Five things you need to know in Yorkshire's news today
1. Body found in hunt for missing York student
The body of a missing York student was found yesterday in a river. Ethan Peters, 20, had been missing since October 2 after he was last seen at 11.55pm on Coney Street. Underwater search teams and local officers discovered the body in the River Foss behind the Castle Museum in York at 1.30pm yesterday. City of York Council has launched a campaign after a series of river deaths and has allocated £100,000 for riverside improvements, safety equipment and fencing. The council also said the deaths could be prevented by increasing awareness and personal responsibility.
2. Low pay and long hours: Why our teachers burn out so quickly
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Hide AdTeachers in England are working longer hours for lower pay than in most other developed countries, a new report has warned. The average secondary school teacher works more than 48 hours a week and one-in-five work more than 60 hours according to the analysis. The report also indicated that teachers in England working under these conditions risk burning out in the early stages of their career. The starting pay for teachers was found to be well-below the average across the 36 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The report found that full-time teachers work an average of 48.2 hours per week, the third highest out of all jurisdictions compared, 19 per cent longer than the average elsewhere.
3. Liberal Democrats warn Yorkshire could miss out on millions in EU funding
The Liberal Democrats have produced figures today showing just a tiny fraction of the £600m promised to Yorkshire in the latest EU funding round has been allocated to projects. Chancellor Philip Hammond has promised the UK government will guarantee the money for all projects that were handed EU cash by the time of his Autumn Statement next month. According to the Lib Dems’ figures, not a single penny earmarked for the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding LEP area has been “legally committed” to projects so far. Labour has promised to match Yorkshire’s current levels of EU funding into the 2020s “and beyond” if it wins the next general election.
4. ‘Items of interest’ found in Ben Needham search
The mother of the missing Sheffield toddler Ben Needham has said she now believes her son will not be found alive after disappearing on the Greek island of Kos 25 years ago. The boy was 21 months old when he disappeared but new information suggests the toddler may have been accidentally killed by a digger driver. South Yorkshire Police officers and Greek volunteers have been working for a fortnight near the farmhouse where Ben was last seen in 1991 and will extend their stay after discovering a layer of spoil material that had been deposited at this site within the last 30 years.
5. Who said what in Clinton-Trump debate
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Hide AdThe second American presidential debate took place last night at Washington University in St. Louis where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton slugged it out over a series of exchanges about the the candidates’ past. Mr Trump has claimed Hillary Clinton should be in jail and accused former US president Bill Clinton of being “abusive to women.” Donald Trump also defended a 2005 video that was recently leaked in which he was heard making lewd comments - that he described as “locker room talk” - about women. The billionaire businessman admitted he used a $916m loss he claimed in 1995 to avoid paying federal income tax but said Mrs Clinton “would be in jail” if he was president after she deleted more than 30,000 emails from her private server when she was US secretary of state.