Blaenau Gwent County, Wales News

Fire crews from Abergavenny, Blaenavon and Ebbw Vale were called to the fire in Merthyr Road, Llanfoist which happened today at 3.59am. Three corrugated buildings used for lawn mower repair services had caught fire but no one was hurt.

FIRE crews were called to a semi-detached house in Tredegar after a shed fire spread to one of the homes.

A MAN jailed for more than two years for a string of crimes managed to persuade a court nearly A 40,000 worth of cannabis was for his own use.

Aron Williams has told how he withdrew from the reality show at the last minute and is now helping tackle obesity among children.

A radical overhaul of school services in Wales looks increasingly likely following another damning report into council-run education.

VISION: City centre taskforce leader Simon Gibson has unveiled his ideas for the future of Newport which is not dependent on the construction of Friar's Walk shopping centre OUR interview earlier this week with Simon Gibson, the businessman heading the Welsh Government's Newport city centre taskforce, stirred up something of a hornets' nest.

MERGING with another authority could be the future for a Valleys education department which has "systemic weaknesses," a minister said.

Kevin Andresen's partner Rachel Law said he was "unique, funny, kind, creative and incredibly popular" - and she also praised the "incredible generosity" of contributors to an online fundraising effort that will enable his body to be cremated and his ashes returned home to Wales.

New figures from the 2011 Census show the number of children speaking Welsh is more than twice that of those aged 16-64 and the over 65s Numbers of children speaking Welsh are more than double that of those of working age or pensioners, new analysis of census data has uncovered.

HE was the last ever mayor of Islwyn - now, Michael Gray has been installed as the latest to take on the role for Caerphilly county.

There could soon be an alternative to the commuting strain of the M4 between Cardiff and Newport - a cycle path.

Newport is to have a new railway station, Pye Corner, on the line between Cardiff and Ebbw Vale after the UK government awarded the scheme A 2.5m. The station, in the Bassaleg area of city, is expected to ready by the end of 2014, in time for the line's planned electrification.

Education and children's services are still failing in Blaenau Gwent, two years after the local education authority was placed into special measures.

Householders in parts of Wales are cutting back on their energy use more than almost every other part of the UK amid escalating energy prices, new figures have revealed.

People in Blaenau Gwent are backing calls from the Argus and from Blaenau Gwent AM Alun Davies to keep open the minor injuries unit at Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan in Ebbw Vale, as reporter KEILIGH BAKER discovered.

FRIENDS of a Gwent teacher who died in a rock-climbing accident in South Korea have raised A 5,000 in just two days to help pay for his funeral costs.

PLYMOUTH has a race on its hands to raise the cash for a memorial to Michael Foot, one of the city's most famous sons.

COASTAL communities along the Severn Estuary will be given extra protection from the sea as part of a A 10 million investment in flood defences, the minister for natural resources announced today.

MORE than A 5 million will be invested across Gwent to create more children's centres and nurseries as part of the Flying Start programme, the Welsh Government announced today.

AS I WRITE this column the Queen's Speech will have taken place, with many new bills and pieces of legislation being revealed for the first time.