The University of Sheffield has announced it is moving teaching online due to the increase in Covid-19 cases among staff and students:

The university confirmed yesterday that the number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus at the institution had risen to nearly 500.

Reported cases in the whole of Sheffield have increased from 91.8 per 100,000 people to 233.1.

Officials said online teaching would end on Friday and not resume until Monday 19 October.

Barnsley boss Gerhard Struber leaves the Championship club to become the new head coach of New York Red Bulls.

Hundreds of families with disabled or seriously ill children are still struggling to receive support since the lockdown, a charity has said.

York-based charity Family Fund said it was having "a lasting negative impact" on the children and their families' mental wellbeing and their finances.

Five-year-old Jaxon (pictured), from Doncaster, has autism and global developmental delay.

His parents, John Haddock and Annemarie Maddison, received money from the charity to buy a tablet for their son, as well as a washing machine and dryer, but said they desperately needed support for his behaviour and mental health.

A survey of more than 2,500 families, external, conducted by the charity found up to 69% of the families contacted were "still going without" educational psychologists and various different therapies including speech and language.

Cheryl Ward, chief executive of Family Fund, said: "What concerns us most is families have struggled through the first wave of coronavirus.

"As we approach a second wave we need to ensure that when looking at services and considering financial support, that families with disabled children are considered and prioritised."

The government has been approached for a comment.

A major trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine has begun in Bradford with 500 volunteers being given the drug

Image source, Novavax

Early tests showed the jab, developed by US biotechnology company Novavax, leads to high levels of virus-fighting antibodies being produced.

The Novavax jab is only the second to enter large scale trials in the UK.

Dr Dinesh Saralaya, who is leading the study, said: “This is great news for Bradford and our ‘City of Research’ that at last the vaccine trials are getting underway.

“The Novavax vaccine trial will involve 500 recruits and we are hoping to vaccinate 50 people per day – or 250 people per week."

Dr Saralaya said the key role of the trial would be to test if the vaccine provides immunity and "give us the strongest possible protection from becoming infected and unwell".

Volunteers are being given two doses of the vaccine - one on their first day and a second on day 21.

They will then be monitored for 12 months.

An appeal's been launched following the discovery of a dead 'emaciated' dog which had been found dumped in a park in Keighley.

Image source, RSPCA

Animal welfare charity the RSPCA says the discovery was made by a member of the public on Monday, 21 September in Victoria Park.

Inspector Emma Brook said: “This must have been an awful discovery for the person who found this dog’s body and we are very keen to find out what happened.

"He was emaciated and all of his ribs were clearly visible.

"The three-year-old brindle, male American bulldog-type dog, also had a large number of pressure sores across the body and legs."

Anyone with information about the dog, or who has any information which may help the investigation, is being urged to contact the RSPCA.

A Doncaster Sunday league football team set up for men who have suffered child loss have finally secured their first league win.

Image source, Sands United Doncaster

Every player of amateur side Sands United Doncaster has experienced the death of a baby, either as a father or a family member.

On Sunday they beat Hyde Park 7-0, bringing an end to an 18-month winless league run.

The side dedicated their win to "all our angels".

Sands United Doncaster is part of stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands, with similar amateur teams established around the country.

The club aims to help its members cope with grief, but also raise awareness of parental loss and provide a support network.

A university in York says 46 people are self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus.

Image source, Google

York St John University said all close contacts have been identified and advised to self-isolate.

The university has more than 7,500 students and in excess of 900 staff members.

In a statement, the university said: "Our YSJ Covid Coordination Centre is recording all periods of self-isolation and all positive Covid-19 test results in our university community.

"To monitor cases effectively, we ask students who are self-isolating to use the absence and self-isolation form which has been adapted to capture Covid-19 data."

The campus is remaining open.

Advice on the the university website says: "Latest government guidance is that schools, colleges and universities are viewed as essential and will remain open.

"We will continue to meet the government’s expectation of providing a blended learning approach that includes face-to-face teaching where possible, alongside physical distancing and wearing face coverings.

"We are following and exceeding public health guidance to make our spaces safe - the health, safety and wellbeing of staff, students and our local community continues to come first."

A spokesperson for the university said Covid case numbers on campus will be updated daily.

