New research by housing charity Shelter has found that over 39,000 private rented homes in the West Midlands equivalent to 1 in 10, have suffered from animal infestations such as mice and cockroaches in the last year alone. The Shelter and YouGov poll of over 3,700 private renters in England revealed that bad living conditions are rife in rented homes, with almost half of renters (46%) in the West Midlands reporting that they had experienced problems with poor conditions or disrepair in the last year.

The youth and student wing of the Green Party is set to hold its largest ever National Convention in Nottingham later this month. Membership of the Young Greens has grown more than tenfold in under two years, and currently stands at over 20,000. The National Convention, an annual event at which training, elections and the Young Greens’ AGM are held, will take place at Nottingham Trent University on 31st October and 1st November.

In 20 years the Hope project has transformed the lives thousands of homeless dog owners growing from just one clinic to over 100 vital services throughout the UK. This week Dogs Trust the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, marks the 20th anniversary of its Hope Project - a unique service which offers support to dogs owners who are homeless or in housing crisis.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has thanked the media and politicians from around the West Midlands for their support in convincing the government to back down and change the formula for how police forces will be funded in future. Following a large campaign and much pressure the Home Office’s new preferred formula has had an element removed from it that would have disadvantaged forces such as the West Midlands and could have resulted in a huge loss of funding.

Wolverhampton’s Adult Education Service is marking Black History Month by inviting people to try their hand at a traditional beading technique. Experts will be holding free workshops on Wednesday (14 October, 2015), demonstrating basic techniques and then giving people the chance to make their own bracelets to take away with them. The oldest forms of beads date back some 75,000 years and were made in Africa from shell.

Thousands of people joined Yoko Ono and tried to set a world record for largest group of human bodies forming a peace sign. The record attempt to honor Ono's husband, John Lennon, didn't succeed. Still, the Central Park crowd celebrated the upcoming birthday of the late Beatle. Lennon would have turned 75 on Friday. A Guinness World Records representative says Tuesday's effort brought together more than 2,000 people.