16/02/2014 East Midlands Today

two weeks' time. That is all from us

Hello and good evening. With your news now for the East Midlands, I'm

Maurice Flynn. Council leaders across the region are building up

cash reserves, while still complaining about having to make

budget cuts. That's the criticism levelled at East Midland councils by

a Government minister. It comes as our authorities finalise budget

plans for the next year. Our political editor, John Hess, has

more. I'm heading to the very top of the East Midlands. It's from this

spot at Beaconhill that you get a fantastic view of the whole of the

East Midlands. When it comes to County Council budget pressures, if

you want the big picture, it's not a bad place either. Take, for example,

Derbyshire, it's facing budget cuts of ?157 million over the next few

years. That's the equivalent of 1,600 job losses. In

Nottinghamshire, the cuts total is ?154 million and 750 jobs since the

age of austerity, it's lost almost a quarter of its workforce. In

Leicestershire, the County Council is talking of cuts of ?110 million.

That's the equivalent of 700 posts it has had to lose 750 jobs. Local

governments will spend ?117 billion this year, ?3 billion more than last

year. That won't be welcome in council chambers like this, as our

local politicians struggle to find more savings. Catch today's special

edition of the Sunday Politics for the East Midlands. It's all about

the cuts and it's on the BBC's iPlayer now. Flowers and cards have

been left at the scene of a car crash in Leicester which killed a

young mother`to`be. It happened on Saffron Lane this weekend. Police

say 22`year`old Paige Jackson was on`foot at the time, she died later

in hospital. Friends say she was pregnant. A statement from her work

colleagues in Wigston described her as "a popular and valued friend"

who'd be "dearly missed." Troops from the East Midlands have made a

huge contribution to the military campaign in Afghanistan, that's

according to the Army's Commander in Helmand Province. Hundreds of

soldiers from Leicestershire and Derbyshire are deployed on

operations there this winter. Some are helping the Afghan Police

protect the city of Lashkar Gah. Others are targeting insurgents who

use deadly improvised bombs. One can look back over the history of our

time here in Afghanistan and see the role that's been played by regiments

such as the Royal Anglican Regiment, their contribution has been really

valued and you can see the changes and you can see the progress that

has been made on the ground here in Helmand. At the Winter Olympics,

Nottingham figure skaters Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland suffered a

point deduction today for the same reason they lost one in last

weekend's team event. They were penalised for holding their lift,

just milliseconds beyond the six seconds they're allowed. The same

lift, and same problem, they thought they'd ironed out in practices

since. They're in 11th place tonight, aiming for a top`10 finish

in tomorrow's event. We've got a strong free dance. We love doing it.

Our goal has to be to go out and do it to the best of our ability and

show the world what we can do. I'm sure the judges will see that and we

will be rewarded. I'm looking forward to it now. Today's football

saw Nottingham Forest out of the FA Cup. It's after Sheffield United

came from behind, to beat them 3`1. It was a win for Leicester Tigers in

the rugby. They beat Gloucester 11`8, thanks to a late Toby Flood

penalty. In the Championship, meanwhile, Nottingham lost 24`25 to

Bristol. In the ice hockey, a double defeat for the Nottingham Panthers

contributed to a double title win for the Belfast Giants. They take

the League and the Conference. Panthers lost 3`1 last night. Last

night, it was the same result, 3`1 to Belfast. Let's check the weather

now, Sara has your forecast. It was nice to see the sunshine today. We

have had a cold evening because of the clearer skies. Temperatures drop

to a minimum of two Celsius tonight. We will see the cloud increasing. It

has been misty with fog around as well. There is rain on the way now.

We will see the winds starting to strengthen too. Becoming blustery

through tomorrow. The rain will work it is way towards the north`east, it

will be showery, there could be heavy bursts as well as we head

through the day time with a maximum temperature of nine Celsius. The

windfalls lighter on Tuesday. There is a chance of a few showers. We

have a ridge of high pressure starting to build in, enough on

Wednesday to give us another dry day. Thanks for sticking with us

tonight, there's more in BBC Breakfast in just a few hours' time.

Goodbye for now. Good evening. In the midst of any

normal winter weather for the week ahead would be fairly unremarkable.

Some rain in places, some strong winds at times, but of course we are

in the midst of no normal winter. It is worth emphasising that with -

the weather this week will be less angry and volatile overall, a fair

bit calmer. Calmer but by no means dry. Outbreaks of rain will spread

across much of the UK through the night. There will be some snow mixed

in across the hills of central Scotland. Temperatures slowly

starting to rise through the night but they could be at or below

freezing across northern Scotland first thing, maybe a bit icy as the

weather pushes northwards. A dull, damp, dismal Monday morning with

outbreaks of rain covering much of the UK. The rain may not yet have

reached the