June 23, 1982

The Justice Department today rejected the New York State Legislature's plans to reapportion Congressional, State Senate and Assembly districts on the ground that they discriminated against minority groups in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. The action caught New York State politicians by surprise, and Governor Carey immediately signed a bill postponing the state's primary from Sept. 14 to Sept. 23. The bill also delays from today until July 6 the date when candidates can begin collecting signatures for nominating petitions. Voting Rights Act Involved The districts of the three counties -Bronx, Kings and New York - are subject to review by the department to determine the effect of reapportionment on minority representation. The three counties fall under the department's jurisdiction because less than 50 percent of their eligible voters are registered. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 presumes that when this is the case the rights of minorities may be violated.

A man who was given a conditional discharge from prison last December was arrested yesterday and charged with the murder on Monday of two insurance executives in an office tower in Manhattan's financial district. Detectives found the suspect, according to the police, through a job resume that had apparently fallen from his pocket as he struggled with his victims in a men's room in the office tower. The two men - one an office manager and the other an insurance underwriter for different companies - were shot and slashed to death Monday afternoon when they apparently resisted being robbed, the police said. The arrested man was identified as Nathan Dodell, 28 years old, of 557 West 150th Street in Manhattan, who gave his occupation as temporary office worker.

ESPITE the fact that America is supposed to be in the midst of a regional cooking renaissance, we are still a nation of strangers where many native dishes are concerned. Most Northerners, for instance, have not developed a passionate hunger for crawfish bisque and crawfish etouffee, any more than Southerners have for pastrami on rye or lox and bagels. And Northerners can no more understand the Southern craving for biscuits and country ham with ''red eye gravy'' than a Southerner like myself can comprehend the New Englander's enthusiasm for redflannel hash. There are a couple of Southern specialties that I would love to convince Northern eaters about just because they are so delectable: whole hominy and grits. Both are closely related to cornmeal, which is enjoyed in the South and out of it. In that they all derive from the same base - dried kernels of corn, whole or ground - it is scarcely surprising that they team notably well with grated cheese and chilies. Cornmeal, of course, has widespread uses. In the form of polenta it is considered one of the great specialties in certain regions of Italy, notably Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto. Masa harina, a finely ground version of cornmeal, is treasured throughout Mexico and is best known as the basis for tortillas.

The Democratic-controlled House today grudgingly approved a Republican-sponsored budget compromise, which one supporter acknowledged ''may be nobody's cup of tea, but the only cup of tea we have.'' The vote was 210 to 208. The House thus completed action on the final version of the first budget resolution for the fiscal year 1983, ending a tumultuous fivemonth debate whose outcome was often in doubt. If a second budget resolution is not approved, an outcome that is considered likely, the first budget resolution will become binding in September.

The Democratic State Committee today designated Alfred B. DelBello, the Westchester County Executive, as its favored candidate for lieutenant governor and qualified two others to run for the same post in the September primary. The two others are John S. Dyson, chairman of the State Power Authority, and former State Senator Carl McCall. The party leadership also named Attorney General Robert Abrams to run in the primary for re-election.