Your Daily Guide

⚡ Madison Company Wants to Bring Fusion Power To Wisconsin: In addition to building a research lab on the former Oscar Mayer site on Madison’s north side, Realta Fusion is partnering with MG&E in the hopes of building one of the country’s first fusion-powered plants in Wisconsin. Realta Fusion CEO Kieran Furlong said the plant could be online sometime in the mid-2030s. [WPR]

🏘️ Major Development Proposed For Far West Side: JD McCormick Properties wants to turn 31 acres of farmland at the corner of Mid Town and South Pleasant View roads into a major multi-use development. Under the proposal approved by the Plan Commission, the Hawks Nest subdivision would mix retail space and multifamily residential buildings. [🔒WSJ]

📷 Cap Times Debuts Photojournalism Summit: Along with its annual Cap Times Idea Fest Sept. 18-26 featuring politicians, journalists, and thinkers, the Cap Times is debuting a new photojournalism summit on Sept. 24 and 25. The summit will bring local and national journalists to Madison and focus on Black women in photojournalism. [Cap Times Idea Fest, Cap Times]

🚘 Parking Tickets Getting Lost in System: A new audit says that the City of Madison can’t track the status of most of the parking citations that were transferred to municipal court. The city referred more than 5,000 of its 120,000 citations issued in 2024 to court or collections, and the status of over 4,500 of those could not be verified. [Cap Times]

🎒 Welcome Edgewood University Class of 2030: Edgewood University welcomed 285 first-year students this week, the largest class it’s had in over 10 years. Forty of the students were graduates of Madison schools, and 60 came from outside the state. [WMTV]

Madison has two Restaurant Weeks and a Black Restaurant Week – now it’s time for a Halal Restaurant Week. Running Sept. 4-13, the inaugural event showcases Madison restaurants that will offer alternatives to their usual menu items prepared in the Muslim halal tradition.

After several successful years in Milwaukee, the week is expanding to Madison this year. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, Madison writer and comedian Emily Winter joins host Bianca Martin and executive producer Hayley Sperling to talk about Halal Restaurant Week. They also wish-spend Wisconsin’s $3 billion budget surplus and react to a study that calls Madison one of the best places to retire.

Here’s the details on Halal Restaurant Week.

☪️ What is Halal?

Halal is Arabic for “allowed” or “permissible,” and covers a variety of practices for followers of the Islamic faith. But in the context of dining it refers to specific food and dietary restrictions. For example, pork and alcohol must be excluded, and animals who are used in halal food must be slaughtered in a specific ritual tradition. It’s similar to the Jewish practice of keeping kosher, although the rules can differ between individuals. [WebMD]

🧑‍🍳 Why a Halal Restaurant Week?

While Muslims can find halal food throughout the year at certain restaurants, Bushra Zaibak said she started “Eat Halal Milwaukee” to expand the amount of available options for halal food to burger restaurants, Mexican restaurants, and more. She got the idea after her son asked to go out for burgers instead of the usual shawarma. [Madison365]

🍔 What Restaurants Are Taking Part?

These eight Madison restaurants are taking part in Halal Restaurant Week. Note that, unlike Madison Restaurant Week, these restaurants won’t have special menu items for the week, but instead will be offering halal-certified alternatives to its regular menu items.

● Lucille

● The Globe

● Baked Wings & Things

● Paul’s Pel’meni

● Mi Barrio

● Bassett Street Brunch Club

● Everly

● HWY 1

Once Halal Restaurant Week is over, make sure to check out this list of Madison restaurants that serve halal-certified food year round. [UW-Madison Muslim Students Association]