapons and has already led to the arrest of one person who was found to be carrying a blade, West Midlands Police said.

BBC Radio WM launched its Knives Cost Lives campaign yesterday and has joined with the force to install two knife bins - in Bordesley Green and Halesowen.

Chloe Fojtik says she was "touched" by the death of Sarah Everard, adding "everyone should feel safe".

A reader at the University of Birmingham says the benefits of taking the vaccine outweigh any possible risks, after several EU countries halted their rollouts of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.

Vaccine safety experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) are meeting later to review the vaccine.

Germany, France, Italy and Spain joined smaller nations in halting vaccinations as a precaution while checks are made.

There have been a number of cases in Europe of blood clots developing after the vaccine was administered.

However, experts say these were no more than the number of blood-clot incidents typically reported within the general population.

Wallace and Gromit star, Shaun the Sheep, helps the environmental project mark a new milestone.

BBC Midlands Today

Part of an £11m upgrade in Coventry has started this week as it prepares to celebrate City of Culture.

Work has started at the Upper Precinct to remove a ramp and former jewellers.

The city council said it would open up views not seen since the 1970s.

This year's celebrations will include a series of music, arts and cultural events showcasing the city’s heritage and diversity.

Ollie, 11, has been making the pompom pets which finders can "squeeze" when they feel anxious.

Diogo Jota rekindles Liverpool's Premier League top-four hopes with the winning goal on his return to Molineux in a game that ends with a worrying head injury to Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

Angry customers have taken to social media to complain about delayed deliveries and dead blooms.

Azam Mangori says Lorraine Cox took drugs at his flat before she died, a court hears.

Shrewsbury Town manager Steve Cotterill returns home after spending 16 days in hospital with Covid-pneumonia.

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the stories on the Shropshire Star website:

• Crash witnesses sought after pensioner sustains 'serious injuries', external
• Fire service set to adopt new response targets, external
• Shropshire hospital boss praises team effort during pandemic a year on from first Covid death, external

BBC Midlands Today

The biggest St Patrick's festival in Birmingham "in years" is to take place in 2022, after this year's event was cancelled.

The parade was also not held in 2020 because of coronavirus restrictions.

This year there will be a week of live streamed performances by cultural groups and a special video memorial service.

St Patrick's festival chair Peter Connolly said he thought the 70th anniversary would be "fantastic" in 2022.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A Walsall pub with a history of disorder has lost its licence despite a former boss leaving.

Image source, Google

Between October 2019 and December last year, King George V, in Wallows Lane, was the scene of a raft of incidents, including a car ramming the front of the property, "horrific" brawls in the street and drinking after hours.

A meeting of Walsall Council’s licensing committee also heard how a series of breaches of Covid regulations were committed.

Neil Barnes, of pub owner Admiral Taverns, said it had chosen not to renew tenancy agreements with former designated premises supervisor Raman Singh and had taken sole possession of the pub with a view to sell it.

West Midlands Police, which originally called for the licence to be revoked, said it was happy for it to continue now Mr Singh was no longer in the picture, but committee members chose to revoke the licence.

Mark Masefield was jailed in 2012 after admitting the manslaughter of his friend Anthony Pryke.

Alfie Steele was found in a critical condition at an address in Droitwich and flown to hospital.

Hereford Times

Here are some of the stories on the Hereford Times website:

• Mass testing at Herefordshire schools shut due to coronavirus, external
• Why Herefordshire Council has spent money on electric bikes, external
• The areas leading the way with Covid jabs in Herefordshire, external

Earlier we told you the prime minister had spoken of the country's shock and grief at what happened to Sarah Everard.

Here's a video of Boris Johnson talking to the BBC during his visit to a bus depot in Coventry. He says: "Women in particular must feel that when they make serious complaints about violence, about assault, that they are properly heard, and properly addressed and we are going to make sure that that happens."

BBC Radio WM

From today people can leave knives in two new bins in a knife surrender scheme that BBC Radio WM is launching with West Midlands Police.

One is at McDonald’s on Belchers Lane in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, and the other at the Cornbow Shopping Centre, Great Cornbow, Halesowen, in an initiative that is part of the radio station's Knives Cost Lives campaign.

Knives can be put in those bins and destroyed safely. Since the beginning of last March when we all started staying at home to keep each other safe from the pandemic, the radio station has reported on 16 fatal stabbings in the West Midlands.

Michael Miles, who was sent to prison for a knife attack and released in 2018, now works as an anti-knife campaigner and works with young people at risk of criminality.

Jess Phillips MP tells Andrew Marr that laws need to change to better protect women.

Plans for urban forests and woodlands are announced to mark 500 days until Commonwealth Games.