18/02/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

An American surgeon has told a Teesside family that he believes

he's destroyed 90% of their son's rare brain tumour.

Five-year-old Finley Ingles underwent groundbreaking

Laser Ablation Surgery in Houston yesterday after a fundraising

campaign saw his family raise ?200,000 to pay for the treatment.

The tumour couldn't be operated on in this country

Stuart Whincup sent this report from the hospital in Texas.

After a nine-hour operation, the Leeds surgeon said he believes

he destroyed 90% of the tumour by burning it with a laser.

The hope now is that that will end Finley's seizures.

Now, remember, he can suffer up to 15 seizures in a single day.

Now his family spent last night by his bedside

and he is recovering from the surgery.

Remarkably, because this technique involves making just a small hole

in the skull the size of a pen top, some patients are actually

And we will have all the reaction from Finley's family and the surgeon

who carried out that successful operation on Monday's programme.

Stewart Whincup, BBC Look North, at a Texas children's

Three heroin users have died on Teesside in the past week

after taking what police say are low-grade supplies in the area.

A 35-year-old man from Stockton died last Saturday.

Another 35-year-old from the town and a woman aged 27

Cleveland Police says batches of particularly harmful heroin

on the streets are being passed off by dealers as a higher standard.

A Carlisle man has been charged with a racially aggravated

public order offence following a football match.

23-year-old Steven Bell was arrested after the Carlisle United match

He's due before North Cumbria Magistrates' Court this Thursday.

The mass planting of snowdrops has begun again at Wallington Hall

The National Trust's encouraging volunteers to give

And over the next few days, they're planning to plant more

than over 100,000 bulbs as Jim Knight reports.

And among the families getting down and dirty among

the snowdrop bulbs today, some very young helpers.

I helped Grandpa stick the snowdrops in and then he helped me crumple

the soil that came out of the back of these.

Wallington already has a national reputation

for its snowdrop displays - but after this third year of mass

planting, it will soon be in a league of its own.

If like me, you enjoy walking through the trees and admiring

the huge sprays of these delicate white flowers.

If we were to let them spread naturally, it

So if we do it this way and just give things a little bit of a push,

we can get at how we want it a lot more quickly and we get

And, of course, when you come across into the East Wood,

you can really see the fruits of the labour.

These snowdrops were planted here about two years ago and now

there are some magnificent sprays among the trees.

Jim Knight, BBC Look North, Wallington.

Onto football now - and in the FA Cup at

the Riverside, Boro just managed to book a place in the quarter

finals with a late goal from Christian Stuani securing a 3-2

In League Two - Carlisle kept promotion hopes alive with a 2-1 win

Hartlepool drew 1 each with Plymouth Argyle.

In the National League - York drew 1 each with Boreham Wood.

But Gateshead kept their play-off hopes alive with a 3-1 win over

And in Scottish League Two - Berwick Rangers beat Forfar

Dare I say it, it's feeling a tad milder.

Let's find out what is happening with the weather.

Well we are ending the day with patchy, light rain and drizzle

Overnight there will be some clear spells on the east of the Pennines,

still further spots of drizzle pushing in at times and it is going

to be a fairly mild night, with temperatures dropping down no

Tomorrow again we're looking at variable,

The cloud will always be thickest across Cumbria where there could be

The best of any bright spells in the east of the Pennines

and temperatures around 11, maybe 12 degrees.

Look North is back at ten to six tomorrow.

It has been a mild day to day and some of us have seen some spring

sunshine. Blue skies and sunshine here above the River Thames. It has

not been sunny everywhere, though. We have got more cloud around across

more northerly parts of the country. Some rain to come tonight across

Scotland and northern England, all clearing away by the time we get to

Sunday morning. And it will be quite chilly start to Sunday, particularly

in the south-east corner, where there could be some mist and fog

first thing. Away from the south and south-east, it is a milder start to

the day. Still quite cloudy on Sunday in the