February 25, 1984

A surge in food prices pushed the Consumer Price Index up six-tenths of 1 percent in January, the largest increase since April, the Labor Department reported today. Much of the rise was a result of bad weather, economists said, so the January increase alone was not a sign of a broader, immediate resurgence of inflation. But the report did create some anxiety because, as the economy continues to expand, economists are increasingly of the view that inflation is more likely to accelerate than to slow down. The January increase in the index followed a two-tenths of 1 percent rise in December and an average monthly rise of four-tenths of 1 percent since early 1983. The index rose 3.8 percent for all of 1983.

Heavy exchanges of tank and artillery fire erupted across a broad front here tonight, ending a daylong lull in fighting that followed a cease-fire announced by a Saudi mediator. Shells reportedly landed at the Lebanese Army's key position at Suk al Gharb, nine miles southeast of the center of Beirut, in the southern suburbs dominated by Shiite Moslems, and along the road to Beirut International Airport. The Lebanese Christian Phalangist radio said heavy fighting had broken out between the Lebanese Army and Shiite militia forces in the Galerie Samaan area along the green line that divides mostly Christian East Beirut from Moslem West Beirut. East and West Beirut Hit Shells fell in both East and West Beirut, and the Phalangist radio said Baabda, the site of the presidential palace, and other Christian villages nearby had also come under fire. Anti- Government Druse positions at Aitat, near Suk al Gharb, were reportedly shelled as well.

Congressional negotiators agreed today to consider a leading Senate Republican's proposal to cut President Reagan's request for military spending authority next year. The change would be from a 13 percent increase to one of 5 percent, after making up for the effects of inflation. The new proposal from Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, was rejected in general terms by White House officials, but Republicans suggested it might eventually be accepted if the figure could be ''fleshed out'' with specifics. Democratic leaders praised Mr. Domenici's suggestion but said next year's rise in the military budget should be cut back even further.

A sniper fired repeatedly into a crowded schoolyard in south-central Los Angeles today, killing a 10-year-old girl and injuring at least 11 other people, three critically. Almost four hours after the shootings began at 2:23 P.M., members of a Los Angeles Police Department paramilitary unit entered a home across the street from the schoolyard and found the body of a man they said was the sniper. They identified him as Tyrone Mitchell, 28 years old. The police said he appeared to have killed himself. Before entering, the police fired at least 16 canisters of tear gas into the house.

The commander of detectives in Manhattan will retire and two other officers have been ordered transferred because of their handling of the Pennsylvania Station sniper investigation. In a brief statement issued yesterday, Benjamin Ward, the Police Commissioner, declared that a departmental inquiry had found ''there was a serious lapse of judgment on the part of ranking officers responsible for the case in that they did not notify their superiors at headquarters of the investigation or its seriousness.'' There have been six shootings, none of them fatal, in the Penn Station area since last April, but not until the sixth, last Tuesday, did Commissioner Ward and his top aides learn that field investigators had linked the shootings. Commander Held Culpable According to a department spokesman, Alice T. McGillion, Deputy Chief Rudolph J. Ponzini, the Manhattan detective commander, was among those who knew of the link but said nothing to headquarters.