Local Live has now finished for the day. We'll be back with more news, sport, travel and weather updates from 08:00 on Thursday.
- Updates for Wednesday 11 March 2015
- More news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 on Thursday
Any remaining patchy rain will soon ease away with some brief clearer spells possible in the north.
However, cloudier skies will persist across southern parts, before spreading north again during the early hours.Get your local forecast.
- There's heavy traffic on the M6 northbound from J6, at Spaghetti Junction, to J7, Great Barr, because of an earlier accident. All lanes have been reopened
- An overturned lorry and shed load is blocking a lane on the A454 Wolverhampton Road eastbound in Walsall, at the Bloxwich Lane junction
British Transport Police has released a CCTV image after a passenger climbed out of a train window when he boarded the wrong service.
PC Dawn Dominguez saysthe delays he caused led to more than £2,300 in fines.
BBC Local Live
John Anslow admitted a separate charge of conspiracy to escape from lawful custody and was jailed for seven years in December 2013.
He had already been sentenced while he was on the run to 22 years for his involvement in large-scale drugs supply.
Anslow was due to appeal against his escape conviction and sentence today - but the Court of Appeal confirmed this afternoon the case was abandoned on 9 March.
BBC Local Live
A fugitive drug baron who went on the run abroad has abandoned a bid to appeal against his conviction for the escape.
John Anslow, from Tipton, had been charged with killing Richard Deakin in Staffordshire when he was freed by an armed gang near HMP Hewell, Redditch, on 23 January 2012.
About 14 months later he was arrested in Alsancak, in northern Cyprus, for immigration offences and brought back to the UK on 16 March 2013. He was latercleared by a jury.
An investigation into the cause of a large fire at a factory in Tamworth this morning will begin tomorrow, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service says.
Crews are still damping down at the Timms UK building on Lichfield Road Industrial Estate.
At its height, 50 firefighters were tackling the blaze.
Birmingham's Gas Street basin stretch of canalis set to reopen tomorrow after repairs to stop a leak last month.
Engineers drained the waterway, rescued fish, replaced a section of the bed and then refilled it.
David Cameron is in the Midlands this afternoon, starting at the Science Fair at the NEC.
He will announce A-level students thinking of studying maths and physics at degree level could be given £15,000 in return for becoming teachers.
Presenter, BBC WM
The head teacher of a Polish school in the Black Country has told BBC WM Eastern European children are being turned away from mainstream schools because they can't speak English.
For more, listen toBBC WM now.
A Dudley motorist has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving after his passenger died during a collision in Netherton last June,West Midlands Police says.
Timothy Pearson, 23, from Quarry Bank, was a passenger in Jamie Wharton's Nissan Skyline, which hit a garden wall.
Doctors' surgeries in Birmingham and the Black Country have been offered £650 a session to open on Easter Saturday.
According to an email obtained bymedical magazine Pulse, GP practices had until today to sign up.
Journalist, BBC WM
There is a backdrop of trying to balancethe books behind the decision tosell Birmingham's Grand Central shopping centre.
Birmingham is under tremendous pressure to settle backdated equal pay claims of more than £1bn.
For years low paid workers, usually women, earned much less than others, usually men, on the same grade.
Because the council also has to impose swingeing spending cuts, it has few options other than to raise money through the sale of capital assets.
Journalist, BBC News
Schoolboys try to get selfies with Prime Minister David Cameron during his visit to the The Big Bang UK Young Scientists Engineers Fair at the NEC.
During the prime minister's visit he chatted to school children and viewed their exhibition stands.
A £500m plan toregenerate part of the centre of Birmingham has been unveiled by developers.
To be called Birmingham Smithfield, the project involves moving the wholesale market to make way for a major shopping area, tram line and 1,000 homes.
Birmingham Smithfield will be near the planned Curzon terminal for the HS2 rail line.
Journalist, BBC WM
A new report says transferring the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to the control of a trust in Birmingham should be considered, but warns it would mean the end of the trust currently running the county's hospitals.
There's more information in my16:00 bulletin.
The cause of a fire which broke out at a factory in Tamworth this morning is not thought to be suspicious, Staffordshire Fire Service says.
Crews are expected to remain at the site on Lichfield Road Industrial Estate until "at least tomorrow morning", the service says.
A rabbit rescue centre in Hampton-in-Arden might lose the right to look after the animals after putting up hutches without planning permission.
The local council saysFat Fluffs is on green belt land and if retrospective permission is not granted, the centre could have to take down its buildings.
The Grand Central shopping complex is to be sold by Birmingham City Council.
There are many who would argue that local authorities ought to concentrate on their core duties, the provision and delivery of services, and not become major commercial landowners.
Others will regret that more major city attractions are being lost to private investors, most likely from overseas.
Reilly, 21, joined Birmingham's youth system as a seven-year-old and has played 66 games for Blues since making his debut in January 2012.
Journalist, BBC News
The reopening of Gas Street canal basin in Birmingham has been delayed, the Canal and River Trust has just announced.
The stretch was closed to repair a hole in the waterbed, and was originally scheduled to reopen later.
That's now been pushed back to tomorrow lunchtime.
TheCanal and River Trust say work to repair Gas Street canal basin is complete and the stretch is expected to reopen later.
Work was needed to fix a hole in the canal bed after water started seeping into a disused railway tunnel.
Staffordshire Fire Service says firefighters will begin damping down at a factory in Tamworth shortly.
Group manager Tim Hyde, who was at the fire, said: "The factory was well alight when firefighters first arrived on the scene and the crews have done an excellent job in bringing it under control swiftly and safely.
"They faced an added complication when tackling the blaze as the roof, which was on fire, was made of asbestos cement sheeting. This posed no risk to the public as it remained within 25 metres of the factory itself. The material will be removed by specialists."
Express and Star
Police arequestioning a teenager over the assault of a Watford football fan following a Wolverhampton Wanderers game.
Nick Cruwys, 44, was assaulted in Littles Lane on Saturday. He suffered head injuries and remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.
A number of nearby businesses have been evacuated as a safety precaution due to a large factory fire in Tamworth.
Staffordshire Police are tellingresidents close to the Timms UK factory in Lichfield Road Industrial estate to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.
"Anyone who begins to suffer from breathing difficulties or irritation is advised to contact the ambulance service and seek medical help," police say.
Journalist, BBC WM
"A number" of nearby premises have been evacuated as a safety precaution and there are no reports of injury, Staffordshire Police said.
Virgin Trains, CrossCountry, Arriva Trains Wales and London Midland services have been affected.