Health expert expects County Hospital's children's A&E to stay shut
'Lucky escape' for four people in M6 crash
Snake in canal: Expert says it's an 'Albino Burmese Python'
Our updates from Friday 26 August
Plans to build 900 homes in the South Cheshire countryside near Crewe have been unanimously rejected by councillors.
Image source, GoogleOver 1,000 people had objected to the proposals for Wychwood Village, but developers insist more houses need to be built. The government will now have the final say.
Stone Town Council has agreed to fund a £7,000 celebration to welcome home Olympic gold medal winner Joe Clarke, external.
Matthew Bone
Reporter, BBC Midlands Today
Body cameras could be issued to ambulance staff across the West Midlands because of a rise in the number of attacks on paramedics.
There were 298 attacks on ambulance staff last year - that's nearly a third more than in 2012.
CCTV cameras are already being fitted to vehicles to offer them extra protection from patients who are angry, drunk or on drugs.
Police in Australia confirm they are treating a fatal stabbing at a Queensland hostel as a murder inquiry, rather than terrorism, despite some reports saying the attacker shouted the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar".
Mia Ayliffe-Chung, was attacked at Shelley's Backpackers in Home Hill, a small town about 100km (60 miles) south-east of the city of Townsville.
Police said Miss Ayliffe-Chung's family had been contacted, as had the relatives of Mr Jackson - who was taken to Townsville Base Hospital.
Image source, MYKAH POWELL/PA WIRESpeaking of Mr Jackson, Samantha Harrison wrote on Facebook: "Tom Jackson was a very close friend and one of the most amazing people I have ever met. Now Tom I need you too stay strong and beat this for yourself and all of your friends and family who love you."
Chris King
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke
Here are the latest stories:
- A man from south Cheshire is 'fighting for his life' after he was stabbed at a backpackers' hostel in Australia
- 89 businesses in Newcastle haven't paid a compulsory levy to help promote the town - despite being issued with a court summons
- Plans to expand the Cheshire headquarters of the world's biggest and most sensitive telescope, Jodrell Bank, have been approved.
Fire crews in the Midlands say they’re expecting a rise in the number of water rescues - after several days of warm weather.
In all, 231 people died in open water in the UK last year and the figures spike during the summer holidays when temperatures rise.
Both Severn Trent, who owns Tittesworth reservoir in the Staffordshire Moorlands, and the fire service are warning people as they hope to avoid problems.
Traders in Newcastle under Lyme are being taken to court today for failing to pay in to the town's Business Improvement District (BID) - a scheme designed to promote the town and attract shoppers.
Nearly 200 had initially refused to pay the mandatory levy, but a significant number have since paid to avoid extra court costs, the BBC understands.
The BID says the non payers are in the minority and have urged them to get in touch to talk about the concerns they have.
It's emerged a man critically injured in an attack in an Australian hostel is a backpacker from Cheshire.
The man, named locally as 30-year-old Tom Jackson from Congleton, was injured in a stabbing in Queensland that left Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, from Derbyshire, dead.
A 29-year-old French national has been arrested.
According to PA, Mr Jackson's parents declined to speak at their home in Congleton, Cheshire.
Stoke City's Joe Allen has been named in Chris Coleman’s latest Wales squad for their 2018 World Cup Qualifier against Moldova, external next month.
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BBC Travel
There's heavy traffic because of a broken-down vehicle on the M6 southbound between J19 (Knutsford) and J18 (Middlewich).
A man is jailed for life after admitting stabbing a woman to death at a house in Staffordshire.
Read MoreA 25-year-old drink driver who caused a head-on collision, external while "racing" another car on a Burton road has been jailed.
Image source, Burton MailPlenty of cloud, but also a bit of sun across Staffordshire today as the top photo from BBC Weather Watcher Proth in Wetley Rocks shows.
Below, On The Moor captured a misty start in Biddulph.
Image source, Proth
Image source, On The MoorOur latest news headlines:
- Reports suggest that a man critically ill in hospital, after an attack at a backpackers' hostel in Queensland, is from Congleton
- A man is jailed for life for murdering a woman, external at his home in Chesterton
- Almost 300 West Midlands Ambulance staff were attacked last year, according to figures obtained by the BBC
South Cheshire Olympian Bryony Page says she still can't believe that her silver medal win in Rio is real.
She became the first British woman to win an Olympic medal on the trampoline.
She told BBC Radio Stoke she's still in shock.
Image source, gettyQuote MessageI've got the medal around my neck right now. I don't believe it. It's so surreal and I'm not sure when it'll sink in or if it ever will. It's just incredible. I just feel so happy."
Bryony Page, Silver medallist
There might be some sunshine around this afternoon, but it will be mostly cloudy across Staffordshire and Cheshire.
Weather for the West Midlands.
A man has been jailed for life for murdering a woman at his Chesterton home.
Phillip Barlow, 36, of Victoria Street in Chesterton, will serve a minimum of just over 12 years in prison, external after being jailed at Stafford Crown Court today.
He had pleaded guilty to murder at a hearing in July.
Barlow was arrested following the discovery of the body of Fay Daniels at about 15:30 on Sunday 24 April. He was charged with her murder the following day.
Image source, Family photographQuote MessageToday’s sentence is to be welcomed and I hope it brings some comfort to Fay’s family and friends."
Det Insp Glyn Pattinson, Staffordshire Police
Quote MessageWe are truly devastated by Fay’s death, we will never come to terms with the circumstances in which she was taken."
Statement from Fay's family
Matthew Bone
Political reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester
I've been looking at whether paramedics need protection after a big rise in the number of assaults over the past four years. You can see more in Midlands Today, on BBC One at 13:30 and 18:30.
Big increase in attacks on paramedics.
Sir Bradley Wiggins has confirmed his participation in the Tour of Britain, which gets under way on 4 September - it visits Cheshire two days later.
Wiggins, who claimed his fifth Olympic gold medal at Rio and his eighth cycling medal overall, will race alongside fellow Olympic gold medallist Owain Doull and Jonathan Dibben, external under the Team Wiggins banner.
Cheshire East looking forward to Tour of Britain
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Jamie King
BBC Sport
Minor Counties kings Staffordshire are hoping for more silverware when they take on Herefordshire in the Knockout Trophy final at Wormsley today.
It is only two years since Staffs won the most recent of their record 11 Minor Counties Championship titles.
Image source, Stoke SentinelBut they have not triumphed in the one-day format since 1993, when they won for the second time in three seasons.
The closest they have come since then was in the 2009 final, when they suffered a heavy defeat by Norfolk.
However, last month's 50-run semi-final victory over Dorset at Bournemouth gave them an opportunity to end that long wait.
