Campus resource bSpace is currently out of service after a hardware component associated with the site failed early Thursday morning, said Shelton Waggener, associate vice chancellor for information technology at UC Berkeley.

The hardware component in question is used for storage, and a vendor was on scene Thursday afternoon to fix the problem. In case a repair could not be made, campus officials decided to re-store the information that was on the hardware, Waggener said.

“Unfortunately, restoring that much data takes 16 hours, so our ETA right now is 4 a.m. Friday,” he said, “unless the hardware failure can be repaired by the vendor, but they’ve been unable to repair it thus far.”

A recently updated message on the bSpace site said the repair was unable to be made, and that the system will need to be tested once data is restored Friday morning.

Football fans who are accustomed to taking AC Transit to and from Cal games should expect a change in service beginning this Saturday, when the Bears take on the University of Maryland at Memorial Stadium.

AC Transit officials announced Monday that the transit agency will be discontinuing its supplemental buses that are used to transport thousands of fans on game days. The buses run along the popular 51 line, picking up fans at the Rockridge BART station, the Amtrak Station at Third Street and University Avenue, and a stop in Downtown Berkeley.

The reasoning behind the decision: AC Transit’s severe budget deficit, which stands at $57 million and has led officials to seek fare increases and service reductions. In total, AC Transit loses $200,000 per season by running the supplemental buses, a cost that could not be incurred this year.

“Without a full subsidy from UC Berkeley, AC Transit has no alternative,” said AC Transit spokesperson Clarence Johnson in a statement.

Johnson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Fans will still be able to commute to games using a new fleet of buses contracted by Cal Athletics to supplement AC Transit service, which had operated in conjunction with UC Berkeley for over 30 years. (Bus lines will stop at Rockridge and the Amtrak station, and another route will run to and from Pittsburg, Calif.)

The new service, which will include 30 buses serving the Rockridge and Amtrack stops, will cost fans a $5 flat rate for a round-trip ticket, said Herb Benenson, director of media relations for Cal Athletics. One way service will cost $3, and riders will also be able to reserve tickets ahead of time at www.calbearsbus.com

With its reputation for dominating the Sloan Fellowship, UC Berkeley seems to do well when it comes to award-winning researchers who aren’t too many years out of grad school.

Today, three young researchers, two from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and one from UC Berkeley, were given top honors by President Obama. They are among 100 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.

Sanjay Kumar, UC Berkeley assistant professor of bioengineering, won the award in the Department of Defense category.

LBNL scientists Cecilia Aragon and Jeffrey B. Neaton won Department of Energy awards.

“These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country,” Obama said in a statement. “With their talent, creativity, and dedication, I am confident that they will lead their fields in new breakthroughs and discoveries and help us use science and technology to lift up our nation and our world.”

With so much news traffic about the California budget, some readers might ask: just how hard is it to balance this deficit?
A new online application from the LA Times, titled “You balance the budget,” gives anyone the opportunity to close the state’s $24 billion shortfall.
You can increase taxes, cut programs, or propose a combination of the two.
To challenge yourself, try balancing the budget without raising taxes. In several statements issued last week, Governor Schwarzenegger said he would not sign off on a budget that includes tax increases. So, see if you can draft a budget that the governor would approve.
Senate democrats, including Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg (D-Sacramento), have been adamant about certain tax increases and protecting programs like CalWORKs and Cal Grants. They have proposed a 9.9 percent oil severance tax and increasing cigarette tax to raise revenue in a budget revision that would have saved the “safety net programs.”
That revision failed in the legislature, and was destined for a veto by the governor should it have passed.

Community Remembers Zachary Cruz Over 150 community members gathered in Wheeler Hall Saturday to celebrate and remember Zachary Michael Cruz, 5, who was struck and killed in a tragic traffic accident on Feb. 27. Members of the University of California Marching Band played “Hail to California” and other songs in memory of Zachary Cruz, who was an avid Cal fan, according to his father and UC Berkeley graduate student Frank Cruz. Several speakers addressed an emotional audience, after which attendees watched a short video presentation dedicated to Zachary Cruz’s memory.

Zachary Cruz’s classmates and friends attended the event. After the service, they were invited to take part in several activities. In an earlier interview with The Daily Californian, Frank Cruz described his son as an adventurous and intelligent kindergartner who wanted to become an astronaut, scientist and doctor.  Zachary Cruz would have turned six on Mar. 12.