Portage Daily Register v. Columbia County Sheriff's Department

¶ 1. The Portage Daily Register appeals an order denying its writ of mandamus which sought to compel the Columbia County Sheriffs Department to provide it with a copy of an investigative report pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.37 (2005-06). The Sheriffs Department denied the request on the ground that the report, a copy of which the Sheriffs Department retained, had been forwarded to the district attorney's office and was part of an open investigation. The circuit court determined that this reason for denying the report was sufficiently specific, and that the Sheriffs Department properly withheld…