Here are the top stories at the noon hour.
Leaders of the Democratic National Committee are meeting next month, in Burlington; Senator Leahy leads the Senate’s confrontation with the Bush Justice Department; Congress is continuing to debate the latest update to the farm bill, and Vermont Congressman Peter Welch says he’s trying to help dairy farmers get a better price for their milk; the Senate Judiciary Committee has spent most of the week on Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General; an emergency medical technician in Brattleboro has been suspended for publicly criticizing police handling of a protest in which two people were Tasered by officers.