Tuesday,  April 24, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 285 • 31 of 37 •  Other Editions

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scrutiny, as city commissioners want to wait for the results of a federal investigation to decide if they will accept Chief Bill Lee's resignation.
• It could take months before Sanford city commissioners have the information they say they need.
• That's because the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to make a thorough analysis of how the city's police department handled the investigation into the Feb. 26 killing of the 17-year-old Martin, including studying when officers arrived to the scene of the shooting to the actions that Lee and other officials took in their ultimate decision not to arrest Zimmerman. Lee remains on paid leave.
• "The city commission spoke," city manager Norton Bonaparte said. "They were not ready to have the resignation. So we'll move forward."
• Meanwhile, the city needs someone to lead its police department. Mayor Jeff Triplett -- one of the three city officials who voted 3-2 Monday not to accept Lee's resignation -- said he'd like to see an interim police chief serve before the commission makes a final decision on Lee's proposed resignation.
• ___

Fed is expected to stick with current stance on rates and bond buying after policy meeting

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve will have plenty to say about the economy Wednesday, when its two-day policy meeting ends with a statement, updated forecasts and Chairman Ben Bernanke's latest news conference.
• Whether all that information will signal any shift in its outlook or the prospect of further steps to boost the economy is far from clear.
• The Fed will likely repeat its plan to keep short-term interest rates at record lows through 2014. It may also signal that it won't likely launch any new program to lower longer-term rates unless the economy weakens.
• That would be a switch from three months ago, when Bernanke and his colleagues ended their January meeting with hints that they were edging closer to a third round of bond buying. The Fed's bond purchases have been intended to drive down long-term rates to encourage borrowing and spending.
• But since then, signs have suggested that the U.S. economy has strengthened. And the European debt crisis looks less dire than when the year began, though France's presidential race has muddied the outlook. Those developments make a further round of Fed bond buying less likely, many economists say.
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