LEAD: A PERSON could be forgiven for thinking that polenta, the Italian version of cornmeal mush, has just become a hot new item for American food lovers. A person would be wrong.

Polenta: The Cornmeal Mush With a Little Italian Accent

LEAD: Dr. Irwin Redlener whispered first in one ear and then in the other: ''What's your name? Where do you live?''

Healing on Wheels: Treating Welfare Children

LEAD: Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., the investment house that for more than a year has been the subject of two extensive Federal investigations, said yesterday that it did not expect any issues arising from those investigations to be resolved for several months.

Drexel Sees No Quick Resolution

LEAD: A special New York State prosecutor said yesterday that there were no grounds to bring criminal charges against Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman or any of her prosecutors concerning a dispute over whether a complainant was mistreated at a sexual misconduct trial.

Hynes Sees No Charges For Holtzman

LEAD: The Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation announced yesterday that it would pay stockholders a special dividend of $30 a share, or $4.7 billion in cash and securities, starting in three weeks.

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LEAD: Monday, as snowflakes fat as Easter chicks flew out of the evening sky, an old fellow in need of a restorative popped into a place on West 12th Street just in time to catch the act of a man in a kilt who caressed a bagpipe and blew the bar away. ''It seems to come earlier every year,'' the serious drinker said, ordering his own brand of antifreeze.

About New York; Scotland's Poet Hailed With Kilt And Tex-Mex

LEAD: Repeated breakdowns of computerized trading systems on the New York Stock Exchange aggravated the selling panic on Oct. 19 and were far more extensive than previously known, according to a report released today by the General Accounting Office.

G.A.O. Says Computer Jams Added to Stock Panic

LEAD: In 1981, when Sears, Roebuck & Company bought Dean Witter Reynolds, other brokerage firms gleefully lured away some of the firm's finest talent.

Poachers Lurk at Hutton's Door

LEAD: A Federal indictment unsealed here today charged the Rockwell International Corporation with double-billing the Air Force for $450,000 on contracts to build a navigational satellite system in 1982.

U.S. Indicts Rockwell On Billing

LEAD: A major nationwide study shows that a single aspirin tablet every other day can sharply reduce a man's risk of heart attack and death from heart attack.

HEART ATTACK RISK FOUND TO BE CUT BY TAKING ASPIRIN

LEAD: IT may come as a shock to those who have been diligently taking calcium pills to find that they may be wasting their money.

Calcium Tablets Are Not All Created Equal

LEAD: THE turn of the century is only 12 years away, hardly longer than it takes to brush away the last traces of a caramel apple from your teeth. What will Americans eat when the year 2000 comes, and why?

Future Food: A Look at Eating in the Year 2000

LEAD: Two overnight cargo-delivery companies, involved in four fatal plane crashes in the last five years, were accused by the Federal Government yesterday of operating thousands of illegal cargo flights since 1983.

2 Cargo Companies Accused of Illegal Flights

LEAD: Senator Jesse Helms, the conservative North Carolina Republican, stepped up his attacks on the new missile treaty today by assailing American negotiators for concluding an accord that does not require destruction of missile warheads.

Helms Criticizes Arms Negotiators On Issue of Warhead Destruction

LEAD: The White House will ask Congress for $36.25 million in aid for the Nicaraguan rebels over the next several months, including $3.6 million to buy weapons, senior Administration officials said today.

WHITE HOUSE SEEKS $36 MILLION IN AID FOR THE CONTRAS

LEAD: With their recent refusal to approve the way Cityspire was built, Sylvia Deutsch and her colleagues on the New York City Planning Commission filled the popular imagination with visions of workers wielding chain saws to shave 11 feet off that mid-Manhattan skyscraper.

A Tough Stance by the Planning Chief

LEAD: Vice President Bush's dramatic on-the-air shouting match with Dan Rather of CBS News won Mr. Bush a flood of praise from conservatives yesterday while his aides argued that it showed he was tough and would help his Presidential bid.

Bush Camp Feels Galvanized After Showdown With Rather

LEAD: The New York State Education Department said yesterday that its officials had to stop an inspection of a high school on the West Side of Manhattan and leave because conditions at the school were so ''chaotic.''

'Chaotic' State Of School Halts Inspection Visit

LEAD: The Boeing Company introduced new versions of its popular 737 and 747 jet airliners today that are expected to produce the bulk of its sales and earnings through the end of the century.

Boeing Updates 2 Jets In a Shift of Strategy

LEAD: ''I feel guilty talking about this, because in my opinion the only people with a right to speak out are there, in Israel,'' Kenneth Hoffman said. ''But systematically beating up Arabs -this is not the idea of the Israeli army, a Jewish army.''

For Jews in One U.S. Town, Israel Is Anguish and Hope

LEAD: Japan's Government is close to a decision to keep its quotas on automobile exports to the United States at the level it has maintained since 1985.

Japan Expected to Keep Its Auto Export Quotas

INSIDE

BUSINESS DIGEST: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1988

LEAD: Federated Department Stores, in its first countermove against a hostile takeover offer, filed suit yesterday in Columbus, Ohio, seeking to block the Campeau Corporation's tender offer.

Federated Sues in Ohio To Block Campeau Bid

LEAD:  ''The October crash was a crisis that nearly became a disaster. We will probably never know how close we came to the disaster.''  - Charles A. Bowsher, Comptroller General.  [ A1:2. ]

Quotation of the Day

Kerlon Moura Souza is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. After retiring, he worked as a coach at Olé Soccer in the United States.

January 27, 1988

Headlines from January 27, 1988

Polenta: The Cornmeal Mush With a Little Italian Accent

Healing on Wheels: Treating Welfare Children

Drexel Sees No Quick Resolution

Hynes Sees No Charges For Holtzman

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Billboard 200

Tiffany

Faith

Dirty Dancing

Kick

Bad

Notable Births

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for January 27, 1988