Lee Blakeman
Port Vale commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

The Port Vale caretaker manager Michael Brown could try and resurrect a loan deal for a striker, as he looks to reinforce his playing squad. 

Image source, Pete Norton/Getty Images

Brown was hoping to bring the player to Vale Park last week but the move was blocked by his parent club.

BBC Radio Stoke understands that, since then, their manager has been sacked.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Three men in a balaclavas, one thought to have a firearm and another a knife, have robbed a shop in Stafford., external

Image source, Google

Staffordshire Police say the trio walked into the Co-op Food store on Holmcroft Road last night before escaping on foot towards Eccleshall Road.

Officers say they got away with what they're calling a "large quantity of cash, alcohol and cigarettes".

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

The headlines this afternoon include:

- A confidential police report found "failings" among staff looking after protected witnesses following a gangland murder in 2002 in Staffordshire

- Former Crewe Alexandra football coach Barry Bennell has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of sexual assault against a boy under 16

- A holidaymaker from Cannock, Staffordshire who survived the Tunisia beach massacre in 2015 has spoken out about the terrifying moment she hid from the gunman

Emma Thomas
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

I've been looking at what happens next with the Stoke-on-Trent Central constituency, following the news on Friday that Labour's Tristram Hunt is quitting as its MP.

He's going to become the director of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, triggering a by-election. 

The Labour leader Mr Corbyn has said he wishes him well and is confident Labour would hold the Stoke-on-Trent Central seat. 

Their biggest challenge may come from UKIP, which came second in 2015 to Mr Hunt, who won with a majority of 5,179.  

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

Ritchie Rich used Your Questions to ask: "Where does the accent of the Potteries originate from?".

Well, Steve Birks chronicles on the BBC website that English language scholars say that the Potteries dialect derives from Anglo-Saxon Old English.

For example the local word “Nesh” meaning soft, tender, or to easily get cold is derived from the early English, “nesc, nescenes.” The local word “Slat” meaning to throw, is from the old English “slath,” moved.  

The fact that there used to be two main occupations in north Staffordshire – the pits or the pots – meant that people of these specific social classes spent most of their days in close proximity with people with the same way of speaking. This helped to reinforce and preserve the dialect.

You can read more about the Potteries dialect and words unique to the area in that article on the BBC website.

What do you want to know about Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire? Ask us here and your question could be making the news.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

We asked for more of your pictures of Staffordshire and Cheshire over the weekend and you kept sending them in.

Taken during the snow at the end of last week, Steve Spackman sent this from Apedale Country Park.

Image source, Steve Spackman

And Sam Collingwood says he took this on Cannock Chase.

Have you taken a recent photo of Staffordshire or Cheshire that you'd like to share? Send it on email or, if you use Instagram, put it there with the tag #bbcstoke, external.

Image source, Sam Collingwood

Nantwich News

The Canal & River Trust has launched an appeal for volunteer lock keepers on canals around Cheshire.  , external

Image source, Nantwich News

 A holidaymaker from Cannock, Staffordshire who survived the Tunisia beach massacre in 2015 has spoken out about the terrifying moment she hid from the gunman.

Alison Caine and her husband Baron barricaded the door of their hotel room as the terrorist went on the rampage outside. Thirty eight people were killed, 30 of them British tourists.  

As the inquests into their deaths begin, Alison described how she turned to her partner and said, "this is it, we're going to die".  

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Police officers handling a protected witness before a trial concerning an alleged gangland execution have been accused of stopping in hotels together unnecessarily and buying alcohol while on duty at the public's expense.

A series of allegations are contained in a report published today, external about the conduct of Staffordshire Police's Sensitive Policing Unit which had been handling a witness ahead of court proceedings over the murder of Wolverhampton man Kevin Nunes in Pattingham, south Staffordshire, in 2002. All five defendants were cleared following an appeal in 2012.

In September 2016, the BBC asked for a copy of the report, which was used in a Court of Appeal case which quashed the convictions of two of the five original defendants, but was told by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service it could not be disclosed without a court order.

Staffordshire Police has now published the 2006-7 report - compiled following a review by a senior officer within the force. It redacts the names of officers accused at that time, saying "any mistakes or misconduct were of a professional, not criminal nature".

