A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the suspension of a West Virginia student who created a web page suggesting another student had a sexually transmitted disease and invited classmates to comment.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused to reinstate Kara Kowalski's lawsuit against school officials in Berkeley County. She claimed her five-day suspension from Musselman High School in 2005 violated her free speech and due process rights, and that school officials lacked authority to punish her because she created the web page at home.

The appeals court said the web page was created primarily for Kowalski's classmates, so the school had the right to discipline her for disrupting the learning environment.

Kowalski was a senior at Musselman when she created a MySpace page called "S.A.S.H." She claimed it was an acronym for "Students Against Sluts Herpes."

But a classmate said it stood for "Students Against Shay's Herpes" and referred to a student who was the main subject of discussion on the page. The first of about two dozen students who joined the discussion group posted photos of the student, including one with red dots drawn over her face to simulate herpes.

Other students posted messages commenting on the photos and ridiculing the student, whose parents complained to school officials the next day. Officials concluded Kowalski had created a "hate website" in violation of the school's anti-bullying policy.

A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments over a law giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco advertising and marketing.

The three-judge panel from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday will hear a challenge from tobacco companies who say the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act illegally restricts their free speech rights.

In January 2010, U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. in Bowling Green, Ky., rejected much of the first major challenge to the law brought by tobacco companies. McKinley upheld most of the marketing restrictions in the law, including a ban on tobacco companies sponsoring athletic, social and cultural events or offering free samples or branded merchandise. The judge also upheld a requirement that warning labels cover half the packaging on each tobacco product.

The judge threw out a ban on color and graphics on most tobacco advertising.

The act, signed into law in June 2009, lets the FDA limit but not ban nicotine. It also lets the agency ban candy flavorings and marketing claims such "low tar" and "light," require warnings be emblazoned over carton images, regulate what goes into tobacco products and publicize those ingredients.

Joining R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Camel cigarettes, and Lorillard Inc., which sells Newport menthols, were National Tobacco Co., Discount Tobacco City & Lottery Inc., and Kentucky-based Commonwealth Brands, which is owned by Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group PLC.

A federal appeals court has struck down a rule adopted last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission that gave shareholders more power to nominate board directors.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the SEC was "arbitrary and capricious" in implementing the rule, which was widely supported by investor advocates. Judge Douglas Ginsburg said the SEC failed to estimate the cost to companies to campaign against investors' nominations.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, a trade group of CEOs for the nation's largest companies, had challenged the rule, which was mandated under the financial overhaul passed by Congress last year.

A spokesman for the SEC said the agency is reviewing the decision and considering its options.

Supporters of the rule said it was necessary because risky corporate behavior, particularly on Wall Street, was a leading cause of the 2008 financial crisis. Getting candidates on the board would give investors a better shot at influencing company policy.

The rule would have allowed investors owning at least 3 percent of a company's stock to put their nominees for board seats on the annual proxy ballot sent to all shareholders. Before the Securities and Exchange Commission acted on the rule, investors had to appeal to shareholders at their own expense.