Supreme Court says keeping name private can be crime

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people do not have a constitutional right to refuse to tell police their names.

The 5-4 decision frees the government to arrest and punish people who won't cooperate by revealing their identity. Shawano's police chief thinks the decision will aid all law enforcement departments.

"This is going to level the playing field for some of these people that were wise to the ways," said Shawano police chief Ed Whealon. "If people knew that they had a warrant for themselves then they didn't cooperate with us and give us their names. Now they have to produce that information."

The decision was a defeat for privacy rights advocates who argued that the government could use this power to force people who have done nothing wrong, other than catch the attention of police, to divulge information that may be used for broad data base searches.

Police, meanwhile, had argued that identification requests are a routine part of detective work, including efforts to get information about terrorists.

Town of Washington to review rezoning request

A rezoning request that had sparked some opposition in the Town of Washington will start from scratch with a new review by the town zoning board after changes to the proposal introduced Monday night.

Supreme Court says keeping name private can be crime

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people do not have a constitutional right to refuse to tell police their names.

Longtime SMU commissioner honored

Longtime Shawano Municipal Utilities employee and utility commissioner, Junior Jahnke, was honored recently by the municipal electric industry for his years in support of public power.

School task force finishes work on report

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A governor's task force completed work Tuesday on a report that proposes increasing Wisconsin's sales tax, cutting property taxes and providing at least $90 million in new spending on education.