Elizabeth Glinka
BBC Midlands Today

A shop worth £25,000 is being given away for free in the Worcestershire town of Droitwich.

The unit is being offered as the prize in a competition for local entrepreneurs as part of a joint venture between the council and the local shopping centre.

Entrants have to be from the area, under 30 and convince the judges their business plan is a winner. If they succeed they'll pay no rent - or business rates for a year, external.

Hereford Times

As part of the Sidney Nolan Centenary celebrations,, external the Sidney Nolan Trust has developed an international artist residency opportunity which involves a group exhibition at the Rodd, Herefordshire, and a four-week residency at the Bundanon Trust, New South Wales, Australia.

James Pearson
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

A free bus running between the Worcestershire Royal and the Alex in Redditch is stopping after a six-month trial.

Health bosses say low passenger number make it unviable in the long term, though some locals say the service should have been advertised better so more people knew about it.

A subsidised community transport scheme is planned to eventually replace it.

Worcester News

A mother has said she would, external "never forgive" herself after her young son almost drowned whilst holidaying in Spain.

Here are the sport stories for Herefordshire and Worcestershire that we're looking at this morning:

• Worcestershire Rapids will be back T20 Blast action this evening as they face Durham Jets
• Herefordshire County Cricket Club will round off their Unicorns Championship programme with a home game against Wales
• Kidderminster Harriers head to FC United of Manchester tomorrow when they will look for the win they need to kick-start their season
• Worcester Wolves say the build up to the new BBL season will really start to pick up from here on in

A group of MPs are calling on Highways England, external to rethink lane restrictions in the roadworks on the M5 between Worcester and the M42 junction.

Lane closures along the motorway approaching the Oldbury viaduct are causing long delays for commuters.

It follows years of disruption for smart motorways to be implemented.

Droitwich Standard

A much needed Droitwich service which provides people living with dementia, external and their families with essential support and advice will continue to run, despite fears of its closure.

BBC Midlands Today

Workers at a Herefordshire company that went into administration earlier this week will be offered help today at a specialist recruitment event.

More than 170 employees at the manufacturing firm Gelpack will lose their jobs after administrators failed to find a buyer for the business.

Food manufacturer Cargill, which is based in Hereford, has around 100 positions to fill.

After a dry start with sunny spells, expect some outbreaks of rain this afternoon with top temperatures of 18C (63F).

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

It's almost the weekend.

I'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather as it happens for Herefordshire and Worcestershire between now and 18:00.

If you'd like to get in touch you can email, tweet us on @bbchw, externalor message via Facebook, external.

We'll be back with our usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 on Friday, but keep an eye out here for more updates this evening and into the morning

The Olympian Alex Gregory says his team face having "to row for weeks on end" to complete their mission to cross the Arctic Ocean.

Gregory says the team of six are spending 90 minutes on and 90 minutes off (a break) and have already rowed more than 60 hours already.

An update from Alex on Instagram says, external: "The feeling of reaching the ice shelf was surreal.. .a wall of ice as far as the eye could see which was emitting its own deep humming sound. We noticed pebbles of ice drifting past which before long became mini icebergs. A totally different world and a privilege to experience. But there wasn't much time to stop and take it in before we turned @thepolarrow, external round to head south-west and row into the strong southerly wind towards Iceland."

More than 2,400 staff work for London Midland, but no jobs are at risk after it was announced the firm lost the franchise to West Midlands Trains.

The roles will pass to the new operator when the franchise is taken over, a spokesperson for Abellio confirmed.

The company has also pledged to invest £13m on staff training and development and will create more than 900 new apprenticeships over the course of the franchise.

West Midlands Trains Ltd said the new franchise would bring "much welcomed investment in new services and extra capacity across the network".

Redditch Standard

Redditch students getting their GCSE results this summer will be graded, external under the new 9 to 1 system for English Language, English Literature and maths.

Shefali Oza
BBC Midlands Today

It's going to be a cloudy night, but it should stay dry for most of us and temperatures will fall no lower than 8C (46F).

Tomorrow, we could see some rain blowing over from the west in the morning, but it should clear as the day goes on.

A rail consortium's promise of £1bn investment in the West Midlands network has been welcomed by an industry expert.

More services, more carriages, more seats for passengers along with free wi-fi has been promised after West Midlands Trains Ltd was awarded the franchise.

It takes over services currently run by London Midland in December. However, it could be some time before we see new carriages on the network.

The routes cover many trains coming into Birmingham, external, and services to Liverpool and London.

A woman who tried to sue a holiday company after saying she got food poisoning in Egypt has been told her claim was "fundamentally dishonest" after pictures of her were posted on social media.

Marissa Mclean from Redditch blamed poor hygiene at the all inclusive Thomas Cook hotel where she stayed in Sharm el-Sheikh two years ago.

The 27-year-old claimed to have seen a resort doctor when sickness and diarrhoea left her running to the toilet, though hours later she was posting photos on Facebook posing in a white bikini with the comment "little selfie before the pool party", Worcester Crown Court heard.

She also posted pictures of herself drinking rum and at the wheel of a luxury yacht, with the description "Captain Marissa, in charge of the boat".

Image source, PA

Ms Mclean said the posts were meant to provoke an ex-boyfriend, but judge Nadeem Khan ruled her evidence was neither plausible or credible.

She's been ordered to pay Thomas Cook costs of nearly £3,000 within 21 days and given no leave to appeal.

West Midlands Trains will take over services in December, the Department for Transport says.

Kidderminster Shuttle

Council chiefs in Wyre Forest have revealed they are reluctantly, external having to consult on redeveloping green belt land for housing as they say there are not enough brown field sites in the district.

Follow BBC local radio commentary as Derbyshire host Worcestershire in the T20 Blast.