JUDGES' PAY RAISE SUIT FILED 
Another lawsuit by state judges seeking their first pay raise since 1999 will be filed today in Manhattan Supreme Court, reports The New York Law Journal. It is the second such suit filed since a partisan struggle in the Legislature put a judicial pay raise bill on hold, and its undisclosed plaintiffs come from four different statewide judicial associations: the Board of Judges of the Civil Court of the City of New York, the Family Court Judges Association, the New York City Family Court Judges Association and the City Criminal Court Judges Association. “I think everybody agreed over the summer that if they were not going to come back in September, then that would be it,” Staten Island Civil Court Judge Philip Straniere told the Law Journal (it’s unclear if he’s a plaintiff), referring to the Legislative limbo. “Enough is enough.” -J.S.

NO CALORIE DISPLAYS...FOR NOW
The New York Sun runs a piece about Southern District Judge Richard Howell’s decision yesterday to overturn a 2006 city law requiring restaurants to prominently display their menus’ calorie contents. Howell tossed the law since it only forced the 10 percent of city restaurants already voluntarily providing such information (albeit on Web sites, brochures, or napkins) to put it on their menus, too. But all was not lost for the city: noting that the city was “free to enact mandatory disclosure requirements,” Howell offered a blueprint for a law that might one day legally force all New York restaurants to adhere to such calorie displays. -J.S.

SIX MONTHS (AND TWO WEEKS) 
In a decision prosecutors have vowed to appeal, Rockland County Court (we think, since there's no mention in the article) Judge Victor Alfieri on Monday dismissed felony identity theft counts against two Brooklyn men because they were not tried within six months of their grand jury indictment. The Journal News has the story. He’d earlier thrown out, due to insufficient evidence, other charges against Thomas Cabot and Lamont Reddish, who were arrested by Clarkstown police in 2006 at the Target store in West Nyack. But concerning the speedy trial dismissal, prosecutors allege Alfieri overstepped his bounds when he included in the six-month window the two weeks they’d asked for to let the grand jury to review Alfieri’s initial dismissals. “When we answer ready for trial, we're ready for trial,” said Chief Assistant Prosecutor Louis Valvo. “According to case law, once you enter ready for trial, the time limit stops. We disagree with the judge's conclusions and we plan to ask for appellate review on several issues.” -J.S.

THE "HOTEL MURDERER" GOES TO THE CLINK 
And finally, what would summer’s end be without a New York Police Department crackdown on drug dealing at gay nightclubs, reported in lurid details by The Village Voice. After two such clubs, The Box and The Cock, were visited by city agencies and written up for health and safety lapses in late August, Labor Day weekend saw a full-fledged drug bust at Mr. Black, located on Broadway and Bleecker, where such luminaries as DJ Sammy Jo, the “Hotel Murderer” Clarence Dean, and in-the-buff cocktail waiters The Ass and Mini-Ass were hauled in for selling drugs. The case goes before an undisclosed judge September 20^th, at which time a variety of allegations of police misconduct during the raid — including cops high-fiving each other while making arrests, an alleged reference to transgendered doorgirl Connie Girl as “it,” as well as the advice given by cops to partygoers, “Sorry, homos, you're gonna have to find somewhere else to go hang out,” — may or may not come to light. -J.S.

HUGS AND "I LOVE YOU"s IN MANHATTAN FAMILY COURT
The Gotham Gazette features Manhattan’s pioneering Family Treatment Court, which “provides intensive services and monitoring to help parents recover” from drug addiction and regain custody of their children from the foster care system. Though one “ebullient” parent in Judge Gloria Sosa-Lintner’s court proclaimed, “I love you guys! I love my program! I’m happy,” (throwing in an “I love you too!” for the bailiff), court officials warn that the program isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows. Court referee Susan Doherty said, “Treatment court is harder [than regular family court], because they have to come to court more frequently and follow extra regulations, like taking drug tests… But it gives them a better chance of getting their kids back or of keeping them from going into the system, and it gives them a better chance of getting rid of their drug problem.” To graduate from the program, parents must meet a lengthy list of requirements: complete drug treatment, stay sober for at least a year, have the means to support their children, and take a parenting skills course, among others. Manhattan’s court prompted the creation of 48 similar ones statewide; Sosa-Lintner attributes its success to the fact that “ the court acts like a parent figure” for people who have rarely had such guidance. To date, 354 parents (of 916 total) have successfully completed the program. "“I think the court is working great,” Doherty said. “I wish it was working better. I wish that these resources -- the close monitoring, the support -- were available to all parents in family court.” -H.B.