A three-tiered service for Birmingham’s Community Library have been drawn up following feedback from citizens during a recent public consultation. Initial plans (with opening hours and staff support reduced in tiers 2 and 3) were put forward as part of the council’s effort to respond to reduced funding from central government and would have seen the libraries at Aston and Sutton closed – reducing annual expenditure by £1.9million by 2018/19.

The long haired cat - who has been named Millie - was found in a bus shelter near Kingstanding Road Police Station. The bus stop is located outside Lydons Vets. She was dumped with a cat carrier and a note reading ‘I am a one year old stray, I need a loving home thank you’. RSPCA inspector Elizabeth Boyd said: “Millie is a lovely, friendly cat, she is now being cared for at an RSPCA animal centre and is doing really well.

Mental health came under the spotlight at a unique Sandwell event aimed at improving care and support in the community. More than 50 people took part in the Ideas Festival held at West Bromwich Town Hall and hosted by the borough’s Mental Health People’s Parliament and rights-based organisation Changing Our Lives. The event focused on ‘community places of safety’, where people can go for support.

Football matches on Sandwell pitches will be cancelled this weekend (Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 February) due to bad weather. Following inspection visits Sandwell Council confirms the pitches are already waterlogged. With more rain expected over the coming days the condition of the pitches is likely to worsen.  The decision has been taken to prevent the pitches from becoming churned up and unusable for future matches this season.

A mid-life crisis will cost people living in the West Midlands an average of £7,767.38 and is likely to start at the age of 43, according to new research commissioned by AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians). The cost of £7,767.38 in the West Midlands is just higher than the UK average of £7712.39, and the start of 43 years old is the same as the UK average of 43.

Brighton, London or Ludlow: in 2017 it could be a list of places to visit or a reception class register. Yet it’s not just babies who get named after some of the world’s beautiful places - teddy bears are also more popular if their moniker can be found on a map. Merrythought, Britain’s last remaining luxury teddy bear manufacturer, today revealed their biggest sellers were bears named after towns and cities, with the medieval town of Shrewsbury proving more popular than the country’s capital, London.