New figures suggest Cornwall was not as poor as EU thought
Debate on Plymouth military closures rejected
£60m A30 dual carriageway to open on 14 July
Firefighters in London relay for Grenfell Tower colleagues
Wolves in reintroduction study out of quarantine
Plymouth professor's 'digi hat' could rock music streaming
Endangered seahorse discovered off Devon
Updates on Thursday 6 July 2017
Johnny O'Shea
BBC News Online
Live updates for Devon and Cornwall have finished for the day, but we'll be back at 08:00 tomorrow with the latest news, sport, travel and weather.
Don't forget Spotlight on BBC One later. There will also be news through the night on your BBC Local Radio station.
A project to help support vulnerable children and families in Cornwall has been awarded almost £2m.
The money is from the Government’s Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme.
Cornwall has been awarded £1.9m to help transform the way education, health and social care services work together to better meet the needs of children, young people and their families.
It's one of 24 projects across the country to get funding.
Image source, GoogleSally Hawken, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Wellbeing, said: “Integrating our services will ensure that we have the right mix of knowledge and skills to meet all the community-based needs of children, young people and their families, in one place, at the right time.
"It is what our residents, service users and staff are telling us they want to see and this funding will help us look at different models for achieving this.“
Gardeners at Paignton Zoo are predicting that two huge, rare and smelly flowers could bloom in the coming days.
The Titan arum flowers can be up to 3 metres high, and 3 metres in circumference, and smell like rotting meat.
Image source, Paignton ZooIt's notoriously difficult to predict when the bloom will fully open.
Giles Palmer, Curator of Plants and Gardens at Paignton Zoo, said: “There are only about 100 collections anywhere in the world where you can see this plant, mostly botanical gardens.
"Our plants are in Crocodile Swamp opposite the saltwater crocodile. The last time I measured it, the first one was 150cm tall and growing an impressive 12cm per day.”
An angry homeless woman threw a croissant at a café worker in Exeter after she was refused use of the toilet,, external a court has been told.
Coastguard teams along with lifeboats have been out around the county.
The Coastguard Rescue helicopter from Newquay went to help a stranded fisherman who had climbed up a cliff at Church Cove after he got cut off by the tide.
The man was winched to safety and dropped off at the top of the hill.
Both Penlee lifeboats were called out following reports of a missing person in Penzance.
That person was subsequently found.
The Falmouth inshore lifeboat was also called out after a yacht went adrift. Crews helped the harbour authority secure the boat.
A German film crew has been told to stop living in shipping containers , externalat a Newquay business park while making Rosamunde Pilcher adaptations for television.
The current Post Office in Looe is to close, with a new service being provided in an existing farm shop.
The Fore Street branch is closing on 24 July, with the new facilities available in Quayside Fresh on Buller Quay from 3 August.
The Post Office said: "We believe this move is the best way to secure Post Office services locally in Looe. The community will also benefit from increased opening hours over seven days."
Image source, GoogleThe new Looe office will operate from two open-plan tills alongside the retail counter of the farm shop.
Although the move is confirmed, the Post Office is inviting customers and interested parties to give their comments in a public consultation.
The scope of the consultation will cover the service on offer and will close on 17 August 2017.
More than 100 residents of St Agnes have come out in support of a plan to knock down and rebuild a popular café, external - but the parish council has opposed it.
A man has appeared in court charged with murdering an electrician in a Jehovah's Witness hall in Devon.
Keith Beviss, 54, of Woodhayes Drive, Honiton, was not required to enter a plea and his case at Exeter Crown Court was adjourned until 21 September to allow time for a psychiatric assessment.
Image source, Ryan FamilyPhilip Ryan
He is charged with the murder of 55-year-old Philip Ryan at the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in Dowell Street, Honiton, on Tuesday June 6.
Mr Ryan's funeral was held at the Bristol's Jehovah's Witness Assembly Hall last week and was attended by more than 900 people.
Neil Gallacher, Business & Industry Correspondent
BBC Spotlight
Cornwall may not have been poor enough to justify receiving £1bn of European Union funding, it has emerged.
It's hard to get your head around. As recently as a couple of years back, the official statistics showed that when Cornwall started getting Objective One in 2000, its economy stood at 68% of the EU average.
Now that statisticians have a supposedly better way of measuring, the same league table shows that in 2000 Cornwall's economy was actually on 83%.
The basket of things they add up has altered. Oddly, although this new picture shows Cornwall in a better light, it leaves West Wales firmly at the bottom of the league table.
Cornwall is poor; just not that poor.
