MODEL OF ROBOT DISRUPTS METRO-NORTH TRAINS: A school kid's cardboard model of a TV cartoon robot caused a panic that shut down parts of Metro-North's New Haven line for three hours the morning of June 20. 'Bender,' from the Comedy Central show Futurama, a cardboard figure with a clock face and comical angry eyes and grin, was left on a bridge over the tracks near the Fairfield station. A town street sweeper saw it and alerted police, who called in a bomb squad and helicopter to seal off nearby streets. Metro-North and Amtrak suspended service between New Haven and Stamford, leaving thousands of fuming commuters stranded or scrambling to find another way to their destinations. It took nearly three hours for officials to realize that the package was only a harmless model of the robot. Police later identified the culprit as a 7th-grader at a nearby school, who said he had left the model at that location accidentally while rearranging his backpack. The model was for a school art project, the student said. [New York Post website report, 6-20-14]