There will be no train service at any of Fairfield's three station on the Metro-North Railroad on Monday morning, the railroad announced Sunday evening, in the wake of disruptions caused by the train collision Friday in Bridgeport. [...] a bus loop will link the Fairfield Center and Fairfield Metro stations (but not Southport) to "limited" train service at the Westport station. Local bus service between Bridgeport, Fairfield Metro, Fairfield and Westport stations (no bus service from Southport and Greens Farms depots). Loop bus service eastward with connections between Bridgeport, Fairfield, Fairfield Metro and Westport stations (no bus service from Southport and Greens Farms). Local bus shuttle service between Westport, Fairfield, Fairfield Metro and Bridgeport stations (no bus service from Southport and Greens Farms).

A 21-year-old Fairfield University senior died from injuries he suffered in a single-car crash on North Benson Road at the campus entrance early Saturday -- a day before he was scheduled to graduate. In a statement on Lawton's death posted on the Fairfield U. website, the university said: Deandre, 21, was a senior in the Charles F. Dolan School of Business and was to participate in the undergraduate commencement ceremony scheduled for Sunday, May 19, on campus.

Center, Southport and Fairfield Metro -- fall into that service "gap," an interruption that as of Sunday is expected to persist indefinitely as the cause of the crash is investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, then followed by removal of the wrecked M-8 train cars and repairs of the mangled tracks are carried out by Metro-North. Commuters are being urged to make alternate travel arrangements as the start of the work week -- and nightmarish commuting conditions -- loom Monday. Officials, as of Sunday morning, had not announced whether there would be special bus service for rail passengers who normally use the stations in the service blackout zone, or alternatives like car pools.

Private school bus cuts, state spending top concerns at legislative forum State legislators' plan to cut funding for private school buses emerged as a key concern of attendees at a Fairfield forum Saturday morning on the next state budget. McKinney, the state Senate's minority leader, said Fairfield's public school system is not equipped to handle a large influx of students from private schools. Michael Herley, a Representative Town Meeting member from District 1, which includes St. Thomas Aquinas School, said the cut had been approved in the Appropriations Committee on a party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. Hwang said he had hoped that state Rep. Kim Fawcett, D-133, would be able to attend Saturday's forum to give the argument in favor of the cut because Fawcett is on the Appropriations Committee, but McKinney said at the start of the forum that Fawcett had an "unavoidable conflict with a soccer game with one of her kids," which he said he understood as he also attended sports games of his children. McKinney said the state has a total of $66 billion in unfunded liabilities and that its pension plan for state employees is only 42 percent funded, compared to 62 percent to 63 percent in New Jersey and what should be a funding level of 80 percent. Kupchick said state employees pay less than $100 a month for a health-care plan that would cost $2,000 a month if they bought it on their own in the private sector and that state employees contribute 2 percent into their pension system, compared, McKinney said, to 6 percent to 7 percent for state employees in other states. Russell Jennings, a member of the audience whose wife is a retired teacher, said the state has not lived up to its obligation to fully fund the teachers' pension plan and that the state should honor the contract that teachers had worked under. "Retired teachers need the state to live up to its contractual obligations by fully funding the pension plan and the small contribution to teachers' medical costs in retirement," he said.