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This week's must-read story for upstate New York: An editorial by Times Union columnist Fred LeBrun, titled "End of the anti-frack world is near." In it, LeBrun claims that a gubernatorial plan to greenlight hydraulic fracturing by the time the leaves start turning is a done deal:

For those desperately hoping against hope that high volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing for natural gas will be blocked from coming into New York state, sorry. For you, the end of the world arrives before Labor Day.

Top state officials are in the process of briefing selected environmental groups on a plan to be publicly released in a couple of weeks. It's a plan that unsurprisingly endorses hydrofracking, initially on a limited basis, supposedly under the tightest regulatory and permitting requirements in the country.  Read more

A flash flood watch is in effect across Eastern New York this morning, including Greene, Schoharie and Ulster counties:

Through Sunday Morning * Showers And Embedded Thunderstorms Will Become More Numerous Across Much Of Eastern New York And Adjacent Western New England Later This Morning And Continue Through Much Of Tonight Before Diminishing Late Tonight And Sunday Morning. The Combination Of A Warm And Very Humid Airmass In Place Across Our Region...A Slow Moving Upper Level Disturbance Drifting East From The Eastern Great Lakes...And Weak Wind Fields In The Low To Mid Levels Of The Atmosphere Will Result In Showers And Thunderstorms With Very Heavy Rain...Which Are Likely To Move Very Slowly And Even Back Build.   Read more