High streets in the Black Country have some of the largest number of empty shops in the country, new figures revealed today.

A bouncer who dumped bin bags overflowing with rubbish in a South Staffordshire lane has been hit with a bill of more than £1,300.

More patients than expected are dying at three out of five hospital trusts in the West Midlands and Staffordshire, latest NHS figures show.

A brewery will expand its capacity by more than 300 per cent after increasing beer production by more than a third in a year.

Litter bins worth thousands of pounds have been stolen by metal thieves or damaged in Staffordshire and the Black Country last year, it has emerged.

Walsall’s James Beech made it through to the quarter-finals of the ABA Schoolboys national championships – after nearly having his Midlands title took away from him.

A modern multi-storey car park could be built in Walsall town centre under new plans revealed today.

A pioneering health initiative targeting early detection of bowel cancer among young people is being rolled out at two Staffordshire hospitals.

Thousands of young people from schools across the region are being invited to find out about apprenticeship schemes at a series of events this week.

Weekly bin collections are to be protected in parts of the West Midlands as councils bid for millions of pounds of Government cash to maintain the number of rounds. Fortnightly rounds will stay in South Staffordshire.