Top stories developing across the region at the noon hour:
The U.S. House is scheduled to vote later today on an amendment proposed by Congressman Bernie Sanders that would limit government surveillance under the Patriot Act; emergency officials say an excess of oil – not a fire – caused black smoke to blow out of a furnace at Vermont Yankee this morning; Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle will hold a town hall meeting on health care in Brattleboro tonight; the West Fairlee Congregational Church has been without a steeple for more than three decades but a fundraising effort will remedy that situation this Saturday.
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