Worries about health effects, privacy and cost are fueling growing opposition to wireless, digital "smart meters" that utilities around the country are installing on homes and businesses and touting as key energy conservation and grid reliability tools. Brightly painted Adirondack chairs began popping up around the village of Morrisville this month, inviting shoppers and pedestrians to stop and sit for a while. Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in Brattleboro later this month to talk about their annual safety assessment of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The New Hampshire Senate is considering requiring welfare recipients and applicants to go through a new verification check to detect fraud.