NPR News

There's no mention of the crisis in Japan and what effect it may or may not have on the global economy, so in some sense the statement just released by policymakers at the Federal Reserve may be superseded in coming weeks as that event plays out.

But here's what the members of the Federal Open Market Committee are thinking about how the economy is doing:

The tsunami that devastated Japan also sent strong currents to California's northern coast, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage and leaving four coastal counties under a state of emergency.

Crescent City, Calif., near the Oregon border, ranks as the state's most productive seafood harbor. But with no place for fishing vessels to tie down, the entire commercial fishing industry is, for all practical purposes, dead.

Joking about the crisis in Japan isn't turning out to be so funny for some:

The Head and the Heart was formed after five twentysomethings met at an open mic night in Seattle.

"None of us knew each other beforehand," recalls singer Josiah Johnson. "I just happened to go to the same open mic. [Jonathan Russell] played some songs and I played some songs, then we started talking and hanging out."

Some of the problems afflicting the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant appear to be related to one or more of the spent fuel storage pools at the plant. In Japan on Tuesday, a fire broke out in the No. 4 reactor building near an area where spent fuel is stored. The material is still highly radioactive, and all nuclear power plants have facilities to deal with this material.

First, some background on how nuclear reactors work.

The fuel in a nuclear reactor contains material that can undergo something called nuclear fission.