Drivers are being urged to avoid a stretch of M6 this weekend as a junction will be closed for further bridge works.

Work is continuing to install the new four-lane bridge spanning the motorway over junction 10 at Walsall.

Two new bridges are being built as part of a £78m improvement scheme designed to ultimately improve congestion.

Image source, Highways England

Work was carried out on the north bridge in August and the 44m-long steel beams were lifted into place for the south bridge late last month.

The road closure this weekend will enable over half of the bridge deck panels to be put in place over the beams.

Traffic will follow an up-and-over diversion, but Highways England is advising drivers to use alternative routes where possible.

The old bridges will be demolished later on.

Scientists from the Natural History Museum and the University of Birmingham have helped identify the oldest theropod dinosaur in the UK.

The specimen, dubbed "chief dragon", is part of the family which includes the T. Rex and modern birds, and is thought to be the oldest meat-eating dinosaur to be found in the UK.

Image source, PA Media

The fossil was named Pendraig milnerae - Pendraig meaning chief dragon in Middle Welsh, and milnerae honouring Dr Angela Milner, who was the Natural History Museum's (NHM) deputy keeper of palaeontology for more than 30 years.

The theropod probably had a body the size of a modern-day chicken and would have been a metre long including its tail. It lived between 200 and 215 million years ago.

Organisers said they get "fantastic support" in Warwickshire where they keep 'breaking new ground'.

Keon Lincoln, 15, was repeatedly stabbed by a group of youths in Birmingham, jurors hear.

An exhibition of work by the artist Grayson Perry is coming to Hereford.

The Vanity of Small Differences opens at the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday and runs until the week before Christmas.

It will feature six tapestries by the artist who has featured in a number of television programmes on the BBC and Channel 4, including Grayson’s Art Club, with his wife Philippa.

Image source, Grayson Perry

An appeal has been renewed to find a man wanted in connection with a serious assault a year ago.

Crimestoppers is offering up to £5,000 for information on the attack which left a man with serious brain damage.

On 5 October last year at about 22:00 BST, a 57-year-old man was walking in Birmingham city centre along Upper Dean Street, when a group of men and women approached him.

Shortly after he was punched in the head and knocked unconscious to the floor.

The group walked away from the scene.

He's been left with serious brain damage that will last a lifetime, police said.

Five of the group have already been arrested, but one man wanted in connection with the assault has still not been identified.

BBC Midlands Today

More than 60,0000 homes in the Sandwell area are likely to have been affected by a bin strike today.

Members of the GMB union are in dispute with Serco, which runs the service for the local council.

They are striking over safety, wellbeing and wage issues.

The council says it is trying to minimise any disruption to residents and has urged Serco to work with the unions to settle the dispute.

The thief used a "bizarre dance" to distract his victim before taking a £9,000 watch.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A quarry near Shrewsbury has been allowed to remain operating for another six years.

Condover Parish Council, 56 residents and Condover Residents Action Group had all objected to the proposals and asked Salop Sand and Gravel to build an alternative access road, to stop lorries travelling through their village.

But the company said it couldn't afford the £2m cost of the road to Gonsal Quarry.

Image source, Google

Shropshire Council had rejected a similar application to extend the life of the quarry earlier in the year and the company had lodged an appeal over that refusal.

Now, members of the authority's southern planning committee have voted in favour of a reduced scheme by six votes to five.

It will allow the company up to 44 lorry movements a day and 110,000 tonnes of sand and gravel extracted from the quarry each year,

A vicar has cycled 156 miles (251km) in a day to help fund a community support worker to help Iranian asylum seekers and refugees.

Image source, David Tomlinson

Reverend David Tomlinson, of St Paul's church in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, raised £2,000 in sponsorship by completing last month's London's Ultra cycle challenge and said it was a good bike ride, taking in some of the city's iconic landmarks.

His fundraising also unlocked a £4,000 grant from the Allchurches Trust.

"They have been working for three or four months and are doing a superb job helping people integrate into life here," he said, adding work included helping with paperwork and providing emotional support during difficult times.

Kelly Butler discovered she had leukaemia from a routine blood test during her pregnancy.

Green bus shelters which can improve air quality, generate their own power and attract bees are being trialled in Halesowen.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) has worked with the Halesowen Business Improvement District (BID) and Halesowen in Bloom to bring in the plant-topped bus shelters .

The shelters are made from recycled materials and their roofs include plants designed to reduce carbon in the environment as well as filters to catch fine particles and improve air quality.

Further to this are solar panels which will generate power for the display screens and lights and allow people to charge their mobile phones while waiting for the bus.

Image source, WMCA

Two prototypes have been installed on Queensway and if the trial is successful, more than 5,000 could be installed across the region.

Councillor Kath Hartley said: “As we face this climate emergency it is important, we look at new ways of improving our environment.

“Not only can it make a difference to the air we breathe but offers real convenience for bus passengers with the offer of free solar-powered phone charging while they wait – a great innovation."

BBC Radio Stoke

The man in charge of the vaccine rollout in Staffordshire says they've been extremely busy with the booster jabs.

Stafford currently remains inside the top 10 worst places in England for Covid based on cases per 100,000 people - but the rate isn't increasing.

Dr Paddy Hannigan has told BBC Radio Stoke it's all systems go for vaccinations:

Plans to develop a new waste depot are due before Birmingham City Council's cabinet next Tuesday.

The project would see the existing Montague Street and Redfern Road depots brought together on a new site also situated on Redfern Road in Tyseley, set to cost £13.6m.

The Montague Street site was sold to Homes England in March 2020 and, if the proposals are agreed by cabinet, the existing Redfern Road site will also be disposed of.

It is anticipated the new depot could be operational as soon as mid-September 2022.

Image source, Google

Councillor John O’Shea said: "“It would have been easy to carry on using the dated and inadequate depot facilities our hardworking crews have had to operate out of for many years.

"This bold plan will ensure our services are equipped to meet the future needs of the city’s people.”

Construction on the Rugeley John Taylor School is set to begin later this year.

Police are appealing for information after three people suffered "substantial injuries" when they were assaulted by a group of men in Burton.

Between seven and 10 people carried out the assault on Burton High Street during the early hours of Saturday 19 June, Staffordshire Police said.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

One of the offenders was wearing a balaclava with hooded dark clothing, while other members of the group were wearing grey tracksuits with some also wearing jeans and dark hoodies.

Anyone with any information should contact the force on 101.

More than £500,000 will be spent reducing violence against women and girls in the West Midlands after a grant from the government's Safer Streets fund.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner said the £549,000 would be spent on "challenging and changing attitudes and behaviours amongst men and boys".

Labour's Simon Foster said it would go towards a number of training programmes and educational workshops to promote healthy relationships and respect.

Some money will also be spent making it easier to report sexual harassment on the region's public transport network.

The power outage in Wem is going to remain for most of the morning, Shropshire Council has said.

It was cut off after the fire at the town's business park and the fire service said the buildings remain unstable.

BBC Radio Shropshire

A Shropshire secondary school said it had faced major challenges during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lacon Childe School, in Cleobury Mortimer, has recently seen a large number of pupils test positive for Covid-19.

Image source, Google

Head teacher Darren Reynolds said it had been "absolutely horrendous".

"We've had over 100 positive cases in our whole school at one point, half of our year 11 were testing positive.

"Thankfully that seems to all be readdressing itself, so things are on the up, but that's because we were able to put back in place some of the restrictions and guidance we had in place the last time we had a lockdown."

The Birmingham venue says the condition of the portacabin was "unacceptable".