Well, looks like Don Imus is making all the right steps to get himself back on the air.

First, he settles with CBS.

The voice of Don Imus could resurface somewhere on the radio dial as soon as this fall, after Mr. Imus and CBS announced that they had settled the remaining differences about his firing in April over remarks deemed insensitive to women and blacks.

Neither Martin Garbus, the lawyer representing the radio host, nor CBS, which owns WFAN, the AM station that had been the flagship for his morning talk show, would comment on the terms of their agreement, citing a confidentiality clause. Mr. Imus was due to be paid nearly $40 million over the almost four years that remained on his contract.

While some Imus associates suggested yesterday that his final payment was at least $20 million, Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio, characterized that figure as too high.

Now he is trying to get hired somewhere else.

Because so much of the radio spectrum has been carved up by conglomerates, the list of broadcasters that could offer Mr. Imus the possibility of a flagship in New York, as well as a syndicated network of affiliates, is relatively short. There is Citadel Broadcasting, which owns WABC-AM in New York, but to install Mr. Imus in the morning, it would have to bump “Curtis and Kuby,” a relatively popular talk show. Steve Borneman, president and general manager of WABC, said yesterday that he was happy with “Curtis and Kuby” and that neither he nor anyone else at his company had spoken with Mr. Imus or his representatives.

Another possibility is Clear Channel, but many of its New York stations also have popular morning shows, including WLTW-FM, a light music outlet that is among the most lucrative in the nation, and WHTZ-FM, better known as Z100, which plays pop music.

WOR, an AM station in New York owned by Buckley Broadcasting, is also a possibility. But like any other potential employer, WOR would have to support the salary that Mr. Imus is seeking, believed to be in the range of $8 million or more a year.

Personally, I look for him to end up on a satellite gig like Howard Stern.

But this doesn't end the legal issues for Imus.

Don Imus is facing his first lawsuit from a player on the Rutgers Women's Basketball team for derogatory comments that cost him his job as a radio host in April, ABC News has learned.

Kia Vaughn, star center for the Rutgers Women's Basketball team, has filed a lawsuit against Imus for libel, slander and defamation -- the first civil suit to be filed against the former radio host. Vaughn is asking for monetary damages of an unspecified amount.

"This is a lawsuit in order to restore the good name and reputation of my client, Kia Vaughn," said her attorney, Richard Ancowitz, in an exclusive interview with the ABC News Law & Justice Unit.

The suit names Imus individually, but it is also waged against MSNBC, NBC Universal, CBS Radio, CBS Corp., Viacom Inc., Westwood One Radio and Imus producer Bernard McGuirk.

Today's suit refers to terms used by Imus April 4 -- including referring to women on the team as "nappy headed" -- as "debasing, demeaning, humiliating, and denigrating" to Vaughn and her fellow players. "There's no way these bigoted remarks should have seen the light of day," Ancowitz told ABC News.

"Don Imus referred to my client as an unchaste woman. That was and is a lie."

I don't see this case as having any real merit.

First, given the ubiquitous nature of the word "ho" in contemporary culture in contexts not referring to prostitution, I don't know that there would be a showing that Imus actually impugned the young lady's morality.

Second, given the public support Vaughn and her teammates received from the American public, I don't believe she can actually show damages.

Third, given that the statements were made the day after she appeared in the national championship game, it could reasonably be argued that Vaughn was a public figure, requiring her to meet a higher burden in any libel, slander, or defamation action under the doctrine enunciated by the Supreme Court in the Sullivan case back in the 1960s.

If Imus is smart, however, he will quickly approach Vaughn and her teammates and settle this case quickly --because it is the decent thing to do and would indicate some sort of contrition on his part.

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