City news in 250 words: Wednesday 18 August

LEVER PRIZE NOMINATIONS: Manchester venues Band On The Wall and The Whitworth Art Gallery plus Salford's The Lowry and the Tatton Park Biennial, are on the shortlist for this year’s annual Lever Prize. The prize honours a regionally distinctive organisation with international significance, a high calibre of existing work and exciting future developments planned. The winner will be announced at an event in Manchester in March 2011.

INMATES OPEN BANK ACCOUNTS: A scheme which allows inmates to open bank accounts has been piloted in a Salford prison. The trial at HMP Forest Bank, run by the Co-operative Bank, is said to have reduced reoffending by a third. The research has resulted in a fifth of all UK prisons now running the scheme with more than 4,000 bank accounts opened so far.

KISS FLIGHTS FOLDS: The budget airline is the latest British travel company to collapse. An estimated 13,000 Kiss holidaymakers are currently overseas and a further 60,000 have forward bookings with the Manchester Airport-based company. The Civil Aviation Authority said travellers abroad who had flown with Kiss would get home as normal and the "vast majority" of people who had booked future trips would receive refunds.

POOL OF BLOOD IN POWNALL PARK: The Wilmslow play park has been cordoned off by police after the discovery of a pool of blood in the early hours. The blood has been sent away for analysis, to determine whether it is from a human or animal. Officers and police dogs are currently searching the park.

Out of the window weather forecast: The BBC has apologised after weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker was caught making a rude gesture live on air yesterday. They can’t apologise for today’s miserable weather though unfortunately.