August 29, 1986

An article in Sports Pages last Friday describing the trade of Adrian Dantley from Utah to Detroit incorrectly identified the leading scorer in the National Basketball Association last season. He was Dominique Wilkins.

Seeking to deflect an acquisition attempt from the Wickes Companies, the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation today announced a sweeping recapitalization and restructuring of its business. Under the planned changes, Owens-Corning would sell its aerospace and strategic materials group, which it acquired only last fall, and other assets; would substantially cut its operating expenses, and redirect itself to its core businesses. Owens-Corning is one of the world's leading producers of glass fiber products. The board of Owens-Corning, which is based in Toledo, Ohio, unanimously approved today's measures.

Jerry A. Whitworth was sentenced today to 365 years in prison and was fined $410,000 for his role in a Soviet spy ring that the Government has characterized as the most damaging espionage conspiracy in decades. Calling Mr. Whitworth ''one of the most spectacular spies of this century,'' Judge John P. Vukasin Jr. of Federal District Court said Mr. Whitworth would have to spend a minimum of 60 years in prison before being eligible for parole. He is 47 years old. United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello characterized the sentence as the harshest for spying since the death penalty was declared unconstitutional for espionage and other Federal crimes in 1972.

The Burroughs Corporation said yesterday that it might sell the aerospace and marine group of the Sperry Corporation, the rival computer maker that Burroughs has agreed to buy for $4.8 billion. Burroughs said in a statement that it was hiring investment bankers to determine, based on what price the Sperry unit would bring, whether to go ahead with the sale. However, one source close to the Sperry operations said: ''They're going to sell it; that's definite.'' The source asked not to be named. More than 10 companies have already expressed interest in the group, which might bring $750 million to $1 billion, the source said.

Sweeping changes in the licensing of New York City taxicab drivers and a special undercover operation to find drivers who refuse to take passengers to requested destinations were announced yesterday by the chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Tougher standards for granting taxi licenses, including more stringent English language requirements, will take effect immediately, the chairman, Gorman Gilbert, said. ''Probably the most important thing we can do is improve the quality of drivers,'' Mr. Gilbert told a news conference in Mayor Koch's office. He said the changes had the support of all nine members of the commission, which regulates the medallion taxi industry.

Frontier Airlines yesterday filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Its parent, People Express, questioned whether Frontier would ever fly again. The action in a Federal court in Denver ended a frantic effort to find a buyer for the carrier, which served much of the West until it suspended operations on Sunday. Some analysts doubted that the airline would emerge from reorganization to fly again, as did Continental, one of its competitors at Denver. Pilots Criticized Donald C. Burr, the chief executive of People, said in a statement last night that the decision to file ''was made only after we had exhausted every other available alternative, including the possible sale to parties other than United Airlines.''

Students at every level in the city's public school system will take part in a one-day ''teach-in'' this fall designed to inform students about the dangers of the drug crack, Mayor Koch said yesterday. Most of the city's 960,000 students will receive information about the drug's addictiveness, how to resist peer pressure to try it and where to go for help if they do get involved, officials said. Students in kindergarten through third grade will have lessons on such topics as how to identify dangerous substances in the house, what a medicine cabinet contains and who can ''give you things to make you feel better.''

FRIDAY: 'THE LAST JEWS OF POLAND' In 1939, some three and a half million Jews called Poland home; today, fewer than 5,000 remain. ''Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland,'' an exhibition at the International Center of Photography-Midtown, 77 West 45th Street, is a multifaceted portrait of contemporary life in this once-thriving Jewish community. Tomasz Tomaszewski and Malgorzata Niezabitowska spent about five years researching the lives of Poland's Jews, conducting hundreds of interviews and taking more than 7,000 photographs, from which the current exhibition is culled; included are representations of daily life, family and religious celebrations, cultural and community events. The museum is open Mondays through Fridays from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M.; Saturdays from noon to 4. The exhibition runs through Sept. 27. Members are admitted free. Nonmember admission is $1; students and the elderly, 50 cents. Information (Monday through Saturday): 536-6443.

The Economy The index of leading indicators rose 1.1 percent in July, its second-best performance this year, the Commerce Department reported. The gain was undercut, however, by a sharp downward revision for June, turning what had been reported as a rise of 0.3 percent into a 0.4 percent drop. Taken together, analysts said, the data suggest that the economy is likely to continue to grow at a lackluster pace, not much faster than in the second quarter, when the G.N.P. expanded at an annual rate of less than 1 percent. [ Page A1. ] The Government widened its investigation of suspected leaks of economic data, after reports that the rise in leading indicators was known in the financial markets on Wednesday. A Commerce Department spokesman refused to comment on reports of another leak involving trade deficit figures due out this morning. The credit markets chewed furiously on rumors that the deficit figures for July would show a sharp increase and that purchasing figures due Tuesday would show weaker activity. [ D1. ]

Like a chain of fast-food restaurants, the plants and office buildings of the Perkin-Elmer Corporation dot the landscape of southwestern Connecticut. Now the high-technology concern, with a suburban sprawl of 17 separate operations along a 20-mile corridor between its headquarters here and Danbury, is trying to bring its operations closer to home. ''We have proliferated,'' said Horace G. McDonell, the company's chairman and chief executive. ''It is costly, it is inefficient and something has to be done.''

LAST-FLING urges to celebrate summer can be satisfied with abandon as the Labor Day weekend ends the traditional vacation season. Among the more madcap choices are a tour of Manhattan in the dead of night and a plunge back five centuries in Tuxedo, N.Y. Other outdoor possibilities include crafts and art shows, a carnival, Shakespeare, a fair, danc-ing, and music, some of it on boats - in places ranging from Brooklyn to Staten Island. The nighttime adventure will be an Insomniacs Bicycle Tour starting at Fort Tryon Park Sunday at 1:30 A.M. and ending about dawn at the Battery. Organized by Friends of the Parks, the easy-paced meander on wheels will pause at sites in which the Rockefeller family had a hand, to show how these ''Medicis of New York have transformed our great metropolis.'' From the Cloisters, bikers will continue down to International House, Riverside Church, the Asia Society and Rockefeller University. Other stops will be the United Nations, Greenacre Park, the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, the New York Public Library at 42d Street, Judson Memorial Church, Chase Manhattan Plaza and 26 Broadway, former headquarters of the Standard Oil Company.

The Commerce Department said today it has widened an investigation of suspected leaks of sensitive economic data to include reports that the 1.1 percent rise in leading indicators announced this morning was known in the financial markets Wednesday. ''The Inspector General is looking into it,'' B. Jay Cooper, a Commerce Department spokesman, said. He refused to comment on reports circulating today of another leak, which buzzed through Wall Street, forcing traders to come to grips with how to react in such situations. This latest one involves the trade deficit, to be announced Friday morning, which financial market sources said would come in at $16.1 billion for July.