Councillors in Worcester are reviewing plans to celebrate two events in 2022 - The Queen's Platinum Jubilee and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

At Worcester City Council's committee meeting on 1 November, councillors will discuss proposals to support the celebrations and make the most of related opportunities with a £40,000 investment.

In 2022, the Queen will become the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of service.

To mark the occasion, a beacon will be lit from the summit of Fort Royal Park on 2 June 2022 and small grants will be offered to residents who wish to hold street parties.

Image source, PA Media

Local people and community groups will also be encouraged to plant a tree for the Jubilee.

Councillor Lucy Hodgson said: "It is particularly exciting that the 2022 Commonwealth Games is taking place so close to the city.

"It has the potential to deliver significant economic benefits for Worcester and the West Midlands region through tourism, job creation, skills and business opportunities."

BBC Midlands Today

Members of the Jewish community in Coventry are being urged to share their stories and memories ahead of a restoration of the city's former orthodox synagogue.

The Grade II listed building on Barras Lane was built in 1870 and, at its height, the city's Jewish population numbered 250 in the 1960s.

The site was last used for worship 25 years ago, but still retains many unique features which will be fully restored.

Avi Tordjman owns the building and said most of the features inside survived intact.

He said he was pouring his savings into restoring it and he would welcome anyone from other cultures to come and "see what the Jewish worship is".

Two Cheshire councillors speak publicly of the abuse they have endured doing their jobs.

Otis was hit by a car in Stafford after coming loose from his lead.

Leyton Orient become the first English football club to commemorate the fallen from World War One with a memorial at the National Arboretum.

Birmingham gymnast Joshua Nathan took sixth place on the pommel horse at the Artistic World Championships in Japan at the weekend.

The 22-year-old, a student at Birmingham City University, also finished ninth in the all-round final on Friday in Kitakyushu.

Image source, Getty Images

The pommel is his favourite piece of equipment, but he was unable to match the score he achieved in qualifying during the finals.

It has been a good year for the gymnast, who became the British all-around champion in September, although this was his first world championships.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A "shameful waste" of rapid Covid-19 tests have been discovered dumped in an area of Wolverhampton.

Councillor Ellis Turrell found them in different parts of Castlecroft over the weekend and reported the find to the city’s public health team.

He said they'd been scattered at the play area on Castlecroft Avenue and on Windmill Lane, leading to suspicions they may have been discarded by school children. He added it was not clear whether any of the tests had been used.

Image source, Ellis Turrell

Mr Turrell said: "I was disappointed to see the Castlecroft area littered with Covid tests on Saturday, particularly around the play area on Castlecroft Avenue where smaller children could have picked them up.

"But let's be clear, this is a shameful waste of Covid tests at a time when cases are rising.

"These tests are needed by healthcare staff and people who want to visit their elderly relatives or access vital public services."

Image source, Ellis Turrell

BBC Midlands Today

The government has said it won't intervene in Shropshire Council's decision to grant planning permission for 1,000 homes on the site of the former Ironbridge Power Station.

Image source, Shropshire Council

Campaigners had objected to plans for the houses, a school and retirement village amid concerns about traffic and the number of affordable homes being too low.

But the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has rejected a plea to call in the application.

A horse-drawn cider press in Herefordshire is thought to be the last remaining in the UK.

BBC Midlands Today

A third of leukaemia patients do not generate any antibody response to two doses of the Covid vaccine, according to a study by the University of Birmingham.

Image source, Getty Images

The research , externalalso showed that in the two thirds who did develop antibodies, levels were much lower than of healthy people, with the patients also having a reduced ability to neutralise the Delta variant.

Five hundred patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia who received two doses of Covid vaccine took part in the study.

The academics said it showed leukaemia patients were still at ongoing risk to catch the virus even if they had both jabs.

Professor Paul Moss said the findings suggested more protection was needed for the vulnerable cases.

"A third vaccine dose is likely to boost antibody responses in some patients, but there are additional complications in leukaemia patients and additional medical interventions may be required," he added.

BBC Radio Stoke

Hospitals in Stoke-on-Trent are under increasing pressure as Covid cases increase, the city's Director of Health said.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are above the national average for coronavirus rates and people are being urged to do their bit to help reduce the spread.

The latest figures show there were 532 new cases per 100,000 people in the seven days up to 19 October. Like other parts of England, the rates are particularly high among schoolchildren.

Image source, Getty Images

Dr Paul Edmondson Jones said: "We're obviously at very serious points at the moment... we know that's [case rates] having an impact on the Royal Stoke Hospital.

"Masks are really, really beneficial, I'd urge people to keep wearing their masks, if you're in a crowded space with people you don't know, you're in an indoor space that's not well ventilated, just wear your mask."

University Hospitals of North Midlands reported 110 new admissions with Covid-19 in the week up to 19 October, up from 93.

Read more: Are people wearing masks less often?

Emergency services are called to the fire in Wolverhampton just after 02:00 BST.

Sara Blizzard
BBC Weather

We can look forward to another mild week with temperatures on the up.

Expect some showers interspersed with sunny spells today with temperatures reacing 14C (57F).

The latest news, sport, travel and weather from across the West Midlands and south Cheshire.

About 70 people are evacuated after the fire in Willenhall, Walsall.

Amelia, five, uses Hope House, near Oswestry, for respite care due to a heart condition.

Saracens move up to third in the Premiership with a 56-15 demolition of a depleted Wasps at the StoneX Stadium.

One was taken to hospital after trouble erupted at Coventry City's ground on Saturday.

Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy was seen as "the brains of the suffragist movement" and set up a school.

An inauguration ceremony is held ahead of its formal opening in 2022.