Top Birmingham City Council Stories:
Kids wake up to school idea (Birmingham Mail, Page 9) In an attempt to encourage children in care homes to go to school, the local authority has come up with a scheme which rewards them with gifts if their attendance improves.
Schools wins plaudits from inspectors (Birmingham Mail, Page 13) More than 70 schools and childcare providers in Birmingham have been labelled “outstanding” in the annual report of the Government’s chief inspector of schools.
Fit for free (Guardian, 24dash.com) Gym For Free, the partnership between Birmingham City Council and Heart of Birmingham PCT, has won a Public Service Award. Cllr Martin Mullaney has been interviewed by Radio WM.
New Street job progresses (careerstructure.com) Network Rail has submitted a detailed planning application for its Birmingham New Street station construction job.
A sparkling celebration of Birmingham’s jewellery heritage (birminghammail.net) The festival, Brilliantly Birmingham, will recognise the city’s up-and-coming designers, as well as reflecting on the beginnings of the trade.
Regional Headlines:
An inquest jury has decided that an unlicensed pilot unlawfully killed a Birmingham couple when his plane nosedived into the ground at 173mph.
People in Dudley were advised to stay in their homes after a major chemical spillage.
US Airways has pulled the plug on a route from Birmingham to Philadelphia, just six months after the service was launched amid a blaze of publicity.
The family of a Walsall man left severely brain damaged by a hospital trust’s failure to diagnose meningitis promptly has been awarded £3.2m for his future care.
National Headlines:
The Supreme Court has overturned earlier court rulings that allowed the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the fairness of bank charges for unauthorised overdrafts, dealing a major blow to millions of customers hoping to obtain refunds.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has defended the Bank of England’s secret loans to RBS and HBOS, saying there was no cost to the taxpayer and it was in the public interest.
After being challenged by opposition leader David Cameron, PM Gordon Brown has said it is doing all it can to help flood victims in Cumbria to return home as quickly as possible.
The Iraq enquiry has been told that the UK investigated claims of links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda but decided that they were not “natural allies.”
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