On Tuesday, University of Georgia President Michael Adams sat down for an hour-long chat with 1340-AM's Tim Bryant, and they received a call from former Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Carl Jordan regarding campus lighting.

Jordan, who helped craft the community's lighting ordinance, said that most of the campus lighting didn't meet existing professional standards, and he questioned when the university would establish a lighting policy that would adhere to them.

Adams responded by noting that Forbes Magazine gave UGA high marks for water and light conservation.

Jordan offered some follow-up observations in an email to BTT ...

Yes, Adams’ answer was not what I was hoping for. I even gave him some time to think about lighting, as I phoned at the beginning of a commercial break and he had Tom Jackson at his side for advice.

- Like it or not, one has to admit that these aren't terrible ideas from Nathan Deal regarding educational policy. In fact, using school lunches to tackle obesity - by, among other things, promoting the serving of locally grown vegetables - seems downright progressive. The most intriguing proposition, obviously, is his idea to let students whose progress warrants it be promoted in the middle of the year. It's a solid pitch, but I'm not entirely sure that it would do anything to seriously tackle the state's graduation rate problem.

- Listen, these tailgating changes aren't any sort of coordinated plan aimed at 'pushing fans away from campus.' They're in direct response to a problem fueled by arrogant and irresponsible fans who, on a weekly basis, absolutely trashed North Campus. The result of these changes is going to be more of a headache for folks like me who tailgate elsewhere on campus and actually have a sense of respect for the campus, but I'm not blaming the University of Georgia for whatever new issues crop up.

I suppose there’s no better way to say this, but ‘welcome.’

Beginning today, Flagpole and Beyond The Trestle will be entering into a joint partnership aimed at providing quality daily coverage and commentary of local and state news through this election season. For the regular readers of this blog, this is a rather exciting proposition (and, obviously, if you’re me, it’s an even more exciting one).

First and foremost, let me offer my thanks to Pete McCommons for not only his interest in this project, but also in his belief in what we’re doing here. I’ve long admired the journalistic quality of Flagpole, and the opportunity to be a part of that – even if it’s just temporary – is an honor.

So, for all you new Flagpole readers, what is Beyond The Trestle?

- It's not just Roy Barnes, as five other former governors are seeking their old jobs back this year. Desipte the anti-incumbent mood in the country, the ex-governors can offer a different and unique narrative ... particularly for those who can tie themselves to times of economic success.

- To be fair, I don't know if the book tied Rep. Paul Broun Jr. to fringe groups ... you know?

- Seven years after it began, combat operations in Iraq have come to an end. Roughly 50,000 troops and personnel will remain in the country through 2011 in a support role, but the bulk of troops have either returned home or been shipped to Afghanistan.

The Athens-Clarke County Police Department has been awarded national accreditation for its 911 Communications Center by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

The national recognition is the result of a multi-year process, including on-site investigation by CALEA, as well as a round of public hearings. Successful accreditation means that an agency has met CALEA's set of professional standards.

The ACCPD's law enforcement operations have been accredited by CALEA since 1987.

University of Georgia President Michael Adams is making the rounds as part of his usual tour of the state, and this morning he stopped by to visit with 1340-AM news director Tim Bryant. While most of the conversation focused on onging construction projects and the new athletic director, Adams did receive an interesting phone call at the end of the segment.

Carl Jordan, the former District Six Commissioner for the Athens-Clarke County Commission, phoned in to ask about the impact of campus lighting on the night sky. Jordan, who was one of the driving forces behind a comprehensive lighting ordinance, noted that the athletic lighting meets professional standards, but much of the campus lighting rendered the use of a telescope useless.

Adams responded by pointing out that such an overhaul would be quite pricey, and that UGA is steadily working to retrofit lights as funds become available. He noted that of the state-owned buildings that are more than 100 years old, half of them are located on the UGA campus ...

Will Bunch may have just penned the definitive account of Rep. Paul Broun Jr. ...

What was happening in the nation -- the government bailout of banks and efforts to save the auto industry and create jobs through an $800 billion spending plan -- was not a response to the worst economic crisis in 80 years, Broun said, but rather "the steamroll of socialism that’s being driven by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and that is fueled by Barack Obama." Larded with quotes from and references to the Founding Fathers -- especially George Washington -- Broun’s speech to the John Birch Society argues that the system of taxation that the American government uses to raise revenue is socialist to the core. Our government, he argued, "is taxing those it believes make too much money, and redistributing it to other people. We must stop that trend."

An absolutely incredible piece on the reconstruction of The Georgia Theater by CNN.

Check out the article here, and click here to make donations to support The Georgia Theater.

- As you can see, there has been some shuffling around of our design, and this has primarily been done in response to clean up some glitches that resulted from the first redesign. Truth be told, this is the way the site was 'supposed to look' when we first put forward that redesign, but some last-minute hang-ups hindered us. Everyone - again - pat Martin on the back for his work. Now, as he's repeatedly told me the past few days, he can actually get back to writing more regularly.

- Also, a reminder of our comments policy as we've had a few anonymous comments come our way. We don't permit them, so please register with the system. Additionally, as a general rule and overall appreciation for constructive discourse, we don't permit comments comparing any individual, organization or political party to Nazis ... and yes, we've dealt with the latter recently.

- The Clarke County Board of Education gets a write-in candidate in Allen Morse, who's a former firefighter in the community. He's going against David Nunnally, who's held the seat for 18 years.

There's another mayoral forum in the books, and this one was hosted by the Clarke County Republican Party. As a result, the topic du jour was spending and taxes, and SPLOST dominated the day. While most candidates indicated their support for the project, Nancy Denson told the group that she would have vetoed the SPLOST if she had been afforded the opportunity ...

The list of projects that extending a 1 percent local sales tax would pay for already is set, and Athens voters will decide on it the same day they elect a new mayor, but mayoral candidate Nancy Denson said Saturday she would veto the list if given the chance.

Denson, the former tax commissioner, said she is concerned about the length of the $195 million SPLOST, which is expected to take a little more than nine years to complete.

"We don't know what the needs of our community are going to be five years out," she said at a forum sponsored by the Clarke County Republicans.