League Two side Stevenage sign Barnsley striker Jack Aitchison on loan for the rest of the 2020-21 campaign.

The search is continuing for a 72-year-old man missing from York since last Wednesday.

Image source, North Yorkshire Police

Joseph Cafferkey, from Dijon Avenue in Acomb, hasn't been seen since lunchtime on 30 September.

Police say it's now known that he visited his local Post Office at about 09:25 that day, and a worried neighbour reported him missing on Friday, 2 October after he failed to attend a doctor’s appointment.

Mr Cafferkey's disappearance is described as being out of character and his family and friends are becoming "increasingly concerned for his welfare," according to North Yorkshire Police.

It's thought Mr Cafferkey, who is described as white, of medium build, with receding grey hair, doesn't have access to a mobile phone or money.

Searches for him have been taking place in the Acomb and York area, including St Nicks Nature Reserve at Layerthorpe.

Anyone who sees Mr Cafferkey is asked to contact police immediately.

A woman who set fire to an apartment and lied to firefighters that a baby was inside the smoke-filled property has been jailed for three years.

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

Fire crews used breathing apparatus and forced entry to Samantha Spencer's flat in Bradford in May.

Bradford Crown Court heard there were 28 apartments in the block and many of the residents were vulnerable.

Spencer, 29, admitted arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

She also pleaded guilty to further charges of common assault and harassment towards two other residents.

The mother-of-two ran back into the block of flats when police officers arrived at Bentley Carter Apartments, but she was chased and arrested.

Mother-of-two Samantha Spencer is jailed for three years for starting the blaze in the block of flats.

Thirteen people are due to appear in court this week charged in relation to incidents of disorder in the Harehills area of Leeds on Bonfire Night last year.

All have been charged with violent disorder following the incidents in the Harehills Road area on 5 November 2019.

Six police officers were injured after they were targeted by groups of people throwing fireworks and setting bins alight.

Roads were barricaded, bins set alight, and damage was caused to police vehicles, buses and cars, street furniture and buildings.

Officers used "public order tactics" to disperse the groups and make arrests, West Yorkshire Police said.

Speaking shortly after the disorder Ch Supt Steve Cotter said there was "no suggestion this was a result of tension in the community or animosity towards the police".

He added: "This appears to have been about a hooligan element of local youths seeing an opportunity on Bonfire Night to engage in firework-related disorder on a large scale."

Five men, one woman and seven male youths, aged between 15 and 17, are due to appear at Leeds Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

More than 1,300 coronavirus cases in South Yorkshire and the North Midlands were missed off official figures as a result of a technical glitch which meant nearly 16,000 cases of coronavirus went unreported.

It means the infection rate as of 1 October in Sheffield was more than 200 people per 100,000 - double what was previously thought.

The technical error was caused by some Microsoft Excel data files exceeding the maximum size after they were sent from NHS Test and Trace to Public Health England (PHE).

It meant 15,841 cases between 25 September and 2 October were left out of the UK daily case figures.

PHE said the error itself, discovered overnight on Friday, has been fixed, and outstanding cases had been passed on to tracers by 01:00 on Saturday.

In the South Yorkshire and North Midlands region 1,353 postive tests went unregistered.

Meanwhile in York the coronavirus rate has nearly doubled following the corrected daily figures.

Last week the rate had reached just over 61 cases per 100,000, but the City of York Council has now confirmed the rate has jumped to just over 114 cases per 100,000 people.

Sonia Kataria
BBC News

Two men have been arrested after a "stolen" lorry was driven the wrong way down a motorway slip road in Derbyshire.

The truck, believed to have been stolen in York last month, was followed by police officers after it was seen on the M1 northbound between junction 26 and 27 just before 04:00.

Derbyshire Police said the lorry then left the carriageway at junction 30, near Barlborough, before turning on to the southbound exit slip road, driving in the wrong direction.

Image source, @DerbyshireRPU

The Derbyshire roads policing unit said the occupants of the cab, which had cloned plates and was thought to be "linked to HGV load thefts", ran off before two men were arrested nearby.

The men, aged 24 and 30, from Sheffield, were held on suspicion of stealing a motor vehicle and remain in police custody.

