The move by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was unusual not only because the full circuit assembles for a case only once or twice a year, but because Maher Arar's attorneys had yet to even ask for a full hearing.

The court notified lawyers Wednesday that the full panel of 13 judges will rehear Arar's case, which a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit dismissed in June. Arguments are scheduled for Dec. 9.

"We never even considered the possibility they would do it before we asked," said Maria LaHood, a Center for Constitutional Rights senior attorney representing Arar. "They certainly decided it was important enough on their own."

The Syrian-born Arar was detained in 2002 after switching planes at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he returned to Canada from vacation. Federal authorities say he had been wrongly listed as an al-Qaida member.

His office also reviewed a draft friend-of-the-court brief offered by the chemical giant.

But the draft was used for reference only, said administration spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg, and the brief Manchin ultimately filed urging the state Supreme Court to hear DuPont's appeal was his own.

"Here, the proposed draft was provided, we politely reviewed it, said 'Thanks, but no thanks,' and ultimately decided to go another way," she said.

The court is in summer recess and has not yet decided whether to take the case.

The revelation about communication between the governor's office and the chemical giant is the latest twist in a complex class-action lawsuit involving nearly 8,000 people exposed to toxic chemicals that spewed for decades from a zinc-smelting plant in Spelter.

While the case centered on medical and liability issues, the plaintiffs also argued that close ties to DuPont made environmental regulators and other state officials complicit in allowing a 112-acre waste pile tainted with arsenic, cadmium and lead to sit in the center of town until 2001.

After a five-week trial in county circuit court last fall, jurors convicted DuPont of wanton, willful and reckless conduct and ordered it to pay punitive damages to deter future misconduct. Total damages were $382 million.

Twenty-year-old Spencer Taylor entered the plea Wednesday in St. Joseph County District Court.

A judge ordered him to serve one day in jail, perform 16 hours of community service and pay $685 in fines.

Charges of attempted larceny in a building and using a mask to conceal his identity during the commission of a crime were dismissed as part of Taylor's plea agreement.

Three Rivers police say he was wearing a purple suit, green wig and face paint when they arrested him on July 27.

Ria Ramkissoon wore a purple jumpsuit and a blank expression during her appearance Tuesday at the city's booking center, answering only, "Yes," when asked whether she had read the charges against her.

Her attorney, Steven D. Silverman, argued for bail to be set, but District Court Judge Theodore B. Oshrine decided that holding Ramkissoon without bail was appropriate because of the seriousness of the allegations.

"This is not a black-and-white case," Silverman told the judge. "I'm convinced from talking to her that she's been grossly overcharged."

Silverman said after the hearing that his client, a petite native of Trinidad who moved to Maryland with her mother at the age of 8 and has no criminal record, was manipulated by cult members.

A U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology students from demonstrating at the Defcon conference on Sunday in Las Vegas how to take advantage of the system's vulnerabilities to get free rides.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority says in a complaint filed Friday that the students offered to show others how to use the hacks before giving the transit system a chance to fix the flaws.

Judge Ronald Giles agreed Tuesday with the mayor's attorneys that a no-contact order didn't include Ayanna Kilpatrick. The mayor spent time with his sister during the weekend.

Last week, Giles had sent the mayor to jail last week in a separate perjury case.

Giles had put the mayor in jail Thursday after learning he traveled to Windsor, Ontario, in July without notifying authorities, a condition of his bond in the perjury case. Kilpatrick was released Friday.

Police warned jumpy residents in this city of 8,300 people to be on the lookout for a dangerous suspect who may be someone they know.

Nobody was injured in either fire, the latest of which started shortly after 4 a.m. in the prosecutor's office in a one-story brick building that houses several other law offices in Lancaster's small downtown, authorities said.

Police Capt. Harlean Howard said witnesses to the fires have been interviewed but urged more to come forward. She also said experience shows the suspect will likely follow the investigation closely in media reports and in conversations.