For more than one in four renters in the US, housing and utility costs take up at least half of their family's income, according to a new analysis of Census data. That number is up 26 percent since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007.

Rising rents and stagnant wages are pushing more Americans into rental agreements, according to an analysis by Enterprise Community Partners, an affordable housing advocate. More than 36 percent of Americans rent housing as compared to 31 percent before the recession began.

The analysis found:

- 11.25 million families pay at least half of income for rent;

- 6.4 million families headed by women pay at least half of income for rent;

- Low income families paying at least 50% on rent spend about 40% less on food than those with affordable rents.

The states most impacted by rising rents and stagnant wages are Florida, New Jersey, California and New York. In these states, 30 percent of renters are using at least half their income on rental housing and utilities.

The situation is nearly as dire across the nation. In Ohio, Alabama, Maine, Tennessee, Montana, and South Carolina, about 25 percent of renters dedicate half their income to rent and utilities. In fact, at least 20 percent of renters in every state, excepting Alaska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, face similar situations, according to the nonprofit's analysis of 2013 Census figures.

The coffee giant says it's solving the world's water problems—yet it's profiting off the Golden State's dwindling reserves.

Since 2005, celebrities including Matt Damon and Cameron Diaz have lent their well-hydrated faces to marketing campaigns supporting Starbucks' feel-good Ethos Water mission, which has raised an estimated $12.3 million to help people in developing countries have access to clean water. The company has attempted to "raise awareness" about our globe's water crisis by donating a small portion of proceeds from sales (5 cents from $1.95 water bottles) to water charity projects and hygiene education programs, particularly those aimed at helping children.

Seems there's something in the water, though. Mother Jones did some Internet irrigation and discovered that Ethos's world-saving bottled-water plant is located in Merced and sources its H2O just up north in Baxter, both California towns the United States Drought Monitor has deemed to be in "exceptional drought."

Just how exceptional? Merced residents aren't just restricted from watering their lawns (here's looking at you, Beverly Hills). An April plan from the State Water Resources Control Board mandated that the town must reduce its water use by 35 percent, according to The Fresno Bee, in an attempt to assuage the state's ongoing epic drought.

Merced natives have been increasingly expressing their disdain for the water bottling plant, owned and operated by the grocery store chain Safeway, that had been sourcing and sending out groundwater from the region for sales, reports the Merced Sun-Star. This plant bottles its own water, in addition to producing Ethos. But it's unclear how much water the company has been slurping down because the city holds that as classified information.

Denial might be a river in Venezuela.

For the past year, the government has been trying to sugar coat the economic demise of the country, and they're continuing the propaganda with the new electricity rationing program that they've instituted. If you think it's because of the socialist government's financial collapse, you're being ridiculous. It's because they care about climate change. Vice President Jorge Arreaza said so.

This is, of course, linked to global warming and the excessive industrialization of capitalism, which never stops, nor has ever stopped, for the effects that it can have on the climate, on society and on Mother Earth.

Of course it is. Only silly paranoid conspiracy theorists would say otherwise.

In case you've forgotten, there's also no food shortage and there's plenty of freedom, too.

Russia is concerned about the failure of authorities in Baltic states and Ukraine to try to stop the spread of the neo-Nazi movement, Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov has said in an interview with RT.

"In Baltic states, in Ukraine now you can see openly Nazi marches. With torches, with Nazi symbols, they are open. And we are very much concerned that local governments do nothing to prevent it," Ivanov said in an interview aired on Saturday.

The rise of neo-Nazism in the world is definitely an evident threat, Ivanov said. "Well, it's different in different countries," he added. Also in Russia, the authorities know that there is some neo-Nazi movement, but it's not very popular.

"And we are very strict in both legal forms of fighting it, and also moral forms," he stressed.

Following shocking revelations of child sexual abuse by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic, the UN has warned that it is "horribly possible" that information about more such cases may emerge.

As the investigation continues into the alleged French crimes and troop misconduct, UN human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville admitted that "it is possible, it's horribly possible," that further inquiries will reveal more unreported instances.

The French investigation followed numerous reports of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by the French military before the establishment of MINUSCA - the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Central African Republic. The period under investigation is December 2013 through June 2014. Colville called the allegations "abhorrent" and "utterly odious."

British billionaire, Virgin Galactic founder and fame-seeking celebrity Sir Richard Branson suggested the Ukrainian government legalize drugs, according to The Insider.

The world has been combating drugs for more than 50 years, and Ukraine has one of the worst records in this battle, the entrepreneur told the students of a Kiev university on Friday.

Officials with Hawaiian Airlines say Flight 24 left Maui at 11:18 a.m. on Friday, May 1, 2015 for Oakland, and returned to the Maui airport soon after departure due to an odor of fumes in the cabin. The flight crew declared an emergency and landed at Kahului Airport at 11:50 a.m. All customers were evacuated via emergency slides, according to airline officials.

There were 224 customers and 10 crew members onboard at the time.

Hawaiian Airlines has since confirmed that two passengers have been taken to the local hospital with minor injuries.

