LEAD: The Chrysler Corporation said today that it would not sell Acustar Inc., its parts-making operation, but that it would sell or close four of the subsidiary's plants, affecting about 2,000 workers.

Chrysler to Keep Acustar But Plants Will Be Dropped

LEAD: AIRLINES and travel agents are wont to advertise their wondrously inexpensive getaways to the beaches of California and Hawaii, the mountains of Colorado and Montana, or the urban delights of Chicago and New Orleans - but the best bargain tour of the United States can be taken with only a handful of subway tokens and a hearty dose of imagination.

Touring America by Subway

LEAD: Fears that the United States Government and American banks plan to freeze all payments to the Panamanian Government caused a severe cash shortage here today. The central bank was unable to meet some obligations, and leading commercial banks were forced to limit withdrawals and other transactions.

Panama Runs Into a Cash Crisis, Forcing Banks to Limit Dealings

LEAD: In an intensifying struggle to win Federated Department Stores Inc., R. H. Macy & Company is expected to contest the legality of the Campeau Corporation's latest tender offer for the giant retailer.

Macy Plans Legal Step In Bidding

LEAD: Dr. Richard R. Green, formally installed yesterday as New York City Schools Chancellor at a colorful ceremony marked by pomp and humor, appealed to state, city, union and school officials to assist him in a collective effort to improve the schools.

Green, Installed, Appeals for Help

LEAD: The AIDS virus has been found to infect the lining of the cervix, which may help explain how the disease spreads in sexual activity and childbirth, according to a study made public today.

CLUE IN THE SPREAD OF AIDS VIRUS SEEN

LEAD: After presenting a defense based almost entirely on the assertion that he had been framed by the authorities, Larry Davis was acquitted of all charges last night in the murder of four suspected drug dealers 16 months ago in the South Bronx.

Larry Davis Cleared In the 1986 Slayings Of 4 Drug Suspects

LEAD: ''Can you just imagine it?'' asked Perry Watkins, the town barber, as he paused over Duck Awald's forelock and stared wistfully out the window of his shop. ''A little school from a town like this, where half the stores are boarded up and half the people gone - state basketball champions of Indiana.

Hamlet Journal; In Indiana, 640 Cases of Championship Fever

LEAD: In a surprise takeover bid that is expected to escalate quickly, Beazer P.L.C., a British construction company, offered yesterday to pay $1.1 billion in cash for the slightly more than 92 percent of the Koppers Company that it does not already own.

Group Offers $45 a Share for Koppers

LEAD: At precisely 5:30 A.M. today, a bugle blared reveille, and 32 Sixth Platoon men leaped from their bunks.

New York Tests a Boot Camp for Inmates

LEAD: A major retrenchment is occurring in the artificial intelligence industry, dashing the hopes of many companies that thought they would prosper by providing the technology to make computers ''think.''

Setbacks for Artificial Intelligence

LEAD: COMPANIES  Macy is expected to contest the legality of Campeau's latest tender offer for Federated Department Stores. The Macy strategy apparently will be to contend that the offer represents a new bid, not an amended proposal, and that it violates Federal laws and a Delaware anti-takeover statute.

BUSINESS DIGEST: FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1988

LEAD: When a 26-year-old man died in a respirator fire two weeks ago at New York Infirmary-Beekman Downtown Hospital, the hospital announced he was an AIDS patient, making public the confidential information that had not even been disclosed to his family.

AIDS Fight: Public Data Or Secret?

LEAD: The House of Representatives today unexpectedly defeated a Democratic plan to provide $30.8 million in food, clothing and medical aid to the Nicaraguan rebels. The vote was 216 to 208.

ALL U.S. FUNDS NOW HALTED

LEAD: The Reagan Administration today suspended its effort to prevent federally financed family planning clinics from helping women to obtain abortions.

U.S. SUSPENDS PLAN TO CUT OFF FUNDS FOR ABORTION TIES

LEAD: A Northwestern University professor was indicted today on charges of perjury and obstructing justice in his testimony for the maker of the Dalkon Shield birth-control device.

Professor Is Charged With Lying For Maker of Birth Control Device

LEAD: Two men have been arrested and will be charged in connection with the execution-style killing of a rookie police officer early last Friday, the authorities announced late last night.

2 Held in Execution-Style Slaying Of Officer Outside Queens House

LEAD: How out of place David Axelrod seems in the halls of the State Capitol.

Cuomo's Health Chief: Innovation and Influence

WEEKENDER GUIDE

LEAD: ACROSS New York this evening, as stage lights dim on the first night of the first weekend of Cabaret Month, the mood of the city's nightlife should be unusually buoyant. Because of the recent overturning of a law forbidding clubs without cabaret licenses to have more than three musicians (including a singer) onstage together, many clubs will have more musicians than they could have had a year or even two months ago.

Spotlighting the Stars Of New York Cabaret

LEAD:  Polygraph Limits Voted  The Senate voted to limit the use of polygraphs in screening job applicants or testing employees. Page A21.  Schools Chief Inaugurated  Dr. Richard R. Green appealed for support to help him turn the New York City Schools around. Page B1.

INSIDE

LEAD: The final days of campaigning for the Southern Presidential contests next Tuesday are producing some dramatic shifts in voter sentiment, largely because of television commercials, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll shows.

Candidates' TV Ads Produce Shifts in South, Survey Finds

LEAD: Ted Turner, chairman of the Turner Broadcasting System, announced yesterday that a number of major cable television operators had tentatively approved the creation of a new basic cable service offering entertainment programming.

New Cable Programming Backed

LEAD: This is the shameful story of how a respected local nonprofit group has tried to winterize four summer cottages to house eight elderly poor people - and how neighbors and town officials have fought them so that the case has dragged on three years. It's a good story to know the next time someone asks how a wealthy suburban county like Westchester could have one of the worst homeless problems in

Our Towns; To Be Elderly And Unwanted In Mohegan Lake

LEAD: Following are excerpts from the speech yesterday by Dr. Richard R. Green at his inauguration as New York City Schools Chancellor:

Excerpts From Speech By Schools Chancellor

Joshua Tobias Bowman is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Daniel Grayson in the TV series Revenge.

Josh Bowman, English actor

Josh_Bowman

Gal Mekel is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He played for the Dallas Mavericks and spent time in Europe and Israel.

Gal Mekel, Israeli basketball player

Gal_Mekel

Laura Natalie Siegemund is a German professional tennis player.

Laura Siegemund, German tennis player

Laura_Siegemund

Adam James Watts is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender.

March 4, 1988

Headlines from March 4, 1988

Chrysler to Keep Acustar But Plants Will Be Dropped

Touring America by Subway

Panama Runs Into a Cash Crisis, Forcing Banks to Limit Dealings

Macy Plans Legal Step In Bidding

Green, Installed, Appeals for Help

Billboard 200

Faith

Dirty Dancing

Kick

Tiffany

Bad

Notable Births

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for March 4, 1988