The holidays are coming, normally the season for giving and feasting. But with the economy slumping toward its third consecutive downturned December, more locals are struggling to feed themselves than at any point in well over a decade, according to a report by the Department of Agriculture and information collected from local organizations.

It's kind of like the Academy Awards of college teaching, and even though a Fairfield University music professor didn't walk away Thursday with the title of U.S. Professor of the Year, she was chosen to represent Connecticut at a ceremony honoring elite educators in the nation's capital.

NORWALKBy A.J. O'CONNELLHour Staff WriterIt took 30 years of stand-up, but Paula Poundstone finally allowed herself to be talked into releasing her first comedy album.

Read the press release . Tomra of North America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tomra Systems ASA and leading global provider of advanced recycling solutions, today announced that Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn., has acquired four of TOMRA's UNO recycling machines for use by students, faculty and visitors on campus.

Angela Capozzi, a Stratford middle school teacher, has taught about the Holocaust for years by assigning her eighth-graders to read "Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl," about a Jewish girl who hid with her family from the Nazis for two years before being captured.

In the aftermath of newly applied paving on the Post Road, motorists complained that the town's busiest street still had no traffic markings, differentiating between the travel lanes.

NORWALKBy CHRIS BOSAKHour Staff WriterSweet Rexie's, a favorite stop for those with a sweet tooth in South Norwalk for the past five years, has closed shop and moved its business to Fairfield.Citing both personal and business reasons, including parking conditions in South Norwalk, owner .

Prompted by the results of a district-wide profile, school administrators said Tuesday that top priorities for the district, going forward, are to address the district's racial imbalance, the student population growth at Osborne Hill Elementary School and the amount of high school instructional hours.

Seventy-two arrest warrants are awaiting a judge's signature in the continuing investigation into an October bust of over 100 underage drinkers at Bravo Restaurant.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. Fairfield University officials have lodged harassment charges against the school's student newspaper after a satirical column sparked a protest on campus.

When he grows up, Alexander Beyer wants to be an astrophysicist or an astronaut.

Cutting off a police vehicle on Mill Plain Road led to multiple charges against 21-year-old New Fairfield resident Matheus De-Santana on Monday night.

Authorities will close I-95 in both directions at about 7:45 a.m. today between Exits 18 and 21 for about two hours so that cleanup operations can take place for an early-morning tanker truck fire.

Tanker fire shuts down I-95 in Conn. Eds: APNewsNow. UPDATES with authorities closing both sides of highway for cleanup, driver's comments to police.

UPDATE A tanker truck carrying a flammable chemical caught fire early today on Interstate-95 near Exit 19 in Fairfield, forcing closure of all northbound lanes and extensive delays, state police said.