A flood in the Math building caused temporary restricted access to the building, but it is now open to staff and students, according to a press release.

No one had to relocate following a break in a water pipeline, but the elevator in the building is still under repair and is estimated to take up to one week to fix, said Johnny Cruz, director of UA relations.

The basement of the Math building will be cleaned and disinfected; no harm was done to classrooms or offices, Cruz said.

The Arizona basketball team is now one step away from completing its 2007 recruiting class after receiving a commitment from 6-foot-2 combo guard Laval Lucas-Perry.

Lucas-Perry, from Flint, Mich., may have been just as shocked to receive an offer from the Wildcats as Arizona basketball fans were to hear the news.

“”I really was just expecting to get a tour of the place,”” Lucas-Perry said. “”I was in shock, I was flattered and it felt great.””

Perry attended the Lute Olson Advanced Skill and Development Camp nearly a month ago and left mulling the chance to be the second Michigan player on the Arizona roster, joining senior center Kirk Walters.

Last Wednesday, Lucas-Perry officially committed, possibly taking the place of de-committed Phoenix combo guard Jerryd Bayless, who no longer appears headed to the Wildcats. However, Lucas-Perry said the duo could thrive together.

“”If he comes, I’d love it because I saw his game, and we could complement each other’s game,”” Lucas-Perry said.

Lucas-Perry has flown under the radar despite being named an All-State performer in Michigan.

He wasn’t even listed among the top 150 prospects on the recruiting Web site

Rivals.com, in part because he didn’t play for a Reebok or Nike AAU team according to his dad, Laval Perry, who played in college at Detroit under ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale.

-Roman Veytsman

Following the retirement of Saundra Taylor, senior vice president for Campus Life, Melissa Vito has been named interim vice president for campus affairs, according to a press release.

Other organizational changes will also go into effect as part of a reorganizational plan announced by Robert Shelton last week, the release said.

Human resources will now be led by Associate Vice President Allison Vaillancourt, and report to George Davis, executive vice president and provost. UApresents, headed by Executive Director Natalie Bohnet will also report to Davis.

Vito will oversee Health and Wellness and the department of Multicultural Affairs and Student Success, the release said.

A UA professor will study the effects of increased salt water in a wetland that is home to many endangered wildlife species.

Karl Flessa, professor of geosciences at the UA, is one of the scientists that will study the effects of increased salinity on the Cienega de Santa Clara, a wetland located on the Colorado River Delta in Mexico, when the Yuma Desalting Plant will run at 10 percent capacity this spring.

The desalting plant was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1992 to provide Mexico with desalinated water from the Colorado River, but the plant has never been operated regularly because of high flow conditions on the Colorado River, according to the Bureau’s Web site.

When the desalting plant goes into operation, it will create a “”brine”” that will flow into the Cienega de Santa Clara, Flessa said.

The study will try to see how the water chemistry changes and what effects running the Yuma Desalting Plant will have on the wetland’s ecosystem, Flessa said.

The study may also offer knowledge of how seasonal variations of salinity affect the wetland and of the effects that operating the desalting plant at full capacity may have, Flessa said.

The study, which is funded by a grant from the Central Arizona Project, is also an example of how government agencies, academic institutions and environmental groups can work together to solve water issues, Flessa said.

-Compiled from staff reports and press releases