April 1, 1982

AMERICAN homeowners became worried last February when the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to ban urea-formaldehyde foam, a type of insulation that has been installed in about 500,000 homes in the United States since the mid-1970's. The safety commission said that the insulation posed ''an unreasonable risk of injury,'' and initial press reports indicated that the Federal ban, which has not yet taken effect, might significantly devalue 500,000 houses containing such insulation. The ban will prohibit future installations but will not require homeowners to remove urea-formaldehyde foam already in place. In Massachusetts, for example, where the state banned urea-formaldehyde foam in 1979, several real-estate agents reported that houses with the insulation were more difficult to sell. But, according to government officials, property assessors and agents and brokers in the New York area, it is still too early to tell what effect, if any, the proposed Federal urea-formadehyde ban will have on housing prices.

The State Legislature, in an extraordinary move, tonight approved a state budget of its own making. The Assembly and Senate acted over the firm opposition of Governor Carey, who threatened to veto portions of the $27 billion proposal as too expensive. The Governor has repeatedly warned that the budget could create a fiscal crisis akin to the one that disrupted state finances in 1975, when Mr. Carey first took office. The Legislature's action meant that the state would have a budget on its the books in time for its new fiscal year, which starts Thursday, and thus be able to pay its bills. But the Governor's opposition could make the final outlines of the budget a matter of dispute for weeks.

The Supreme Court today reinstated the murder conviction of a former Green Beret captain who was found guilty in 1979 of the murders of his wife and children at Fort Bragg, N.C., nine years earlier. Ruling 6 to 3, the Justices overturned an appellate court's decision that Dr. Jeffrey R. MacDonald'sconstitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated by the Justice Department's delay in indicting him after the Army brought and then dismissed charges against him. Soon after the Court announced its decision this morning, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation took Dr. MacDonald into custody at his home in Huntington Beach, Calif., and took him to a Federal prison in Los Angeles to resume serving a life sentence. He had been free on $100,000 bond, which a Federal judge revoked today, and had practiced medicine in Long Beach since he won his appeal in 1980.

The United States Gold Commission today formally rejected the use of gold in either the domestic or international monetary systems. The 17-member commission, after studying the question for more than eight months, concluded in its final report that, while there might be a future occasion when gold's role should be enlarged, ''the majority of us at this time favor essentially no change.'' The commission did, however, decide to recommend that Congress authorize the Treasury to mint a new gold ''coin,'' dubbed the American Eagle, that would provide an alternative to sending dollars abroad for investing in gold coins issued by such countries as South Africa, Mexico and Canada. The American Eagle would have no dollar denomination, would not be considered legal tender and would be exempt from both capital gains and sales taxes. It would be sold only for its gold content.

President Reagan said tonight that he was open to suggestions for altering his proposed budget for the fiscal year 1983, including ''possible'' cuts in military spending so long as they did no harm to the overall military buildup. But he steadfastly defended his economic policies and said he would reject any compromise budget that altered his plan to reduce the income tax by 10 percent in 1983. He said that he supported the ''concept'' of a Constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget, but that it would have to include a provision limiting tax increases. The President, appearing for the first time in his term in a news conference televised in prime-time viewing hours, was less emphatic in his opposition to any change in Social Security benefits in the 1983 budget.