MARYLAND BRIEFING

-- Ann E. Marimow

EDUCATION

Students in Science Competition

Two students from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring and a student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria have made it to the finals of the Intel Science Talent Search for 2007, the technology company announced.

Brian Lawrence and Richard McCutchen at Montgomery Blair and Sarah Marzen at Thomas Jefferson are among the 40 final candidates who will receive scholarships of at least $5,000.

The talent search, founded in 1942, is the nation's oldest and most highly regarded pre-collegiate science contest.

TAKOMA PARK

City Council Election Decided

Reuben Snipper, 61, a statistician for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, won a special election for Takoma Park City Council.

Snipper won with 107 votes Tuesday in a three-way nonpartisan race that marked the first time the Montgomery County municipality planned to use a system allowing voters to rank their choices in order of preference: first, second, third.

Snipper won by a clear majority, however, so the city did not have to use the new system that would have involved adding up second- and possibly third-choice votes, said City Clerk Jessie Carpenter. Snipper replaces Marc Elrich, who won a seat in November on the Montgomery County Council.

-- Miranda S. Spivack