The case of Frank Jude continues to haunt Milwaukee. And it continues to cost the city money. This time it will result in a settlement for two of Jude's companions on that ill-fated October 2004 night in Bay View. Kirsten Antonissen and Katie Brown filed a claim against the city saying their civil rights were violated that evening when police beat Jude to a bloody pulp.

The city attorney recommends paying the two $75,000 to settle the case. That decision first rests with a Common Council committee next week, which will consider the matter in closed session.

Antonissen and Brown are also part of a federal civil rights lawsuit that asks for $30 million. Jude and another in the foursome that landed at an off-duty police party, Lovell Harris, are also plaintiffs in the suit. Six officers were convicted in the beating incident, which happened in the street during the party. Harris was cut in the face before he broke free.

Nonetheless, the Jude case also continues to pile up attorneys fees on a variety of fronts. This week, lawyers for former officer Jon Bartlett-the most notorious of the Jude beaters-filed a civil suit against the city contending he needs some pain and suffering money after being involved in a 2002 incident in which he killed a man.

Bartlett -- not exactly a poster boy for Milwaukee Police Department recruiters -- is serving a 22.5-year sentence in federal prison in connection with the Jude case and a federal firearms conviction. He has also been convicted of threatening to blow up a police station.

Jude himself is behind bars after being convicted of beating his wife. The two are divorcing.

Boot-licking: Milwaukee aldermen want to put their own version of a surge on the war against people who don't pay their parking tickets. New weapons employed recently include having the city tow unregistered vehicles and vehicles with outstanding parking tickets. Parking checkers and even Milwaukee Police squads are writing more and more tickets when finding unregistered vehicles, including on Sundays during the day, when most folks should feel their vehicles are safe on the streets.

Now, three aldermen, Jim Bohl, Terry Witkowski and Bob Donovan want the state to allow the city to apply the infamous boot to vehicles with unpaid tickets and to impound the vehicles until the tickets are paid. They're asking a council committee to authorize city lobbyists to go to Madison with that message.

Boots, which disable the vehicle by locking its tires, were once tried in this town by operators of private parking lots until courts ruled that they violated the rights of drivers, since there was no fair way a person could contest the booting. After inconveniencing thousands, boots quietly left the city.

Museum Contribution to Plan Perhaps Overstated: The City of Milwaukee seems to have banked a lot on the presence of the America's Black Holocaust Museum as a centerpiece for its Bronzeville redevelopment project around North Avenue and King Drive. Appeals have been made to help the museum refinance its debt and raise money in order to get the doors reopened. The place was shuttered in early August.

That could have city officials thinking hard about getting involved in helping, after all, it sung high praises of the place when proposing its now slow-moving Bronzeville project.

"America's Black Holocaust Museum and Grant's Soul Food are both anchors in the area that draw people to the neighborhood and could serve as catalysts to attract similar cultural attractions," reads one area of the city's Web site. Another touts the museum as "a cultural anchor of the proposed district."

While we like the food at Grant's, it doesn't necessarily stand out as a "catalyst."

Perhaps the city should update its Web site. The museum's Web site remains up, as well, ready to accept donations. A city report on Bronzeville did hedge its bet on the success of the museum, in terms of adding other cultural attractions to the area.

"Because it is difficult to predict the market and potential success of cultural attractions this report recommends waiting on the development of a performance theater or an additional museum until the district is more mature and its market more clearly defined," offers a report from the Department of City Development.

Partnering Partnerships: While the Milwaukee School Board continues a contentious year-long debate on whether to offer employees of the district domestic partnership benefits, Dane County Exec Kathleen Falk signed into law this week mandates that companies doing business with Dane County offer domestic partnership benefits.

A School Board committee narrowly advanced the partnership benefits proposal this week to the full board.

Falk has not indicated which companies would fall under the rule, but the county contracts out about $200 million worth of business.

Ruling All Wet: Certainly not wanting to throw a wet blanket on any party inmates might hold, state Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) points out some strange behavior on the part of the federal courts. One such court recently ruled that an inmate was entitled to $300,000 in pain and suffering payments after the inmate complained that he had to sleep on a damp mattress after a prison riot, even though he did not apparently suffer any illness.

Carpenter praised the state Department of Corrections for vowing to appeal the odd ruling: "Many of my constituents who were victims of flooding earlier this year had more to deal with than a damp mattress, without being paid $300,000. I hope an appellate court will view this matter with a bit more common sense."