Solar energy provider SunEdison on Wednesday will unveil a new solar roof at the Staples Fulfillment Center on Dorsey Road in Hanover. The 1-megawatt solar installation covers nearly 175,000 feet of roof space. The company said the panels will offset tens of millions of pounds of carbon dioxide and generate electricity for decades.

- Andrea K. Walker

AP poll: Bankruptcy filings continue in large numbers U.S. consumers and businesses are filing for bankruptcy at a pace that made 2009 the seventh-worst year on record, with more than 1.4 million petitions submitted, an Associated Press tally showed Monday. The AP gathered data from the nation's 90 bankruptcy districts and found 1.43 million filings, an increase of 32 percent from 2008. There were 116,000 recorded bankruptcies in December, up 22 percent from the same month a year before.

- Associated Press

Manufacturing report points to steady economic recovery An unexpectedly strong report on manufacturing activity Monday bolstered confidence that the nation's factories will help sustain an economic recovery. The report by a private trade group signals that industrial production is likely to keep expanding in the coming months, economists said. That could lead, in turn, to increased hiring and job creation. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said its manufacturing index read 55.9 in December after 53.6 in November. A reading above 50 indicates growth. It was the fifth straight month of expansion and the highest reading for the index since April 2006. But a separate report on construction spending sounded a more cautionary note. Construction activity fell in November for a seventh straight month as spending on both residential and commercial projects declined. The 0.6 percent drop was bigger than the 0.4 percent decline that economists had been expecting.

- Associated Press