Calls for M5 'rethink' after long delays
Help to find work for employees after food firm goes under
Free shuttle bus ends after low take-up
Rapids prepare for Durham T20 clash tonight
Updates on Friday 11 August 2017
The Drunken Monkey Rock Festival, held over the weekend in Upton-upon-Severn, has raised £14,000 for charity.
The festival, which is in its fourth year, raises money for the Midlands Air Ambulance service in memory of local man Ian Downton, who died in 2009.
More than 50 bands played at the event over the weekend.
Alistair Binney
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester
A couple in a Worcestershire village are holding a special sale to try and raise money to buy a defibrillator.
Image source, PAIt's after a cyclist died last year after suffering a heart attack in Broome near Hagley.
Maggie Clement and her husband are planning to hold the sale at the end of the month in the hope it could prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
Herefordshire Council has won an enforcement case, external against two builders found guilty of fly tipping by the River Lugg.
Samuel Cooper, 31, from Hereford, and Matthew Taylor, 28, from Staunton-on-Wye, were both found guilty of failing to transfer building waste to an authorised person.
Mr Cooper was also found guilty of transporting the waste without a waste carrier's licence.
He received fines totalling £2382.50.
Mr Taylor received fines totaling £1882.50.
Quote MessageAction will be taken against any trader, business or person which illegally disposes of their waste or does not ensure that their waste is collected by a registered waste carrier
Marc Willimont, Herefordshire Council’s head of regulatory and development management services
Gavin Kermack
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester
Workers at the Hereford firm Gelpack say they were told they were being made redundant this morning.
Image source, GoogleThe plastic packaging company has axed nearly 200 jobs after calling in the administrators last week.
In May, they secured a £10m loan but administrators KPMG say the business has recently experienced difficult trading conditions.
Quote MessageThey told us we've all got redundancy, they can't find any other people to buy it [the company] out.
Gelpack worker
Trevor Owens
Sports Editor, BBC Hereford & Worcester
Bromsgrove Sporting and Stourport Swifts will both be looking to progress in the FA Cup this evening.
Image source, Getty ImagesBoth sides have extra preliminary round replays.
Sporting head to Rocester while the Swifts will host Sporting Khalsa.
The Booth Hall, an historic pub in Hereford, has shut its doors once again, with the owners saying they were beaten by finances.
Image source, GoogleThe grade two listed building, which dates back to the 14th Century, was damaged by a severe fire in 2010.
For the past 18 months it's been used as a live music and entertainment venue, but the tenants say they can't afford to keep it open.
A free shuttle bus service that runs between the Alexandra Hospital and the Worcestershire Royal is to end on Friday.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust says the number of passengers that used the service during a six-month trial was too low to make it financially viable.
The trust also says an alternative community transport option will be in place by early September at a subsidised cost.
A trail of individually decorated sheep, external and lambs in the town centre has kicked off this year's Kidderminster Arts Festival.
Gelpack workers were given the news about their redundancy this morning at a meeting with adminstrators KPMG.
The majority of them were sent home last week after the Hereford plastics manufacturing company went into administration over what KPMG called difficult trading conditions.
Gelpack workers were told the news just days after two firms went into administration.
Read MoreGelpack administrators have confirmed 175 members of staff have been made redundant.
The firm, which runs two plastic packaging companies employing about 200 staff in Hereford, went into administration last week.
Image source, Google"The administrators of Gelpack Industrial Limited and Gelpack Excelsior Limited have confirmed that after being unable to obtain funding to support trading, steps are now being taken to effect an orderly wind-down of the business," administrators KMPG said.
"As a result, a total of 175 members of staff have been made redundant. The administrators have retained a skeleton staff to help fulfil outstanding orders and assist with the wind-down process."
Three canisters of Nitrous Oxide were stolen, external from Kidderminster Hospital, police say.
Image source, GoogleThe burglary took place on Monday night.
Three people are thought to have gained access to the rear storage gas area of the hospital on Bewdley Road before making an escape with the canisters in the direction of Sutton Road.
Trevor Owens
Sports Editor, BBC Hereford & Worcester
Kidderminster Harriers has completed the signing of their former attacking midfielder Dan Bradley.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe 26-year-old rejoins the club on a three-year deal following a spell at AFC Flyde.
He says the proposed move has led to a disrupted pre-season but he's hopeful he can reach full match fitness quickly.
Quote MessageI'll need to ease myself into it but I look after myself, I keep myself in decent shape so I'll be hoping I can get back to it as quickly as possible.
Dan Bradley, Midfielder, Kidderminster Harriers
The trust in charge of the Worcestershire hospitals criticised by a health watchdog says it has made improvements since the last inspection.
A spokesman said the trust fully accepted the shortfalls the Care Quality Commission identified in its April inspection, but said the report, published on Tuesday, highlighted improvements.
These included better infection control procedures, while a review by regulator NHS Improvement found good hand hygiene.
Image source, bbcThe CQC also found staff were "hard-working, passionate and caring".
However, the CQC says there has been no "tangible improvement" at the trust, which was rated inadequate in earlier inspections.
Ben Sidwell
BBC Midlands Today
The birthplace of a world-famous composer from Worcestershire has been renovated as part of a major project.
It was Sir Edward Elgar's wish that the Lower Broadheath home that he was born in would become a focal point for his music.
The revamped building is due to reopen to the public later this summer.
A motorcyclist has suffered a serious injury, external to his back following a collision with a car in Kidderminster, police say.
It happened on the A451 Stourport Road late on Sunday night when a blue Ford Focus Zetec collided with a blue Suzuki motorbike as they travelled in opposite directions.
A 35-year-old man from Kidderminster was arrested following the incident after providing a positive drugs test. He's been released under investigation.
Redditch MP Rachel Maclean has stressed the latest report, external into the trust running Redditch's Alexandra Hospital is not as bad as it sounds.
Some areas of England, including Worcestershire, are cutting back on IVF fertility treatment to save money, a charity believes.
Image source, Science Photo LibraryFertility Network UK, which monitors provision, says the situation is worsening and in stark contrast to that in Scotland, where women can get three full cycles of NHS-funded treatment.
An NHS England spokesman said Clinical Commissioning Groups had "to balance demands on the NHS locally".
IVF treatment has been restricted or halted in 13 areas since January.
Kidderminster Harriers are preparing to take on Nuneaton Town tonight in their first National League North away game of the season.
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The Harriers will be hoping to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat to Chorley on Saturday.
Nuneaton are also seeking their first win of the season after a 4-0 defeat to Harrogate Town at the weekend.
A Worcestershire Olympian has begun his attempt to become one of the first men to row across the Arctic Ocean.
Image source, Getty ImagesMen's four gold medalist Alex Gregory set off on the 2,000 mile trip in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
He's part of a six-man team taking on the challenge over the next 20 days to raise money to build a school in the Himalayas,
