Top stories developing across the region at the noon hour:
Negotiators from the House and Senate are near agreement on a health care reform bill; update on other bills pending in the Legislature; teachers in the Chittenden East Supervisory Union went on strike this morning; a national education publication finds that New England schools are all well below the national average; Work to clean up and repair a rock slide in Montpelier is expected to be finished at the end of the month.