Latest news with #RachelSharp
Business News Wales
17-07-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Wildlife Trusts Wales Warns Sustainable Farming Scheme 'Falls Short for Nature'
Wildlife Trusts Wales has said that the Welsh Government's Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) 'fails to adequately address the urgent climate and nature crisis'. It says it welcomes the move towards a whole-farm approach with the goal of making Welsh farming more sustainable. However, the details released only cover the Universal Tier, which appears to maintain the status quo, it said. It falls short of addressing the pressing nature and climate challenges, the organisation said. Wildlife Trusts Wales said that Welsh farming was currently unsustainable both economically and environmentally. Over the past decade, the number of farms has decreased, resulting in 9,000 job losses, it said, adding that farming continues to be the primary driver of biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions in Wales. The SFS should be a vehicle for change, it said, enabling sustainable food production and transitioning to sustainable land management. Financial support and recognition through the Social Value Payments for carbon storage, air quality, and recreation access are a step in the right direction, it added. The organisation welcomed the tapering of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), which it said had offered poor value for money. These tapered funds will now go to the proposed Options and Collaborative tiers and they have the potential to support nature friendly farming, but details of these tiers are still lacking, it added. The organisation said: 'We commend the Welsh Government for its transparency and commitment to engaging all stakeholders throughout the SFS review process, including the Roundtable and other forums over the past year.' Rachel Sharp, Director of Wildlife Trusts Wales, said: 'While we welcome elements of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, we remain deeply concerned that the final version will not adequately address the climate and nature crises. Welsh farming is in crisis—fewer farms, fewer jobs, and increasing environmental damage. We need to see an increased budget for the SFS, specifically for the Options and Collaborative tiers, to help farmers transition to nature-friendly farming practices. Only farmers can restore nature and reduce the devastating impacts of climate change, including flooding and droughts.' Wildlife Trusts Wales is calling on the Welsh Government to ensure that the Options and Collaborative tiers of the SFS create a step forward for sustainable farming, and a meaningful shift toward nature recovery and climate resilience. A stronger, more comprehensive scheme will protect Wales' nature and ensure a viable future for farmers, it said.
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Chilling trail of clues that uncovered depraved double life of suburban Indiana father-of-three
The name Herb Baumeister might not conjure up as much infamy and terror as the likes of Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. But the extent of his depraved crimes and the number of victims certainly rivals the worst of the worst serial killers. In the latest episode of Murder Maps, Daily Mail's Crime Correspondent Rachel Sharp delves into the haunting case of the Indiana serial killer thought to have taken the lives of around 25 people. To those living in the wealthy, exclusive Westfield neighborhood close to Indianapolis, Baumeister was a family man and successful businessman. He owned two local thrift stores and lived with his wife and their three children on a vast 18-acre estate called Fox Hollow Farm. But when a human skeleton was found in the woods of the farm in the winter of 1994, Baumeister's mask began to slip. Eventually, when police began to search the huge family estate in summer 1996, his double life was exposed. Investigators found a staggering 10,000 human remains and bone fragments, many burned and charred, scattered around the property. While his family was out of town, Baumeister would visit the local gay bars in downtown Indianapolis and lure young men back to his home, before killing them. The huge family estate where the Baumeister children would play with friends was actually their father's secret graveyard for his victims. Quickly, eight victims were identified among the remains. But in 1998 - after Baumeister fled to Canada and killed himself - investigators stopped seeking to identity the remaining victims and the remains were left to sit on a shelf at the University of Indianapolis for the next 25 years with no names. That all changed in 2023 when Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison decided to launch a new probe to identify the remaining victims and reunite them with their loved ones. Since then, two more victims have been named. Now, the known victims are: Johnny Bayer, Jeff Jones, Richard Hamilton Jr., Steven Hale, Allen Broussard, Roger Goodlet, Mike Keirn, Manuel Resendez, Allen Livingston and Daniel Halloran. In this new episode, out now on YouTube, Sharp maps out the case all the way from Baumeister's life growing up to the missing persons cases that had the LGBT community on edge and the chilling discoveries on the farm. Sharp also delves into the aftermath of the case up to the present day - from the new probe to the unanswered questions that still linger about the case, including who all the victims are, the missing pieces of evidence that could hold the key to the crimes and the mystery surrounding whether Baumeister may have had an accomplice.
