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Former Democratic County Commissioner Jeff Griffith and former Republican state Sen. Sharon W. Hornberger will begin writing regular opinion pieces for The Carroll County Sun.Griffith's "The Way It Is" and Hornberger's "As I See It" will be featured on the Dialogue Page twice monthly, beginning next Sunday."

Glen Burnie woman killed while trying to cross Crain Highway A 34-year-old Glen Burnie woman was killed late Wednesday as she tried to cross Crain Highway near Furnace Branch Road, Anne Arundel County police said. Elizabeth Lynn Servas of Glen Ridge Road was pronounced dead at the scene after she was struck by a 1997 Plymouth Breeze headed north, police said. The driver, Sarah Marie Tully, 23, of Glen Burnie told police she heard something strike her windshield just before midnight, police said.

Alderman Dean L. Johnson, a two-term city councilman who represents Ward 2, officially announced his candidacy for mayor of Annapolis yesterday at his new campaign headquarters near Loews Hotel on West Street.Johnson, who was a registered Independent, recently retired from his federal government job to declare a party affiliation in a partisan election and registered last week as a Republican."We need to do a number of things to improve the relationships between the public and its government," said Johnson, who pledged to "roll up his sleeves and work even harder on behalf of the citizens of Annapolis."

Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry is expected to formally endorse William Donald Schaefer's candidacy for state comptroller today, a move that could strengthen the former governor's standing in the Washington suburbs.Curry will announce his support of Schaefer at a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Largo, sources knowledgeable about the planned endorsement said yesterday.The endorsement would come a week after Curry delivered a brief message of support at a Schaefer fund-raiser but stopped short of issuing a formal endorsement.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen abducted a French engineer in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood yesterday, French and Iraqi officials said. He was the latest victim in a recent surge of kidnappings of Westerners. The day also brought increasing tensions between two Shiite Muslim political factions as a result of violence that has flared up as parliamentary elections this month near. In the capital, the U.S. military reported that an American soldier was killed when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb while on patrol the day before.

As election results roll in tonight after months of campaigning, Marylanders won't be the only ones paying attention. Four Russian journalists will go to polling places in Baltimore County, monitor coverage of the election and attend a victory celebration with a newly elected official as part of an exhange program through the Library of Congress. Tatyana Novikova, the head of the Russian government's mass media agency; Anna Kiseleva, a correspondent for a national radio station; Irina Borshchevskaya, editor in chief of a regional newspaper; and Olga Pashayeva, editor in chief of a national television station, spent the past week exploring Maryland as the state prepared for today's elections.

Donald W. Brewer, Baltimore County's former ride-share coordinator, yesterday announced that he will run as a Republican for county executive this year against incumbent Roger B. Hayden.Mr. Brewer, 48, who lives in the 7900 block of Bank St. in Eastpoint, was a fervent supporter of Mr. Hayden, also a Republican, in 1990, but soured on the executive after the election. Mr. Brewer ultimately lost his county job amid massive layoffs last February."I am a malcontent," he cheerfully admitted yesterday on the county courthouse steps in Towson, where he faced a small audience of family members and well-wishers who included his son-in-law, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Curt Schilling.

A highly organized campaign, plenty of endorsements and old-fashioned momentum contributed to Delegate Eileen M. Rehrmann's crushing defeat of her chief opponent, Councilwoman Barbara A. Risacher, in the Democratic primary race for county executive, say political observers.Rehrmann, who started her political career as a town commissioner in Bel Air in 1979 and was elected to the General Assembly in 1983, swept all but one of the county's 44 precincts, which included absentee ballots, Tuesday.

State Sen. Christopher J. McCabe, R-District 14, recently attended the National Program for Emerging Political Leaders at the Darden School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.Mr. McCabe, one of 400 state legislators nominated for the school, is one of only 50 public servants selected. The program is designed to expand the leadership possibilities of emerging state legislators, to broaden their prospectives and to enable them to challenge the future in new, positive ways.

Democrats in the Houses of Representatives took the unusual step of ousting two committee chairmen this month. Seniority almost always automatically determines chairmanships. But this year, for the first time in 16 years, more than one chairman was deposed -- and it was because of their seniority; they were regarded as too old to be effective.They were also regarded as unresponsive to younger members and/or as poor advertisements to the public. Democrats want the public to think of the House as a vigorous, equal partner in running not only Congress (with the Senate)