Combined Universities in Cornwall were among the major beneficiaries
A man has been arrested and released in relation to six incidents of indecent exposure., external
Eight projects in Devon have been awarded money to make them more accessible to disabled visitors.
Seaton Wetlands, Seaton Tram and Seaton Jurassic are among those around the country to benefit from a grant of £527,000 from the Heritage Lottry Fund over the next three years.
Image source, East Devon District CouncilImprovements at Seaton Wetlands will include an online accessibility guide, British Sign language video tours of the site, along with awareness and skills training for staff and volunteers.
Councillor Tom Wright from East Devon District Council says it "is keen to be as inclusive as it can be across all its activities and this funding will enable access to the wonderful wetlands by many more disadvantaged people."
The decommissioning of the Royal Navy's flagship, HMS Ocean, based in Plymouth, has been condemned in Parliament.
The Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, Luke Pollard, fears the port may end up playing just a minor role in the Navy's future.
He said: "In 2015 the government promised not to sell HMS Ocean and not close Stonehouse Barracks and the Royal Citadel in Plymouth. The helicopter carrier and both bases are now up for sale.
"Will the leader of the house agree to a debate on base closures and how we retain helicopter carrier capabilities at Devonport?"
His call for a debate was rejected by the government.
Sian Davies
BBC News Online
Cornwall may not have been poor enough to justify receiving £1bn of European Union funding, it has emerged.
In recent years the county has several times been listed at the bottom of the poverty table in England and Wales.
But revised GDP figures suggest Tees Valley and Durham, South Yorkshire, and West Wales and the Valleys are now all more deserving of EU money.
Experts say that could make it harder for Cornwall to get funding post-Brexit. Major beneficiaries include the Eden Project, Combined Universities in Cornwall, Newquay Airport and a project to bring superfast broadband to the county. There's no suggestion the money must be paid back.
Image source, PAPete Ledingham, director of grant-aided firm Geothermal Engineering said the recalculation was "staggering". "I would have thought the need was obvious in Cornwall and has been for a long time," he added.
Areas with a GDP of less than 75% of the average EU GDP qualified for funding as they were below the EU's poverty threshold. But revised figures Cornwall was never actually below the threshold used to award grants such as Objective One, which provided some £400m to the county.
Investigations are to be carried out assessing the ongoing flood risk from the River Tamar in the village of Calstock.
The village has been at risk for many years and had a flood embankment built in the 1980s. In 2012/13 further emergency works were made to a 100m section of the embankment.
It cost more than £300,000 and the Environment Agency says "maintaining the current embankment in its existing location on a ‘patch and repair basis’ is not sustainable".
Project manager Dan Boswell said: "One of the options involves moving the existing embankment inland. In addition to flood risk management benefits, moving the embankment would enable the creation of reedbed habitat attracting additional wildlife.
"It is important to note that we are looking at all options which may be available to us. We will be talking to the community about these before final decisions are made."
Image source, GoogleA unique slice of Dartmouth history came back to life today with the return of a 200-year-old form of transport.
A sedan chair, which would've carried the mayor around the town has been donated to the local museum.
The Newman family, who brought great wealth to the town through the Trans-Atlantic Triangular Trade more than 200 years ago, has made the donation.
James Law
BBC Sport Online
Cornish golfer Harry Hall says he wants to be one of the top amateur golfers in the world before deciding to turn professional.
The 19-year-old, who is studying for a degree at the University of Nevada, narrowly missed out on qualifying for this month's Open Championship.
Image source, Harry Hall"I want to be in the top 10, and definitely want to be world number one amateur. In two years time that could be possible," Hall told BBC Radio Cornwall.
"I've had a few options recently about turning pro, but I want to turn pro when I'm one of the top amateurs in the world."
Johnny O'Shea
BBC News Online
A memorial service is being held in Truro Cathedral this afternoon for Lady Mary Holborow, the former Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Lady Mary was also a magistrate and an active supporter of several organisations and charities within Cornwall.
In June 2010 Lady Mary was appointed Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for services to The Queen. She died last month, external.
The service starts in a few minutes.
Police are trying to find a 79-year-old woman who has dementia and is missing from Torbay.
Phyllis Jenkins was last seen at 10:30 and several police units are searching the Torquay area, particularly around Babbacombe, including coast paths and parks.
She is described as being about 5ft 7ins tall and is wearing a white floppy hat, a pink flowery top and bright pink trousers.
Image source, Devon and Cornwall PoliceIt will be another dry afternoon with warm or very warm spells of sunshine. A few patches of mist and low cloud will remain on the north coast.
Winds will be mainly north or northwesterly and occasionally moderate in strength.
Maximum temperature: 27C (81F).