The force added the lorry was recovered and inquiries were ongoing.

Leeds indie rock band The Wedding Present are releasing a James Bond-themed covers album in aid of a mental health charity.

Image source, Jessica McMillan

The collection of 20 themes from classic 007 films will be released on the Leeds-based Come Play With Me record label on 4 December.

The covers, recorded by past and present members of the band, include their versions of Goldfinger, Live and Let Die and Diamonds are Forever.

All proceeds will go to the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) charity.

More than 200 lights are being removed from the A63 in North Yorkshire as part of the council's plan to save money.

Image source, North Yorkshire County Council

North Yorkshire County Council turned off more than half of the 400 lights on the A63 Selby bypass last year.

Since then, it said there had been no reported night-time crashes and suggested the street lighting had little or no bearing on drivers' behaviour.

The switch-off has saved the council almost £20,000 in the past year in electricity costs.

The lighting columns are now to be taken down, it added.

Councillor Don Mackenzie, from North Yorkshire County Council, said: “Switching lights off along the bypass has brought a significant saving and brings this stretch into line with the rest of the A63.

"Our traffic monitoring indicates the action has not changed drivers’ behaviour, so we will now take down the columns, which will also remove a potential traffic hazard.

“The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is to be welcomed as it helps to support the County Council’s commitment to aspire to achieve net carbon neutrality by as close as possible to 2030.”

A bird, more normally seen across Africa and mainland Europe, has been delighting birdwatchers in West Yorkshire after one was spotted in Leeds.

Dave Ward, who is a volunteer at the RSPB in Fairburn and Old Moor, said it was a "rare" sighting of the hoopoe in Collingham this week.

He said: "Around 100 overfly their migration to Spain and Portugal each year, ending up on British coasts - mainly in the south of the country although there are even a few reported in Scotland at the moment.

"However, this is the first sighting of a Hoopoe in Leeds for more than 40 years, after it was last recorded at the RSPB St Aidan's site in 1979.

"This particular one has been in Collingham for a week now and seems happy just picking grubs up from the cricket pitch and local housing estate.

"Hopefully it will return to its normal territory in the near future and we wish it a safe journey.”

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Plans to allow holidaymakers to sleep in train carriages positioned on a stretch of a disused railway near Whitby have been approved.

Image source, Mulgrave Estate/Scarborough Council

Earlier this year, the Mulgrave Estate submitted an application to Scarborough council to use two carriages located at the former Sandsend Station on Lythe Bank as tourist accommodation.

Following a public consultation, Scarborough Council planning officers have now approved the plans after the Highways Authority withdrew an objection after the applicant agreed to make some changes to the scheme.

The two railway carriages will stand at the end of the former station platform near the Station House in Sandsend.

Sandsend Station opened in 1883 as part of the Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway, but closed in 1958.

Image source, Mulgrave Estate/Scarborough Council

According to the plans: "One carriage interior has already been converted into two bedrooms and bathroom. The other carriage will be used for storage and is currently not converted internally.

"The carriages will sit on a railway track made up of sleepers placed on top of the existing platform."

The first carriage will be a Pullman-style former passenger carriage while the second is of a style known as a “plank truck” which were traditionally used for transporting stone and coal.

Yongqi Liang, who admitted killing another student in an attack in Sheffield city centre, is jailed.

A road in Sheffield city centre has been closed to cars to encourage pedestrians and cyclists and to make more room for social distancing.

The city council said the work was part of wanting to accelerate "active travel" schemes, external.

A rainbow crossing has been painted on Pinstone Street, which also has street armchairs, planters and false grass.

Other measures tested over the summer have included pedestrianised zones and a cycle lane on the ring road.

The council said "Pinstone Street was originally pedestrianised temporarily, using emergency active travel funds, to create space for social distancing as businesses reopened and people returned to the city centre.

"We took the decision to make the area more accessible and attractive as it became apparent that social distancing would be needed for some time."

Businesses had mixed views about the works, some saying they like the "café culture" created by wider pavements and others saying it negatively affected trade.

The council said future plans include more temporary lanes and pedestrian zones, and accelerating the Grey to Green project linking the city centre with routes like the Five Weirs Walk, Canal Towpath and Upper Don Trail.