Here are a few items of interest from around the state of Alabama. (Something to read while we await spring practice.)
Federer out of Birmingham Davis Cup event
AP: Roger Federer pulled out of Switzerland’s Davis Cup series against the United States next month and a tournament in Dubai next week because of a back problem that has bothered him since last year. The 13-time Grand Slam singles champion had announced in October he would play for his country against the U.S. team led by Andy Roddick in Birmingham, Ala., on March 6-8. It would have been the first time since 2004 that Federer played in first-round Davis Cup matches…Tickets for all three days of the Switzerland-U.S. contest at the 16,000-seat Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena sold out in less than an hour last month.
(Read the entire AP report below)

Rocket scientist who helped build the Redstone, Jupiter and Saturn V rockets dies
Konrad Dannenberg, a German rocket scientist who was part of the Wernher von Braun team that helped put the first American astronauts on the moon, has died. He was 96.

Could markets go lower?
Reuters: “As we retest these November lows, the reality that sets in is that we may have another leg to go down in the economy and the market,” said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at Morgan Asset Management in Birmingham, Alabama.