The fitness guru Amanda Kloots writes an emotional note to her comatose husband who remains in hospital as he continues his arduous recovery from coronavirus.

The African-American community including the 'How to Get Away with Murder' actress and the 'Selma' helmer is mourning the loss of influential Uptown Records founder who has passed away at the age of 59.

Investigators are working to figure out if the encounter was a misunderstanding or if this was an attempted abduction.

Hockey legend Gordie Howe's visitation service was held at JLA in Detroit. Thousands paid their respects.

Venue: Sir John Clancy Auditorium. Time: 8pm.

The Federal Government has announced a package of $17 million to support regional and Indigenous arts, and a sum of $10M to the charity Support Act to support people in the music industry. 

Australian Music Centre is commissioning 10 presentations in 2020 under the banner of the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address. 10 x $1000 bursaries will be available to the Australian music community to create online works that are realised in 2020. Distribution will be in partnership with the ABC and Monash University, in order that your work reaches as broad an audience as possible, and further embeds Australian music in teaching and learning. Deadline for EOIs is at 5pm AEST on Friday 8 May 2020.

Connecticut officials have announced a $50,000 reward for information to help solve the killing of an Air Force veteran. Governor Ned Lamont approved the maximum reward allowed by state law in the case of Dominic Marino. The 30-year-old veteran was found shot to death with his wrists and ankles bound with tape in his East Hartford home in 2018. Police say the suspect or suspects appeared to have forced their way into the home. Marino’s father said his son served in Guam, South Korea and Kuwait. The reward is for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers.

A federal jury has found former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota guilty on all charges in the latest corruption trial that has brought down some of Long Island’s most powerful public officials. Spota’s ex-aide, Christopher McPartland, was also found guilty.

Suffolk County will investigate how the Department of Social Services handled allegations of parental abuse in the case of an 8-year-old boy who died last week in his father’s custody.

Richard Lutz rummages through the vestiges of the last week

Two Sandwell community swimming pools to close to help fund Commonwealth Games Aquatics Centre, reports Steve Beauchampe.

Tudor Grange date for visually impaired swimmers.

Top vet gains international honours as he seeks world title.

Young swimmers compete and learn at Tudor Grange.

International sports legacy experts will convene at the University of Birmingham this week to discuss the rationale behind hosting global mega-events and their lasting impact.

Arts centre commended for excellence and innovation in digital accessibility for all.

Bank signs up to help magazine during coronavirus crisis.

Initiative follows upsurge in violent incidents.

Security roadshow heads to Snow Hill.

Local schoolboy aims to join world elite.

Award recognises centre's bike-friendly credentials.

Region’s showcase of ambitions sees 50% increase in media profile.

Bus scheme driving cleaner air and better facilities for Solihull town centre.

A Good Hope consultant has won international recognition for leading a new treatment study

England wicket keeper Sarah Taylor is arguably one of the best female cricketers in the history of the ladies game and she could make history this summer by becoming the first woman to play men's second XI county cricket.

Half a century has passed since they flicked rubbers at each other from their desks, but up to 250 of a Sutton Coldfield secondary school’s first pupils are to reunite to mark its 50th anniversary.

Solihull Junior School pupils were so impressed by their visit to a local children’s charity that they made an Olympian effort to support it.

The Midlands Media Awards is this year to take place at The Holte Suite, Aston Villa FC’s prestigious hospitality centre.

Media and creative professionals from across the West Midlands helped put Birmingham on the map as the new Carnival Capital last week, at a special event organised by the Birmingham Publicity Association (BPA).

Les Reid, of the Coventry Telegraph, has been nominated for four categories at this year’s Awards, which are being held next month.

The Birmingham Look Book – a go-to resource for journalists designed to raise the profile of Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull with national and international media

The sudden shutdown of all channels of Greece's national broadcasting company by the Greek government is 'unacceptable for an EU democracy', says West Mids and Warks Lib Dem MEP Phil Bennion.

A Year 13 student from Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) has secured a role with international news network, Russia Today.

Birmingham Now TV launched online.

Birmingham's hidden industrial heritage saved from the skip.

This week, we talk to Jorge Alvarez, better known as Kurious. The New York-based emcee released his classic debut album A Constipated Monkey in 1994, following several years of singles and guest appearances with the likes of 3rd Bass and Del the Funkee Homosapien. Since that album, he continued to appear on record with friends like MF Doom and MF Grimm, but it was almost 15 years until he released a follow-up album, II, which showcased a newfound maturity and artistry.

We talked to Kurious about the ups and downs of his career, the vast differences between his albums, and a hip-hop transformation to which he had a front row seat — when his friend Zev Love X of KMD turned into the legendary MF DOOM.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/13/ for full show notes and comments.

This week, we bring you a very special talk with Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets. We chatted with him about his extensive and fascinating life and work. We’re very proud to bring you this incredible bit of living history.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/19/ for full show notes and comments.

