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Police are hunting for suspects after reports of shots fired near Grebe Drive in Leighton Buzzard shortly before 15:30 BST on Wednesday. Greenleas School locked down as a precaution. Officers identified a car thought to be involved, which failed to stop and led police on an eight-mile chase that ended when the vehicle crashed in Dunstable and the occupants fled on foot.

Luton Town's new Power Court ground is under construction and due to open by the start of the 2028-29 season. The 25,000-seat stadium will replace Kenilworth Road, where the club has played for 119 years. The existing ground currently hosts League One matches and has a capacity of 12,000.

The Batpod from Sir Christopher Nolan's 2008 film The Dark Knight is expected to sell for between £450,000 and £900,000 at an auction run by Hertfordshire-based Propstore from 4 to 6 December. The motorcycle appeared in a chase scene featuring Christian Bale's Batman and Heath Ledger's Joker, and also featured in the 2012 sequel The Dark Knight Rises. Other Batman and Indiana Jones props are also being sold.

Cromer Windmill, a 17th Century post-mill in Ardeley near Stevenage and Hertfordshire's only surviving windmill, has been added to Historic England's heritage at-risk register. The Hertfordshire Building and Preservation Trust, which owns the structure, said the listing would help it seek funding for 'vital repairs'. The building's fantail assembly suffers from 'serious rot' in its main structural timbers, and a key internal beam has twisted under the weight of the windshaft, affecting the sails' rotation.

East West Rail has chosen a bow-tie shaped design for a maintenance depot near Newton Longville, Buckinghamshire, as part of its multi-billion pound scheme linking Oxford and Cambridge via Milton Keynes. The layout would allow trains to enter and leave from either direction and would create 100 jobs. The company said final plans would go to the government next year. Local residents have raised concerns about lack of consultation, particularly those at risk of losing land to the development.

Clem Cattini, the drummer who co-founded the Tornados in 1961 and played on dozens of UK number one singles, has died aged 89. The Hertfordshire resident's group had an instrumental hit with Telstar, which spent five weeks at the top of the UK chart in 1962 and became the first British group to top the US Billboard Hot 100. As a session musician, Cattini played on number one hits including Tom Jones' Green, Green Grass of Home, Dusty Springfield's You Don't Have To Say You Love Me and Tony Christie's (Is This the Way to) Amarillo?. Tributes described him as a world-class musician and gentleman who opened doors for British drummers.

Ezekiel Williams, 26, who played for Hendon FC, died in hospital on Monday after suffering serious injuries in a suspected assault in Milton Keynes early on Sunday morning. Two men aged 21 and 28 from Luton have been arrested on suspicion of murder, and a third man aged 30 has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. Hendon FC described Williams as a 'humble, unassuming and generous individual' who had joined the club in September and scored his first goal for them ten days before his death.

A cash machine was removed from a convenience store in Toddington and abandoned on an M1 slip road after a suspected ram raid on Wednesday morning. Bedfordshire Police said three men loaded the machine into a white van before fleeing in a BMW, leaving a yellow digger at the shop. Another business nearby was also targeted in a similar raid on 6 August.

The local council has withdrawn a bus place for Conor, a 12-year-old from Flitwick, Bedfordshire, who attends special school. The BBC has been reporting on the family's efforts to resolve the situation.

The BBC reports that Buckinghamshire farmer Richard Heady is part of the Hawkstone Farmers' Choir. He sings to his cows at his farm in Newton Longville.

Gareth Hopkins, 43, a paramedic from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, collapsed during the London Marathon on 26 April when his heart stopped due to severe rhabdomyolysis caused by overheating. He spent six months recovering in intensive care at St Thomas' Hospital before being discharged in September. Hopkins walked the final mile on Sunday with family and friends, saying he was happy to have 'finished what I started'.

Alma Nunez Debretzeni, a 17-year-old from St Albans, finished runner-up in the BBC Young Musician 2026 competition on Sunday, performing Graham Fitkin's Recorder Concerto. She said she wanted to challenge perceptions of the recorder as a beginner's instrument. The competition was won by 18-year-old violinist Sofia Demetriades.

A retired bus mechanic bought a rare 1953 Volkswagen Beetle in Loughton, Essex, in 1975 and later found crumpled negatives of colour film in the glovebox. The photographs show young people and remain undeveloped for over a decade. A Volkswagen restoration specialist is now trying to trace the original owners and reunite them with the pictures.

More than 150 Healthwatch patient advocacy boards, including six in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, will remain open following a government U-turn. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would 'retain Healthwatch England and Local Healthwatch, while strengthening them'. The boards were initially set to be abolished as part of a 10-year health plan to reduce bureaucracy, but many signed an open letter opposing the decision.

Anglian Water, which supplies water and sewerage services across the East of England, parts of the East Midlands and Lincolnshire, has been rated 'requires improvement' by regulators for the fifth year in a row and registered 12 serious pollution incidents in 2025. The company experienced 368 pollution incidents overall last year. Campaigners say bathing waters remain polluted despite Anglian Water's claims they are their cleanest in a decade, and are calling for increased investment. The company is due in court in January over an alleged incident near Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, which killed 900 fish.