You know the economy’s bad when teens can’t get summer jobs at fast-food restaurants or movie theaters. So thousands are picking up shovels, brooms and trash in part-time jobs paid for with federal stimulus money, which includes $1.2 billion for youth employment.

Political uncertainty and unrest in the wake of Iran’s disputed presidential election are casting a deeper pall on the country’s prospects of a near-term economic recovery, with the vital oil sector likely to witness a stasis it can ill afford amid faltering production and investments.

Shares of steel manufacturers fell sharply Monday as the World Bank cut its 2009 global growth forecast, saying the world economy will shrink by 2.9 percent.

Lowered expectations for the global economy are giving investors more to be wary about. Major stock indexes retreated by more than 2 percent Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to its lowest level this month, after the World Bank estimated the global economy will shrink 2.9 percent in 2009.

CHICAGO—-The NanoBusiness Alliance today announced its 2009 Talent Fellowship winners have completed their weeklong training at Argonne National Laboratories and will begin their research internships at leading Chicago area nanotechnology companies this week.

Shares of metals manufacturers fell sharply Monday as the World Bank cut its 2009 global growth forecast, saying the world economy will shrink by 2.9 percent.

Paul Solarz is a real life Smokey the Bear who knows how to prevent and manage forest fires. And his company, PatRick Environmental, recently landed a contract, backed by stimulus money from the Recovery Act, to do just that.