The Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP has completed the final phase of a series of demonstrations at the Pittsburgh School District administration building in protest of the district’s racial achievement gap. Their seven-week effort, which ended Dec. 28 was to increase awareness of the gap and inspire district administrators to take action.

“The emphasis on resolving disparities has to be a top agenda item of the school board, administration and teachers,” said NAACP member and Black Political Empowerment Project leader Tim Stevens. “If we don’t collectively address that ongoing disparity, people in this region, particularly African-Americans, will have a difficult future.”

BRAVING THE COLD—NAACP President Gail Moss, Richard A. Stewart Jr. and Curtis Page finish their final lap around the administration building.

NEW YORK (AP)—South African poet and former political prisoner Dennis Brutus, who fought apartheid in words and deeds and remained an activist well after the fall of his country’s racist system, has died. He was 85.

Brutus’ publisher, Chicago-based Haymarket Books, said the writer died in his sleep at his home in Cape Town Dec. 26. He had been battling prostate cancer, according to Patrick Bond, who directs the Center for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, where Brutus was an honorary professor.

DENNIS BRUTUS

The city is waiting to hear whether or not Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will sign a piece of legislation, which calls for a prevailing wage to be paid to service industry workers in developments that have received $100,000 or more of city aid.

City council unanimously passed the legislation on Dec. 21 by a vote of 9-0. For this reason, the mayor will be unable to veto the legislation, but his support or lack of support could have an impact on future relations with the council.

DOUG SHIELDS