Worcestershire opening batsman Jake Libby signs a new contract with the Pears until 2024.

Residents in a Cheshire village whose homes were flooded in January are still unable to return home.

A man who assaulted a sleeping woman while his wife was in the same room is jailed by appeal judges.

A motorcyclist has been seriously injured in a collision involving a taxi.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was was called to the junction of Steward Street and Spring Hill in Hockley, Birmingham at 07:00 BST.

The male motorcyclist received treatment at the scene before being taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, it said.

While the taxi driver, also a man, was treated for injuries not believed to be serious before being taken to Sandwell Hospital.

Some residents in Stoke-on-Trent say they were misled over 25-year contracts.

Heart patients can get their pacemakers and ECG monitors checked without leaving the car.

She saves her vehicle from a transporter's ramp shortly after leaving a slimming club at a church.

The tawny owls have been cared for at a rescue centre while developing their flight feathers.

More areas than ever before have put in bids to be made the next UK City of Culture.

They include Wolverhampton, which is among 20 places to express their interest in hosting a year of cultural festivities in 2025, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said.

The successful bidder will take on the baton from Coventry, which is the 2021 UK City of Culture.

Image source, Getty Images

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: "This record number of applications from all four corners of the country is testament to the huge success of City of Culture in generating investment, creating jobs and boosting local pride.

"This prestigious prize creates a fantastic opportunity for towns and cities to build back better from the pandemic and I wish all bidders the very best of luck."

The 20 bidders will be reduced to an initial longlist in the coming weeks and then cut down further to a final shortlist in early 2022, with the winner announced in May 2022.

Josh Larcombe has been given a suspended jail sentence at Plymouth Crown Court.

BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester

A drive-through clinic has been set up at a hospital in Worcester to speed up checks on patients with pacemakers.

Image source, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Bosses at Worcestershire Royal Hospital said, external waiting lists had built up in their cardiology department due to the pandemic.

They have set up a pod in their car park for people with pacemakers and implantable cardiac loop recorders.

Patients park in the pod, are handed wireless equipment and it downloads information which doctors can then review within minutes.

Will Foster, from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said the drive-through clinic would free up capacity in the cardiology unit.

"We do not just need to go back to our previous level, we need to do more so we are trying to aim to do 125% of what we were doing pre-pandemic," he said.

Three men used a digger to steal the phone box, belonging to Chelford Parish Council, police say.

BBC Sport

Birmingham Phoenix will take on Oval Invincibles in the women's Hundred eliminator this afternoon as they bid to reach the final at Lord's on Saturday.

Image source, PA Media

The side were on the brink of elimination earlier this month but won three games in a row and leapt from sixth to third in the table after their last win.

Bowler Issy Wong said the side saw anything as a bonus and felt they had a bit of momentum.

"For us to have got there, the fight we have shown the last two weeks, we are going into [the eliminator] on a high," she said.

While in the men's Hundred, Southern Brave take on Trent Rockets tonight, vying for a place in the final against Birmingham Phoenix at Lord's tomorrow.

Express and Star

From the Express and Star today:

• Wolverhampton one of 20 places to battle for City of Culture accolade, external
• Family overwhelmed as tribute planned for RAF veteran, external
• Major retrofit scheme launched to improve water supply, external

BBC Weather

Mainly dry and cloudy today with some bright spells this morning and scattered showers moving in later this afternoon. High: 21C/70F.

Image source, BBC Weather Watcher Stormchaser Al

Things will be overcast this evening with some spots of rain around and a band of heavy rain is expected to push into the region overnight. Low: 15C/59F.

You can get the latest forecast for your area at any time from the BBC Weather website.

For the first time groups of towns or areas have been able to bid for the cultural capital title.

BBC Midlands Today

The work of NHS staff and other key workers during the pandemic is being celebrated with 51 sculptures in the centre of Birmingham.

They've each been decorated by a different artist and they're going on display in Chamberlain Square tomorrow, before being taken to Manchester, London and Edinburgh.

Charlie Langhorn, the managing director of Wild at Art said it had been pointed out to him that they look a bit like Oscars and he said that wasn't the intention, but it was fitting because both celebrate "great work".

Dominic Allan needs a metal plate to protect a part of his brain covered by skin and no bone.

Judges say Jamie Taylor must spend longer in prison due to "disgusting" racism before his fatal blow.

Carvel Bennett, 74, was jailed for 1970s rape after his daughter's DNA was used as evidence.