This episode, we talk to Milk Dee. Along with his brother Giz, they formed the Audio Two, an influential duo whose biggest hit, “Top Billin’,” has been sampled or interpolated by pretty much every rapper alive. We chat with Milk about the Audio Two, his successful production career (he was behind Eamon’s monster hit “Fuck It”), and the work of his sister, the legendary MC Lyte.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/40/ for full show notes and comments.

This episode, we have a talk with one of hip-hop’s first superstars - Guy Williams, better known as Rahiem (of all the ladies’ dreams), from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The Five took their sound and style from parties in the Bronx to stages all over the world, while having massive, world-changing hit songs like “The Message” and “White Lines.” We talked to Rahiem about his life and times with the Five and afterwards, and got some incredible tales of his, and a whole genre’s, rise to the top

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/49/ for full show notes and comments.

Allah B is a longtime member of the Nation of Gods and Earths, formerly known as the Five Percenters. He grew up in Harlem in the 1950s and 60s, a time when the Nation of Islam had huge influence thanks to its minister, Malcolm X. Clarence 13X Smith was an NOI member who became disenchanted with the group around 1963, and formed his own organization the following year. Clarence quickly became known as “Allah” or “The Father,” and most of his early disciples were teenage boys, Allah B among them.

The group, originally known as the Five Percenters and now as the Nation of Gods and Earths, grew steadily until Allah’s murder in June 1969. It would have a rebirth in the 1980s and 90s, as many of the young children raised in the group’s beliefs would go into hip-hop and spread Five Percenter beliefs, slang, and practices far and wide.

If you’ve ever listened to Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, or the Wu-Tang Clan, said “Peace” or “word,” or stood in a b-boy stance, you owe a huge debt to the Gods and Earths, whether you realize it or not. Allah B has been there for the group’s whole history, and shares it with us in this interview.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/151/ for full show notes and comments.

J.Period is one of the best mixtape DJs in the world and worked closely with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Questlove on the just released Hamilton Mixtape, a companion to the smash hit musical that mixes new versions of songs in the show, reinterpretations, and demos.

He’s also been the music supervisor for the Brooklyn Nets, helped launch the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, composed for TV and film, and was even the DJ Spike Lee called at 10 am the day Prince passed to come play the filmmaker’s block party that night.

J.Period’s work is very far from a standard mixtape. Instead, he makes musical documentaries, mixing songs, interview and news footage, sample sources, and guest artists to create a unique, multilayered picture of the work of icons like Nas, Lauryn Hill, Q-Tip, James Brown, Michael Jackson, and more. He has even taken this approach to the stage with his “live mixtape” series, which he has performed at the Smithsonian Museum, The Roots Picnic, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, and more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/179/ for full show notes and comments.

This is episode 200, and features a return from Kevin Coval. However, since it is our 200th, our producer Josh got Kevin, who’s also a big fan of the show, to turn the tables without us knowing and interview the show’s host Shawn. So if you’ll excuse a little self indulgence here’s the episode 200 with Kevin Coval, Shawn Setaro AND Josh Kross.

Kevin is a poet and educator who is the artistic director of Young Chicago Authors, and the author and editor of a whole bunch of great books. The latest of these is A People’s History of Chicago. The book, true to its title, covers the entire history of the city, while focusing on the experiences and victories of its working people and those struggling for justice. The book’s foreward is by a young artist who has learned a lot from Coval, Chance the Rapper.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/200/ for full show notes and comments.

Skyzoo is a fantastic Brooklyn rapper whose sophisticated lyrics and ear for soulful beats has long made him one of our favorites. Longtime listeners will no doubt remember that he’s been a guest on the show twice before. But this is different.

Sky approached us last month with the idea of having an in-depth conversation to tease out the themes and ideas in his awesome new record. In Celebration of Us, easily his most topical project to date, deals with police violence, gentrification, discrimination, validation, and ultimately what it means to be, as Sky is, a black man raising a black boy in America today.

He wanted to have the talk at a place near to his heart, so we met at Mike’s Coffee Shop. Mike’s is a Brooklyn diner that has been a staple of the rapper’s life since childhood, and remains one now that he has a child — his newborn son Miles — of his own.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/231/ for full show notes and comments.

Leaders from some of Europe’s largest companies will be gathering in Birmingham to discuss the role that open innovation and collaboration can play in boosting the economy

Financial advisers from across the West Midlands attended a course on auto enrolment yesterday – the new regime for workplace pensions that has begun to roll out.

The Midlands based rail champion, Campaign for Rail will be holding its inaugural Annual General Meeting tomorrow at the Atrium, Moor Street Station

Birmingham conference aims to improve arts access for disabled youngsters.

A Birmingham based medical charity is giving you the opportunity to double your donation and help save lives around the world

This is the first episode of The Church of Whats Happening Now. I got together with my friend Lee Syatt and we talked about whatever was on our mind. Everything from weightloss secrets, to cats, to music and movies. This will only get better as it goes so stay tuned momo's!

Stay Black!