Around 3:40pm, a Jeep Cherokee collided with a ShortLine bus on Route 42 in Monticello, leaving the driver of the Jeep critically injured and injuring many of the bus's passengers.

CatskillScoop reported around 3:45pm that members of the Catskills Hatzalah emergency response squad were on the scene.

The blog has posted many photos from the scene, taken by Yoel Goldstein. In them, the Jeep is badly crumpled, and numerous people are being put into ambulances on body boards and stretchers.

The Times Herald-Record has a fuller account of the accident, which a witness said was caused after the Jeep collided with a work truck going the same direction:

Above: Ulster County executive Mike Hein, with Ulster County Department for the Environment Coordinator Amanda LaValle and Riverkeeper's Kate Hudson, at a press conference on the Draft Consent Order held at the Saugerties Beach last month. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Ulster County Executive.

Ulster County has submitted official public comments to the state about a new draft plan to govern New York City's turbid water dumping in the Lower Esopus. To no one's surprise, Ulster County isn't too happy with the plan.

"The abuse of Ulster County by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is Mayor Bloomberg’s 'dirty little secret,'" Ulster County executive Mike Hein wrote in a press release about the comments today. "It is obvious that he cares more about 16 ounce sodas in New York City than he does about the 600 million gallons of highly turbid dirty water he allowed to be dumped on the people of our community for hundreds of days, including every day for almost 4 months straight."

A little rain over the weekend was welcome, after a summer that's been unusually dry so far. But upstate New York is still pretty parched, raising the risk of wildfires, causing normally gushing streams to run at a trickle, and threatening drinking water shortages.

On Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office announced that the state is instituting an emergency ban on outdoor burning until October 10, and revoking any burn permits that have already been issued.

From the press release:

As a result of the mild winter with relatively little snowfall, as well as areas of the state which have received only 25% of the normal spring and early summer rainfall, wildfire danger across New York is heightened. Current weather forecasts predict above normal temperatures, elevating the risk for all of Upstate and Western New York. New York City and Long Island are at moderate risk levels.

The Albany Times-Union reports: