I spent last week researching and interviewing for this week's news story "Taking the Power Back: Fighting Citizens United on the Local Front."

In the course of working the article, I had to teach myself about the ins and outs of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The more I dug into the story, the more complicated it became (not so unusual), especially when state and federal campaign finance rules and regulations are taken into account.

This video, created by the people behind the Story of Stuff, was one of the resources that helped me to understand the generalities and implications of the Supreme Court's decision to grant unlimited power to corporations when it comes to election campaign spending. The fact that it's a cartoon, made in a way that even an eight-year-old could understand, was a plus.

The Move to Amend website contains more information about the proposed amendment, along with information about the Occupy the Courts action scheduled for Friday, January 20 across the U.S.

And finally, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert having been having fun over at Comedy Central with the whole notion of Super PACs.

"Best dollar we ever spent," Volagi posted on Twitter.

The jury announcement was made today, and sends a clear message about noncompete clauses, says Volagi co-owner Robert Choi. "We hope that the jury is sending a message to Specialized that this was unjust in a way," he told Bike Radar today, immediately after the trial.

All charges against Barley Forsman were dropped. Technically, Choi was found in violation of a noncompete clause by helping found Volagi while still employed by Specialized, but the symbolic $1 in damages shows the jury obviously felt that the "Big S" wasn't hurt in a substantial way.

Volagi was also able to keep their Longbow Flex patent, their frame design and "the color red."

Specialized Mike Sinyard issued his own statement to Bike Radar: “This lawsuit was a matter of principle and about protecting our culture of trust and innovation. We respect the ruling of the court in our favor. We are very satisfied with the outcome and the damages set at $1.00. We really want to put all our passion and time into growing the sport of cycling.”

In researching this week's Bohemian news story on the case, I looked through Specialized's very aggressive pre-trial brief, and I somehow doubt that Sinyard is "very satisified" with a $1 payment, especially considering that Specialized was demanding restitution of $1.5 million in legal fees alone.

For their part, Volagi appears to be planning a 100-cyclist ride from Cotati to Specialized's Morgan Hill headquarters to settle their debt. "Each one must bring a penny," their Twitter feed says.

For more, see this week's news story about the local bike community's reaction to the lawsuit.

• Public Domain
• Officers of the 477th Bombardment Group at Freeman Field, Indiana.

But according to Santa Rosa Airman James Goodwin, the skies of Italy weren’t the fighters’ only battleground. While the 332nd was fighting Germans, the 477th, a Tuskegee-trained group that would never go overseas, was fighting segregation in the south. Leslie Williams, a 92-year-old San Mateo resident and member of the 477th participated in the events of the famed Freeman Field Mutiny, in which 162 arrests were made.

“We were unhappy because we had more people at Freeman Field than the white officers did, but we couldn’t use the officers’ club or tennis courts,” Williams recalls. This feeling was exacerbated by the fact that white officers were often promoted much faster than the black pilots. “They would be teaching us, and they hadn’t even gotten as much experience as us,” Williams says.

On April 5, 1945, several groups of three black officers entered the all-white club. They were refused service. When they were sure they were being discriminated against as a whole, the men donned their best uniforms and made an orderly parade to the club door. “Someone told the white officers that we were coming, so they stationed someone outside the front door,” Williams recalls. Sixty-one officers were arrested.

Charges were eventually dropped against all but three officers, who were then sent to what Williams calls “The Stockade.” At Fort Knox in Kentucky, Williams says they were placed in a special, high-security wing of the prison. “It was a stockade in every sense of the word. There were barbed wire fences and floodlights and they couldn’t get in or out. They could look out from the barbed wire fence and see German prisoners of war who were more free than they were,” he says.

Two of them were eventually released, but one, Lieutenant Roger Terry, was convicted of jostling the officer stationed at the club door and received a dishonorable discharge. “That’s like a felony,” Williams says. “He endured the stigma from that for many years. That’s what prejudice is all about.”

Meanwhile, 101 officers were briefly arrested (some for a second time) for refusing to sign a document stating that officers’ clubs would be segregated. The atmosphere was strained even for those who weren’t arrested, Williams says. “We couldn’t assemble in groups of three. It was a very tense time,” he remembers.

News of the arrests spread nation-wide, and due to pressure from labor unions, black organizations and politicians, charges against the 101 were dropped. Several black pilots were elevated to command roles afterward as well. Truman didn’t sign his order integrating the military until 1948, but Williams says the 477th sees their protests as at least partially responsible for his decision.

“We all feel, all of us, that we helped instigate that,” he says.