Top stories developing across the region at the noon hour:
A $4.5 million settlement with Microsoft will provide educational technology to 135 Vermont schools; the Douglas administration meets with a delegation from the French Consulate-General; two of the three main candidates for U.S. House agree to a debate series on village greens over the next four weekends; Route 123 in Alstead, NH, will be closed for six weeks this summer to repair damage from fall floods.