National: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told a Congressional committee yesterday that the biggest obstacle to economic recovery is Congress itself. Bernanke said Congressional indecision and the sequester budget cuts have left businesses uneasy about the future and reluctant to hire new workers. Bernanke was vague about when he will taper off financial stimulus later this year or early next.  Stocks rose slightly.

>The LA Times reports that Southern California home prices rose 28% in the last year. Some real estate experts say prices could double their recession low before falling back slightly.

World: Twenty-two Indian children died and dozens were made sick after eating a school meal laced with what appeared to be insecticide. The meal was part of a lunch program offered to poor families. The cook, who was also sickened, said she thought the problem came from a new kind of cooking oil the school had bought. She said it looked “discolored and dodgy”. Angry families set four police cars on fire.

>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 37, has been sentenced to five years in jail after a conviction for embezzling from a timber company. Navalny claims it was a political prosecution. He had led massive protests in 2011 against President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. Recently he had declared himself a candidate for mayor of Moscow.

The Thrill That’ll Getcha: The latest Rolling Stone has many people outraged over the cover picture that accompanies a profile of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev. The magazine used Tsarnaev’s online picture in which he looks handsome and sensitive in a wispy goatee, curly hair and an Armani Exchange shirt. Tsarnaev looks too good for some critics. CVS and Walgreens have refused to sell the issue and Rolling Stone’s website has been posted with thousands of comments.

The Obit Page: Talia Joy Castellano, a 13-year-old cancer patient who gained Internet fame posting makeup tips on YouTube, died Tuesday in Orlando. Talia had lost all her hair but favored dramatic eye shadow, lipstick, and earrings. She was a natural in front of a camera.

A Complete Unknown: Bob Dylan was briefly detained in Long Branch, NJ after a 22 year old cop answered a call for a suspicious-looking old man in the neighborhood. Dylan had no ID and when he told the officer his name it didn’t ring a bell. She radioed the station and asked if anyone knew the name Bob Dylan. A senior officer told a reporter, “I offered to bring in some of my Dylan albums. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know what vinyl is either.”

-30-