Today's updates have now finished. We'll be back with more news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 on Wednesday.
- Updates on Tuesday 10 March 2015
- More news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 on Wednesday
The funeral of an 11-year-old boy who died after being knocked down by a bus while he was on his way home from school has taken place.
Nathan McStay had just left Excelsior Academy when he was hit by the vehicle in Whickham View, Scotswood, Newcastle, last month.
The youngster, from Benwell, was pronounced dead at the scene. Friends and family paid their last respects during a private service at West Road Crematorium.
Proposals to merge two schools in County Durham are due to be discussed by councillors.
Durham County Council's cabinet is proposing amalgamating Shotley Bridge infant and junior schools, creating a new primary school.
A decision will be made following a meeting on 18 March.
BBC Look North TV presenter Carol Malia and folk musician Kathryn Tickell have been appointed as Deputy Lieutenants of Northumberland.
The job involves helping the Duchess of Northumberland, who is the Lord-Lieutenant - the Queen's official representative for the county.This means they will help organise royal visits to the county.
Plans for the regeneration of Whitley Bay have been approved by North Tyneside Council's cabinet.
The scheme, funded by the council, its partners, and private developers, includes a £1m visitor centre at St Mary's Headland, proposals to improve the Watts Slope area and plans for the future of the Spanish City Dome.
A panel of Hartlepool councillors has unanimously recommended that Gill Alexander becomes the next chief executive.
She would replace Dave Stubbs, who retires at the end of May after a 44-year career at the council.
Rangers have suspended three members of their football club boardpending an internal investigation.
Bus company owner Sandy Easdale had been chairman of the football board.
Former chief executive Derek Llambias and director Barry Leach had already been removed from the Rangers International Football Club PLC board.
Llambias and Leach, who was finance director, are business associates of Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley, the Newcastle United and Sports Direct owner.
A school is launching a childminding agency to help tackle the problem of new pupils being unable to speak properly or not being toilet-trained.
The Northumberland Church of England Academy will help match childminders and babies across Ashington, Lynemouth and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.Children will then join the academy, where they can stay until aged 19.
A great-grandmother who washit by a bus in Stockton has died.
Dorothy Bryan, 75, suffered serious injuries including a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain, a broken pelvis and six broken ribs after being hit by a bus on Stockton High Street on December 4 last year.
The Shields Gazette
Middlesbrough Council's longest-serving local politician has died at the age of 91.
A former mayor and council leader, Walter Ferrier was elected to the Thorntree ward in 1954 and bowed out in 2011.
Councillor Bob Brady, the council's vice chair, said: "My main memory of him will be of all the things he did for the young people of this town such as bringing us youth clubs, organising exchange visits and many other things.
"He was also a very, very kind man, considerate and a very popular councillor."
You can't underestimate the importance of Sunderland'sSaturday game with Aston Villa - a team just one point and one place below Sunderland.
Villa have just had a morale-boosting cup win against West Brom, and in their last Premier League game against the same opposition, scored a late winner which has rejuvenated them and given their season a lifeline.
Teesside bus company Leven Valley Coaches has announced it will close due to its insurance bill trebling.
The company, which runs 11 services, said it could no longer afford to keep going after its annual bill rose from £54,000 to £154,000.
It hopes to move all its staff to sister company Compass Royston.
Middlesbrough's Captain Cook Birthplace Museum is due to reopen on 31 March for its 2015 season.The museum, in Stewart Park close to the site of James Cook's birth, follows the naval explorer's life from his early years onwards.
Sunderland's Gus Poyethas denied a Football Association charge of improper conduct after kicking a container of drinks and confronting Hull boss Steve Bruce on the touchline.
The incident took place as Poyet was sent to the stand in the 35th minute of his side's 1-1 draw with Hull City in the Premier League last week.
A new purpose-built IVF unit has opened its doors at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says the facility will bring all reproductive medicine services together in one place.
It includes its own theatre, lab, tank room, air quality control, recovery area, patient rooms, changing rooms, reception and waiting area.
A woman arrested on suspicion of child neglect has been cautioned by Durham Police.
It follows the discovery of 18-week-old baby in a pram in the back of a van, which officers stopped in the South Church Road area of Bishop Auckland.
The baby was not injured and a referral has been made to social services.
Cleveland Police has appealed for information after burglaries in which a bike, ladders and artificial turf were stolen on two occasions at the same house in Hartlepool.
The property, in Hart Lane, was first targeted on 4 March and then again in the early hours of 6 March.
A charity fundraiser well-known for running with a fridge strapped to his backhas been charged with assault.
Tony Phoenix-Morrison, better known as "Tony The Fridge", appeared at Sunderland Magistrates' Court to face four charges of assault and one of using violence to get into a home.
The 50-year-old, from Hebburn, denies the charges and was bailed to appear in court in September.
Plans are being announced for more rail services in the North East.
First Group wants to run several trains a day from London to Edinburgh, via Newcastle and Morpeth. If the application to the Office of Rail Regulation is successful, services would start in 2018.
Two men have been arrested after a fire caused considerable damage to a number of properties in Sherburn Village.
It started on Monday in the roof of Clifton House, where work was being carried out and then spread to five adjoining properties. No-one was hurt.Durham Police said the pair, aged 23 and 27, were arrested on suspicion of arson and later released on bail.