March 14, 1983

For Sterling Drug Inc., the makers of Bayer aspirin, the recall of Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol last September presented an unexpected opportunity. Sterling had for years been trying unsuccessfully to break Tylenol's grip on the pain reliever market, and this sudden moment of vulnerability must have seemed just the right time for Sterling to try again. It was also an opportunity for the company to gain a foothold in the aspirin-free pain reliever market, something it has been refusing to attempt in recent years despite a decline in demand for aspirin products. Accordingly, analysts say, Sterling decided to introduce its Panadol drug, a nonaspirin pain reliever sold only overseas for the past 25 years, into the United States next month. ''This marks a significant change in company strategy,'' said David Crossen, an analyst at Smith Barney.

An article Friday in Business Day about oil and gas leases on Federal land for Santa Fe International, a Kuwait-owned company, incorrectly identified a Jewish organization and one of its officials. They were the American Jewish Committee and Alfred H. Moses, chairman of the organization's executive committee.

In a variety of ways, Governor Cuomo has placed decision making in his new government largely in the hands of one person: Mario M. Cuomo. Two months into office, the Governor, working long hours and getting by on very little sleep, is personally making decisions that predecessors delegated to others, both Mr. Cuomo and his staff say. ''No bill will go up, no appointment will be made without crossing my desk,'' Mr. Cuomo said recently. Just last week, layoff notices to some 7,600 state workers were held up for a day so that Mr. Cuomo could personally rewrite them. ''He insisted that it be a more sensitive letter,'' said the Governor's counselor and chief spokesman, Timothy J. Russert.

If you looked at the records, the talent and the history, it seemed obvious North Carolina State had no business winning the 30th annual Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament. Obviously, the Wolfpack never looked. A day after eliminating North Carolina, the defending national and conference champion, in the semifinals, North Carolina State beat Virginia, the nation's second-ranked team, 81-78, today in the final. The outcome surprised most of the capacity crowd of 16,723 in the Omni. It certainly surprised Virginia, an 8 1/2-point favorite here and one of the favorites in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, which starts later this week.

Political action committees representing the banking industry, which is seeking repeal of a new law requiring that taxes be withheld on interest and dividend payments, contributed more than $3 million to the campaigns of most members of Congress, according to Federal Election Commission records. Critics of the repeal effort contend that the large contributions from the bank ''PAC's'' are a major factor in the repeal effort. More than 300 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives and more than half the 100 Senators have co-sponsored repeal bills. However, many members of Congress assert that contributions from political action committees do not influence their votes. Further, the political action committees object vigorously to allegations that their large contributions have enabled them to influence votes on the withholding issue.