"We apologize for the disruption to our customers. Safety is our highest priority and we were pleased with the swift and decisive actions of the crew. All our team members are now focused on taking care of our customers and seeing them to their final destination as swiftly as possible," said airline spokesperson Alison Croyle in an email communication to Maui Now.

An investigation is currently underway to determine the source of the odor.

This summary is a continuation of this list which detailed various aircraft accidents and mishaps that occurred recently (a catalogue of 54 such events over 16 days from the 18 March to 3 April).

This latest update logs 126 incidents in 27 days from April 4 to the 30 April from across the globe. (Although no doubt some reports will have been missed or overlooked.)

Below is the list of incidents by headlines (with links), but fear not, it's sprinkled with a series of arresting images and videos of crashed planes, aircraft on fire and forced emergency landings.

It's worth noting that although some sort of mechanical failures were involved in many of these accidents, perhaps more tellingly other reports yet again contain testimony about smoke being detected on board. According to this website there have been 53 reports of aircraft smoking or burning so far in 2015 (up to 29 April).

Not to put too fine a point on it, what the bloody hell is going on?

April 4

Germanwings plane diverted to Stuttgart due to suspected oil loss

Helicopter exploded mid air before crashing, witnesses tell rescuers

Vehicle Incident in Germany on Saturday, 04 April, 2015 at 15:26 (03:26 PM) UTC.

76-year-old injured in Wetumpka plane crash

Small plane crashes in Orcutt strawberry field with three people on board

Small airplane makes crash landing in Arizona

As I scrolled through my facebook feed on Monday, I saw a variety of responses to the situation in Baltimore. By and large, most seemed to condemn the 'rioting' which shocked and surprised me. Granted, no one likes a riot - they're dangerous for one, and damage the economic prospects of whatever area they hit for another. What I came to realize was that in America, we have a pervasive attitude of victim-blaming which is likely a trickle-down effect of psychopathic rulers and logic being blasted at us via the mainstream media.

The original event which sparked the protests was the arrest and murder of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who was arrested for running from the police. He suffered a shattered spine while in police custody and of course no one knows how that happened. I'll proffer a suggestion: the 6 cops involved beat him, they beat him so much that one of strongest bones in the human body was utterly destroyed.

Tuesday night, in a perfect example of blaming the victim, an anonymous source leaked a police document to the Washington Post that claimed the 2nd prisoner in the van, who was separated from Gray by a metal wall and couldn't see him, heard Gray "banging against the walls" of the vehicle and believed that he "was intentionally trying to injure himself." This same 2nd prisoner is denying that he ever said any such thing (the statements come from a search warrant application, not an affidavit written by the prisoner). He said he heard 'little banging' noises which he presumed was from his lifeless body rolling around untethered.

Initial reports seem to differ as well, stating the complete opposite:

BPD Comm Anthony Batts says 2nd prisoner in van with Freddie Gray reports no erratic driving by van driver and Gray mostly quiet
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 24, 2015

We can all see where this is going: the narrative will be something like he wanted to claim police brutality and as such, injured himself. Perhaps he was just plain crazy. Whatever lie is most convenient toward putting the middle class to sleep will be flung across the mainstream and privileged white people will continue to have no idea what's really going on. I suggest the curious reader go through that piece, it'll give you a sense of just how out-of-touch most upper-middle-class people really are.

We now have official confirmation that the rioting in Baltimore on Monday was purposely allowed to spiral out of control. Up until now, there had been some unconfirmed reports that police in Baltimore had been ordered to "stand down" during the riots, but nobody had been willing to come forward and go on the record. Now that has all changed. Michael Lewis is the Sheriff of Wicomico County, Maryland and what he has to say is absolutely jaw dropping. When he saw what was happening in Baltimore, he gathered up some of his fellow officers and drove down to the city to help. But when he got there, he says that all of the police were being ordered not to take any action and to let the rioters destroy property. Lewis made this astounding claim during a discussion on a Baltimore radio station...

A Maryland sheriff who traveled to Baltimore to help law enforcement stop Monday's riots told 105.7 The Fan that he was stunned when officers alerted him of the orders to stand down.

Lewis says that he never heard the mayor give any particular orders, but he is very clear about the fact that the police were being instructed to "stand down" and to "let them destroy property"....

"I was sick to my stomach like everybody else. ... This was urban warfare, no question about it. They were coming in absolutely beaten down. The [city officers] got out of their vehicles, thanked us profusely for being there, apologized to us for having to be there. They said we could have handled this, we were very capable of handling this, but we were told to stand down, repeatedly told to stand down," he said. "I had never heard that order come from anyone — we went right out to our posts as soon as we got there, so I never heard the mayor say that. But repeatedly these guys, and there were many high-ranking officials from the Baltimore City Police Department ... and these guys told me they were essentially neutered from the start. They were spayed from the start. They were told to stand down, you will not take any action, let them destroy property. I couldn't believe it, I'm a 31-year veteran of law enforcement. ... I had never heard anything like this before in my life and these guys obviously aren't gonna speak out and the more I thought about this, ... I had to say a few things. I apologize if I've upset people, but I believe in saying it like it is."