A force statement said: "The content of the report shows that the actions of some of those in the Unit ten years ago is not one that now, or at the time, met the high standards we expect of officers and staff working for Staffordshire Police."  

Emma Thomas
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

A £500,000 unit for people detained by police under the mental health act opens in Stafford today, as part of a plan to cut the number of vulnerable people kept in custody cells, external.

The purpose-built suite at Stafford's St George's Hospital is a secure place for people who are experiencing psychiatric distress to be taken, where they can be assessed by health professionals.

Image source, Google

Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, says he wants the practice of people being locked in cells under such circumstances, external to stop. 

In the last five years it's been reduced by 80% - but a BBC investigation found that, last year, Staffordshire had the highest number of such cases of any police force in the West Midlands. 

BBC Weather Watchers

It might have been a damp and drizzly morning but that hasn't stopped our BBC Weather Watchers uploading a range of photos, capturing the weather.

These two are from users Neil and Nora in Biddulph, Staffordshire and Dawn Treader in Congleton, Cheshire.

Image source, Neil and Nora

Image source, Dawn Treader

A baby was born on the back seat of a police car after her parents' car broke down in snow.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

A confidential police report into how a Staffordshire Police unit handled protected witnesses during a murder investigation concluded it needed radical restructuring, external.

Suspected drug dealer Kevin Nunes, 20, from Wolverhampton, was found dead in a country lane in Pattingham, Staffordshire in September 2002. 

Image source, Staffordshire Police

Staffordshire Police have today publishing a redacted copy of the 2006-7 Management Review of Staffordshire Police's Sensitive Policing Unit. 

The publication follows Freedom of Information requests made by the Express and Star newspaper. , external

Five men jailed for his murder were cleared on appeal in March 2012. Two of the men who were cleared have began legal action against Staffordshire Police. 

The report details failings in how the unit was run and managed in 2006-7 including a breakdown in trust between officers, concerns over officers drinking alcohol on duty, poor morale and friction between staff members. 

Staffordshire Police says the unit was disbanded in 2007 and management of protected witnesses has been done on a national basis since 2012. 

BBC Sport

Stoke City's boss Mark Hughes wants to keep forward Bojan Krkic, despite interest from Middlesbrough, reports the Mirror., external

Bojan, 26, has scored four goals this season, including three in the Premier League with his side ninth in the table. Middlesbrough are 16th.

The Spain international has only started five Premier League games in 2016-17.

Image source, PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images

BBC Politics

Jeremy Corbyn has brushed off concerns that the resignations of two of his MPs in recent weeks could damage him.

He told the BBC that he saw by-elections in Stoke on Trent and in Copeland, Cumbria as chances to challenge the government, rather than as problems for Labour.

Mr Corbyn's interview followed the resignation of Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central Tristram Hunt, who is quitting as an MP to take a job at the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

At lunchtime, our top stories include:

- Former Crewe Alexandra football coach Barry Bennell has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of sexual assault against a boy under 16

- The inquests into the deaths of 30 UK tourists, including a Staffordshire mum, killed at a Tunisian resort in June 2015, have begun with a minute's silence in memory of the victims

- A couple whose baby was born in the back of a police car, external have been reunited with the officers who came to their aid  

Dan Pallett
BBC Midlands Today

On MIdlands Today this lunchtime, we'll hear from a holidaymaker from Staffordshire who survived the Tunisia beach massacre in 2015. 

Image source, PA

Alison Caine and her husband barricaded the door of their hotel room as the terrorist went on the rampage outside.

More on BBC One from 13:30.

There was cheers in Liverpool as a life-size bronze statue of singer and TV presenter Cilla Black was unveiled outside the Cavern Club in Mathew Street.  

Staffordshire sculptor Andy Edwards made the artwork:

Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter

After a pretty wet morning, here's a look ahead to how this afternoon is looking.

The BBC Weather website also has up-to-date forecasts.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

A sheep and her two lambs had to be given oxygen after a barn fire, external in south Cheshire. 

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service say the blaze happened early yesterday morning off Higher Wych Road, Malpas. 

Image source, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

They say, after bringing the fire under control, several animals were "affected" by it. 

They included a sheep which the service says had just given birth and couldn't move - so they gave all three animals oxygen with "special animal oxygen masks".