August 14, 1981

Consumers considering whether to invest in the tax-exempt savings certificates created by the new tax law are going to find only limited information available now to elp them decide. Although the certificates are scheduled for offering beginning on Oct. 1, they have not yet been officially authorized by the bankang regulatory agencies, and some of the details have not yet been determined. ''There is no question that Congress wants them, so our job really is just to implement the program,'' said Gordon Eastburn, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Capital Markets in the Treasury Department and also acting executive secretary of the Depository Institutions Deregulation Committee. ''There are a lot of technacal issues to resolve, such as disclosure requirements and how to calculate yield,'' Mr. Eastburn said, ''and we're trying to resolve them as soon as possible.'' But it is impossible, he said, to predict how much before Oct. 1 the decisions would be made.

Three former members of Congress received three-year prison terms yesterday in the first sentencing of defendants convicted in the Federal Government's two-year Abscam investigation into political corruption. Also sentenced yesterday in a hushed, crowded courtroom in Federal District Court in Brooklyn were a former Mayor of Camden, N.J., who got six years, and a Philadelphia City Councilman, who was given a three-year term. The former Representatives who were sentenced were John M. Murphy of Staten Island and Michael J. Myers and Raymond F. Lederer, both of Philadelphia. They were sentenced along with former Mayor Angelo J. Errichetti of Camden and City Councilman Louis C. Johanson of Philadelphia, who, like Mr. Errichetti, was convicted as a co-conspirator with Mr. Myers. Thompson Sentencing Delayed Former Representative Frank Thompson Jr. of Trenton, who was convicted in the same case as Mr. Murphy and was also to have been sentenced yesterday, had his sentencing, in effect, postponed pending further studies of his medical condition.

Robin H. H. Wilson, until recently a senior vice president for operations at Trans World Airlines, has been chosen as the new president of the Long Island Rail Road, officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said yesterday. The appointment, which is expected to be announced formally today, caps an eight-month search that began even before the past president of the railroad, Francis S. Gabreski, resigned in February. Mr. Wilson, 45 years old, left T.W.A. in May after his job was eliminated in an airline economy move. When he became a senior vice president at T.W.A. in 1977, Mr. Wilson's salary was $113,000 a year. A top railroad source said yesterday that his new salary would be around $100,000. Mr. Gabreski earned $72,500 a year.

President Reagan acknowledged that future budget deficits might be wider than he had projected, as he signed his economic package into law. He blamed changes in his program by Congress. (Page A1.) The tax-exempt savings certificates authorized by the tax law could prove a boon to those in 30 percent-plus brackets. (D1.) The Big Three auto makers reported a 30.8 percent sales increase in the first 10 selling days of August. Analysts pointed out, however, that the increase was compared with the worst sales period of 1980. The new figure lifted the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate for 1981 to 7.4 million domestic units. (D1.)

Trans-Atlantic travel is returning to normal at airports A12 Views of the air controllers' strike from 33,000 feet A12 Trans-Atlantic air travel returns to near-normal A12 International Lowly Hindus in India see Islam as their salvation A2 Ex-prisoner tells of harsh life in Vietnam 're-education' camp A3 East Berlin marks anniversary of the wall A4 Around the World A5 Lebanon accepts 'in principle' Libyan offer of defense system A6 Government/Politics White House seeks ways to shift welfare programs to states A8 New York State increases penalty for late tax payments B2 U.S. cuts to cause layoffs of 600 in New York's job service division B4 General Ukrainian boy's parents call asy- lum official kidnapping A3 Around the Nation A8 Reporter's Notebook: Linda Greenhouse on bar convention A13 Health/Science Voyager 2 transmitting sharp photos of Saturn A13 Weekend Lincoln Center goes out of doors C1 Weekender Guide C1 Metropolitan Baedeker: Fire Is- land C1 A hands-on West Side children's museum C12 Art: Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner show in Hamptons C1 Whitney shows off its Georgia O'Keeffes C18 Auctions C19 Toledo (Ohio) Museum sched- ules 1982 El Greco tour C18 Theater: Broadway C2 New Face: Ben Masters in "Key Exchange" C3 Peking Opera at Tully Hall C3 Screen: "An Eye for an Eye" with Chuck Norris C6 At the Movies C6 "The Uprising," reconstituted Nicaragua war story C10 Dance: Margaret Fisher learns from the insects C14 Music: Brubecks lead an alfresco weekend C17 Philharmonic offers brassy "Corsair" in park C17 Hildegarde, still incomparable, singing at Marty's C22 Ruth Brown is belting them out at the Cookery C22 Vince Giordano leads new jazz group C24 Books: Publishing C21 "Cujo," Stephen King novel, re- viewed C21 Restaurants C16 TV Weekend C23 Style The Evening Hours A14 For the elite, summer means - work A14 Career relocation: companies test a seminar A14 Fetal treatment vs. abortion A14 Obituaries Chester Brown, former chairman of Allied Chemical Corporation A13 Sports Guidry and Yankees turn back Tigers, 3-0 A15 Cubs stop Mets' streak at three games, 6-1 A15 Indians hope demotion to minors will help Charboneau A15 Vijay Amritraj upsets McEnroe at Canadian open A15 Red Smith on how Redcoats lost again at Saratoga A17 Shirk, tight end, fighting for job with Giants A17 Ten-year-old girl wins gold medal at Empire Games A18 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A22 Ma Bell drops the other shoe Mayor Koch's rugby game Nicaragua, lost and found A superb regulation! Letters A22 Flora Lewis: the neutron weap- ons muddle A23 Tom Wicker: Puerto Rico - an American colony? A23 Cyrus R. Vance: the Japanese- American partnership A23 Millicent Fenwick: yesterday's endless summers A23 Robert F. Drinan: Reagan's dan- gerous foreign policy A23