Your Daily Guide

🚨 Fraternity Leaders Arrested For Hazing: The president and vice president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity UW-Madison were charged with hazing and disorderly conduct Sept. 23. Police entered the fraternity house on Langdon Street and found 30 partially clothed males covered in food and fluids, with several bearing signs of being physically assaulted. [Daily Cardinal]

🎥 Dane County Sheriff Considering Traffic Cams: After cancelling its contract with Flock Safety, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett is weighing bids from four other companies for 26 new automatic license plate readers.

• The shift comes as both Sun Prairie and Cottage Grove have recently ended their Flock contracts as well. [Cap Times, Badger Herald, News 3]

🗳️ County Clerk Fears Federal Election Interference: As Trump administration officials have refused to rule out sending federal agents to the polls on Nov. 3, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said there’s been “complete silence” from the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Attorney General Josh Kaul on how local law enforcement and election officials should prepare or respond. McDonell said even if the threat doesn’t materialize, it could intimidate voters into staying away from the polls on Election Day. [NPR, News 3]

🛤️ Aberg Avenue Closed All Week: Starting today, Aberg Avenue will be completely closed between Loftsgordon Avenue and Everett Street while the railroad crossing there is replaced. All vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic will be detoured until the road reopens on Oct. 2. [City of Madison]

🌯Chipotle is Coming to Capitol Square: It won’t open on Pinckney Street until the end of the year, which is too late for the Halloween “boorito” deal. [Cap Times, Chipotle]

🩸 Give Blood This Week at the Nick: UW-Madison and the Red Cross are holding a blood drive Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the Nicholas Recreation Center. Donors get a $15 e-card and the satisfaction of knowing they’re helping to keep the blood supply stable this fall. [InBusiness]

What To Know About The Proposed BECI Transmission Line

While hyperscale data centers have become a big political issue in Wisconsin, there’s another technological project that is generating some attention in Dane County and beyond – a proposed high-powered transmission line called BECI.

On Sept. 10, the Dane County Board passed a resolution calling for movement on the project to be slowed down to allow time for further review and public input. Here’s the backstory on BECI, and why it has residents and lawmakers so charged up. [Midcontinent Grid Solutions, Dane County]

What is BECI?

The BECI project is a 765-kilovolt power line that would stretch roughly 190 miles across southern Wisconsin. The area being considered for the line would include parts of Crawford, Richland, Sauk, Columbia, Dodge, Dane, Jefferson, Walworth and Rock counties.

The Y-shaped towers loom 175 feet tall, each requiring 180 feet of space on the ground. The $1.2 billion project is being spearheaded by the Midcontent Independent System Operator (MISO), which is the grid operator for the region, ranging 15 states and parts of Canada.

The company developing the project, Midcontinent Grid Solutions, says the project is necessary to connect southern Wisconsin to the MISO grid as energy use continues to grow and change, keeping energy service reliable even in the case of equipment failures or when parts of the grid are under strain. Some of that energy use comes from new data centers coming online.

While the route has yet to be determined, the BECI lines will not follow existing power lines routes, meaning that it will require new easements or contracts with property owners. [Cap Times]

What’s the Time Frame?

MGS gathered public input in August and has identified some possible routes in the nine-county region. The company plans to hold additional public hearings through the fall and then submit their application to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission early next year.

From there, the project will undergo a lengthy review process, and it will be up to the commission to decide if and where the transmission line will be built. According to MGS’ timetable, the project could be completed by 2033. [Cap Times, MGS]