Tom Clark was "permanently stood down" by the RNLI after a row over a training exercise.

The last two days in Leeds have seen almost gridlock in the city during the morning rush after a fault on a single set of traffic lights.

Image source, Google

The road, to the east of the city centre, soon became backlogged with traffic which had a knock-on effect across most of the city.

Bus companies said they had delays built up to almost an hour.

But Leeds City Council say they've been working on the lights and the issue has now been resolved.

Improvements to an underground river in the centre of Bradford will be discussed by officials later.

As it reaches the city centre Bradford Beck runs underground, after being built over in the 19th century.

The council's also looking at how they could use the beck to help combat flood risk in the future.

Alan Hall, from Bradford Civic society, says he believes more work is needed to make sure the beck is clean:

It's most 11-year-old petrolhead's dream - Sticking an engine on your push bike.

But it's probably not a good idea to actually do it, what with it being illegal and everything, a fact pointed out by North Yorkshire Police after they seized this bike yesterday:

Image source, North Yorkshire Police

In a tweet from officers in Harrogate, external, they say they took it from a rider at Bilton Cycle track.

They said "Bikes are not made to withstand the speed and force that motors generate, they are also unregistered motor vehicles."

"Please don't put yourself or others at risk by riding these dangerous modifications."

The elusive spring this year has meant that we've not had the usual burst of colour we usually get in late March, but finally it's arrived:

Image source, Visit Bradford

Visit Bradford have shared these pictures on social media of the cherry blossom in Ilkley.

Looking very nice it is too!

BBC News Travel

For the second morning running a traffic light signal failure in Leeds has caused "gridlock" in the city.

We're onto the city council to see what's being done about it:

Yorkshire and the Humber currently has the highest rate of unemployment in the UK.

Image source, ONN

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, external reveal it stood at 5.2% for the three months ending February 2018.

The 0.2% increase is the second largest compared to the previous period.

Nationally unemployment is at its lowest level since 1975 with more 32.26 million people in work.

Yorkshire Evening Post

A burglar who tricked his way into the homes of elderly victims by pretending to be a police officer was branded a “coward” by a judge., external

Image source, Yorkshire Evening Post

Kitchen manufacturer Omega PLC, based off the M18 in Thorne, is to get £283,000 from Doncaster Council's business investment incentive scheme to secure the firm's £20m investment in an expanded site.

Image source, Google

Plans include a new distribution facility and office block and the scheme's expected to create 109 permanent full-time jobs.

Council bosses raised concerns the firm could build their expansion site on cheaper land in nearby Goole.

Members of the council's steering group felt the nature of the investment would be "good for Doncaster" by providing "substantial business rates uplift and a significant increase in skilled new jobs in the town".

The council is to give Omega a speculative build grant of £228,000 alongside a £50,000 job creation grant and a £5,000 project set-up grant to pay for architects' fees, planning application and removal costs.

The total grant will be paid out by the council when the jobs have been created for a minimum period of one year and the company provides written evidence of the staff appointed residing at a Doncaster postcode.

The RNLI is insisting the sacking of a veteran lifeboat coxswain and the loss of several experienced volunteers will have no impact on people's safety on the Scarborough coast.

The charity says it has a strong, committed crew in Scarborough despite the sacking, but admits it's concerned about losing experienced people.

The man responsible for safety in Scarborough harbour says th4e coxswain's sacking could delay lifeboat launches and put people in danger at sea.

Paul Wilkinson, the harbour's watchkeeper, says a number of experienced staff, known as deputy launch authorities (DLAs), have also stepped down:

A sum of £18,000 has been paid to ARK Consultancy to see if merging Doncaster Council's public buildings maintenance team with their housing repairs and maintenance operation, St Leger Homes, would be beneficial.

Image source, LDR

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the review also looked at how best the authority and St Leger Homes could "modernise" how they use their building operations and storage facilities.

Dave Wilkinson, assistant director of trading and property services, said: "ARK who carried out the review have significant experience of doing this across the UK.

"The review provided both us and St Leger Homes with a detailed report which generally said both organisations were well run but outlined some areas for potential improvement and we will be implementing a number of actions to improve our service to customers."

A broken down crane has been causing delays on the M62 this morning - The road has only just completely reopened in the last few minutes.

Image source, Highways England/Crown Copyright

The 70-tonne machine came to a grinding halt at about 07:00 this morning and caused some lengthy delays between J26 and J27 eastbound.

Only one lane was closed but traffic quickly built up all the way back to J24,

The crane has now been moved and all lanes have reopened, but there are still long delays on the approach.

BBC News Travel

Watch out if you're heading on the M62 - There's a dog on the loose:

The sky's the limit in Leeds today as innovative new forms of transport, including jetpacks, are demonstrated in the city.

It's hoped Gravity Industries' jetpack demonstration at Leeds City College will help inspire future generations of inventors.

In the past, the thought of flying a jetpack was reserved for science fiction. But soon they could be far more accessible to both would-be pilots and investors.

Students will also get the chance to explore a new driverless vehicle known as a pod.

Lisa Gallagher
Weather presenter, BBC Look North

It'll be a bit blowy across Yorkshire today with quite a lot of clouds.

Here's my full forecast:

Sheffield City Council has declined an invitation to meet Sheffield Trees Action Groups (STAG) to discuss the removal of trees across the city.

The tree felling is part of Sheffield City Council's £2bn Streets Ahead project, aimed at improving roads and footpaths in the city. About 5,500 trees have been cut down since 2012.

The authority, which is planting new trees after removing existing ones, insists those earmarked for felling are either "dangerous, dead, diseased, dying, damaging or discriminatory".

Campaigners argue many are healthy specimens which should not be cut down, saying amendments to surrounding pavements and roads should be made instead.

A council spokesperson said: “We have always said that we are more than happy to meet and talk with STAG and they acknowledged that we had never refused to meet them at our last meeting."

But the council said in the run-up to local elections it was unable to take part in politically sensitive talks and it was following election guidelines from central government.

A broomstick battler from York has flown into the UK Quidditch squad competing at this year's World Cup.

Tom Stevens has made it into the 25-player team competing in Florence this summer.

Quidditch was adapted from the Harry Potter novels' wizarding sport played on broomsticks and combines elements of rugby and dodgeball.

The 2016 Quidditch World Cup saw Team UK take the bronze medal from Canada with a 190-60 point win.

There are now teams on every continent as well as many countries hosting annual club championships for their top teams.

Plans to transform a part of York's city centre will be revealed today.

Image source, EDWARD MCMAIHIN

The proposals include replacing the car park around 13th Century Clifford's Tower with a new public space.

The stone tower was built in the 1250s replacing an earlier wooden structure.

The publication of the plans follows a long-running consultation with local residents.

A plaque will be unveiled in the Peace Gardens in Sheffield (pictured) today to mark the founding of the National Market Traders' Federation.

Image source, Google

In 1899 a group of Yorkshire businessmen held a meeting at the Wentworth Cafe in Pinstone Street, to talk about a leaking market hall and high charges for the use of railway station cloakrooms.

That was the start of the National Market Traders' Federation (NMTF) which became official in 1910.

Today the organisation has 20,000 members who trade at markets, festivals and fairs all over the country.

The ceremony is part of the NMTF's AGM and Conference taking place in the city today.