Mother says MoD apology over Iraq death 'bitter sweet'
Staffordshire Police officer disqualified for drink driving
A teenager tried to smuggle 200 pills into V Festival
Updates on Friday 18 August 2017
Chris King
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has started a recruitment drive to employ more firefighters.
Image source, Cheshire Fire and RescueIt's hoping to get a dozen more crew members and more applications from women and people from black and minority ethnic communities, external.
Stoke complete the signing of Netherlands international defender Bruno Martins Indi from FC Porto for 7.7m euros (£7m).
Read MoreThanks to UKJAY and Pete at Bradwell, just two of our fabulous Weather Watchers, for sending in these two lovely images.
The top one is of Longton and the bottom one is of Longport, both in Stoke-on-Trent.
Image source, UKJAY
Image source, Pete at Bradwell
Phil McCann
Cheshire Political Reporter, BBC News
A school is getting £70,000 for a new car park because of a letter which may have mistakenly formed a contract.
Image source, GoogleThe Berkeley Academy in Wistaston, near Crewe, had been lobbying Cheshire East Council for years.
Former council leader Michael Jones agreed to help and shortly after he quit as leader in 2015, a letter outlined how much funding had been set aside.
As the months went on it's claimed the council went quiet on the offer.
Now though, the council says that letter may legally have formed a contract even if it wasn't meant to, so the agreement has to be honoured.
The school hasn't commented, but the council's new leader says it's putting its house in order to avoid similar events in future.
Women are being warned not to walk around at night on their own and stick to well-lit areas in the city centre as the search to find a rapist , externalenters its third day.
BBC Sport
Newcastle are close to completing the signing of Stoke striker Joselu for a reported £5m., external
Image source, Getty ImagesMore than £500,000 is being spent by Stoke-on-Trent City Council on improving the centre of Burslem.
Image source, GoogleThe works will create a public open space on the site of the old Ceramica Building next to the town hall.
Quote MessageThis ground work we are doing is going to give the community a focal point where they will be able to hold events, festivals, markets and other activities
Dan Jellyman, Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter
It will be a much drier and brighter day on the whole with a low risk of catching a brief shower.
There will be plenty of sunny spells and it will feel warm in the sunshine - highs of 23C (73F).
Latest weather forecast for the West Midlands
We'll bring you the latest news, sport, travel and weather from across the area until 18:00.
We'll be back with our usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 tomorrow, but keep an eye out here for more updates this evening and into the morning.
James Bovill
Staffordshire Political Reporter, BBC News
On Midlands Today from 18:30, we'll hear about a Stoke-on-Trent MP's claim over school holiday hunger.
Ruth Smeeth says there is a rising number of children going hungry this summer when free school meals end because term has finished.
She wants action and is working with charities and community groups on a project in the city - see more from 18:30 on BBC One.
Allen Cook
BBC Local Live
A new Marks and Spencer store is going to open in Crewe at the end of the month - the day after the retailer shuts its store in the centre of the town.
M&S says the Market Street branch will shut for good on 30 August, external with all staff moving to the new site at the Grand Retail Park which will officially open on 31 August.
Jack Dowling
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke
Two French bulldogs which were stolen from a house in Stoke-on-Trent have been found and reunited with their owners.
Image source, Staffordshire PoliceThe pair, called Taffy and Honey, were taken, Staffordshire Police said, from the property's porch on Shelton New Road on 3 August., external
Today the force tweeted that the bulldogs had been reunited., external
Chris King
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke
I've been to the site of the overturned lorry on the A50 at the Sideway roundabout as it joins the A500 in Stoke-on-Trent.
A crane has now been brought in as Highways England looks to right the vehicles which ended up on its side at around 11:00 this morning.
The closure of the eastbound A50 up to the B5039's led to long delays on the southbound A500 and also through Fenton.
Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter
We're forecast some heavy rain tonight, but it will be a much better day tomorrow, with just a few showers expected.
Charlie Slater has your forecast
Allen Cook
BBC Local Live
The public library in Newcastle-under-Lyme's going to shut in October and then reopen just over two weeks later in a new location.
Image source, GoogleStaffordshire County Council says the current building in the town centre, a former 1970s department store, is expensive to heat and light.
They say it'll be relocated to the new £15.4m Castle House building on 23 October, after the present site on Ironmarket closes on 6 October.
Jack Dowling
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke
We've just heard from Highways England who, just before 17:00, tweeted to say the eastbound A50 in Stoke-on-Trent could be shut for "several further hours, external".
The vehicle ended up on its side at around 11:00 today and the organisation says that it's proved to be a "complex recovery" to clear the route between the A500 and B5039.
Image source, Highways EnglandAllen Cook
BBC Local Live
Concerns have been raised over staff turnover at one of the UK's largest prisons, Staffordshire's HMP Oakwood.
A report by the prison's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), external said the number of prison officers at the site in Featherstone who are aged under 25 "appears to be increasing" over the past year.
The IMB says they're satisfied "everything is being done that can be" with recruitment but says they're concerned some new recruits don't last long before leaving.
They also say the prison is doing well to tackle the increase of drugs and mobile phones entering UK prisons using drones or being thrown over the fences.
In one example the IMB says a drone was found in the prison's grounds in October with a package of mobile phones and the psychoactive substance Mamba.
Private firm G4S, which runs HMP Oakwood,, external says they're taking steps including fitting rip-proof nets to stop the flow of illegal items and are overall "encouraged" by the report's findings.
Councillors have given the green light to build 100 new homes on land in Stafford., external
Chris King
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke
Image source, Highways EnglandThere are long delays around the junction of the A50 and A500 this afternoon in Stoke-on-Trent as part of the A50 remains shuts due to an overturned lorry.
The emergency services were called after the vehicle ended up on its side at the Sideway roundabout just before 11:00. , external
The driver of the lorry had to be cut free and was taken to hospital with what West Midlands Ambulance Service described as potentially serious injuries.
Through the afternoon, Highways England says the eastbound carriageway of the A50 has been shut from the A500 to the B5039 as they work to remove it., external
Image source, Highways England
