LEAD: The recent wave of leveraged buyouts and other forms of corporate restructuring has probably crested, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said today. He urged Congress to shun legislation to restrict such transactions.

Greenspan Shuns Curb On Buyouts

INSIDE

LEAD: After a boom that lasted less than two years, the nation's semiconductor industry appears to be headed back into a slump.

The Chip Industry Is Sliding Again

LEAD: In response to growing outrage over rising property taxes in New Jersey, Gov. Thomas H. Kean proposed today that the state take over from the counties the costs of the welfare and state court systems to save those who pay property taxes more than $320 million.

To Cut Local Taxes, Kean Urges Shifting Some Costs to State

LEAD: Moving away from Ronald Reagan's vision of an impregnable shield against missiles, the Secretary of Defense-designate said today that the Bush Administration did not consider it possible to ''devise an umbrella that can protect the entire American population from nuclear incineration.''

TOWER DECLARES 'STAR WARS' SHIELD CAN'T BE COMPLETE

LEAD: His silver hair swept back, his glasses perched imperially on the bridge of his nose, Peter W. Rodino Jr. was doing what he has done for the last 40 years: instructing on the Constitution and the rule of law.

After 40 Years Making the Law, Rodino Now Teaches It

LEAD: It was supposed to be an exercise in reason, an effort to use electronic gadgetry to rise above the angry rhetoric of the past and examine issues of racism and housing in Westchester County.

Race Forums In Westchester Turn Unruly

LEAD: The American Telephone and Telegraph Company yesterday reported, as expected, the first annual loss in its 104 years in business.

A.T.& T. Says Annual Loss, Its First, Was $1.67 Billion

LEAD: An American trade group has offered to buy the unfinished United States Embassy building in Moscow as office space, State Department officials said today. Washington halted construction on the building last year after concluding that it had been embedded with enough eavesdropping devices to turn it into an eight-story microphone.

Bugged Embassy in Moscow Gets Chance for a New Life

LEAD: The East Village art scene may be defunct, but its legacy lives on deep in the complicated heart of SoHo, where art and money, glamour and real estate continue to mingle in evermore varied combinations. The move of galleries out of the East Village, which started in earnest last season, still continues and is in its second and probably final phase.

THE EAST VILLAGE'S ART GALLERIES ARE ALIVE IN SOHO

LEAD: SHALL WE DANCE? Ballroom dancing has enjoyed a recent resurgence of popularity as countless competitions, classes and clubs have been created for people seeking the romance of waltzing and fox trotting. A photographic chronicle of contemporary ballroom dancers of all ages in the United States, Canada and England is on view at the Midtown Y Photographic Gallery, 344 East 14th Street.

FRIDAY

LEAD: If a drug addict says, 'Yes, I'll take residential treatment,'' counselors want to grab him and throw him in a program, pronto. ''The addict will say yes today - he'll say no tomorrow,'' said Kevin Frawley, who knows.

Our Towns; For Drug Addict, Spot Awaits Him, Probably in a Jail

LEAD: The New York State Health Department has begun the first statewide program in the nation to reduce the rate of Caesarean births.

New York Is First State To Try to Curb Caesareans

LEAD: New orders for durable goods rose by 6.4 percent in December, a much stronger gain than had been expected. Analysts said yesterday that the report was a sign that the economy was entering 1989 with plenty of momentum for continued growth.

Durable Orders Up Brisk 6.4% in December

LEAD: Wall Street's 1989 rally continued unabated yesterday, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining 25.18 points to close at 2,291.07, another post-crash high.

Dow Climbs Another 25.18; Nears 2,300

LEAD: The apartment is completely bare, except for a table and chairs in the middle of the living room and beds covered by green blankets in the bedrooms. But when Clarence Rollocks Jr. is asked what he thinks of his new apartment, he lights up in a smile and his answer is brief. ''Heaven,'' he says.

Unheralded, Apartments Are Reborn For Homeless

LEAD: In the first criminal charges since the investigation of New York City's community school boards began last year, four school board members and a former district superintendent from the Bronx were indicted yesterday on charges ranging from theft of school property to bribe-taking.

5 in Bronx Indicted in First Cases In Inquiry on City's School Boards

LEAD: In his first major decision as Secretary of State, James A. Baker 3d has decided to close the American Embassy in Afghanistan because of increasing instability during the final stages of a Soviet troop withdrawal, senior Administration officials said today.

U.S. TO WITHDRAW STAFF OF EMBASSY IN AFGHAN CAPITAL

LEAD: The man chosen by President Bush as his chief economist, Michael J. Boskin, disassociated himself today from President Reagan's final forecast for the economy and predicted somewhat slower growth this year.

Top Bush Economist Sees Growth As Slower Than Reagan Projected

LEAD: After more than three years of pressure from shareholders, religious groups and blacks, the Colgate-Palmolive Company announced yesterday that it would rename Darkie, a popular toothpaste that it sells in Asia, and redesign its logotype, a minstrel in blackface.

Colgate to Rename a Toothpaste

LEAD: Just a few hours from the nerve-jangling heart of New York City, there exists an almost unrecognizably idyllic world where secluded country inns offer an escape into another, more peaceful time and place.

Rustic Havens: Inns So Near, Yet So Far From, Big-City Bustle

LEAD: The Department of Energy is considering reducing its safety requirements so it can speed the reopening of the troubled reactors at its Savannah River Plant, the chairman of a safety advisory panel said today.

U.S. Considers Relaxing Rules At Its Reactors

LEAD:  THE ECONOMY  Three big accounting firms are being sued by Federal regulators who contend the firms failed to detect problems that led to insolvencies at savings and loan associations, the industry's chief regulator told Congress. He said most Big Eight accounting firms would face similar suits.

BUSINESS DIGEST

LEAD: The chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board disclosed today that his agency had lawsuits pending against three of the nation's largest accounting firms for failing to detect fraud and mismanagement that contributed to insolvencies at various savings and loan associations. Insolvencies at savings institutions are costing the Government billions of dollars.

U.S. AGENCY SUING ACCOUNTING FIRMS ON SAVINGS AUDITS

LEAD: ''To begin with, I don't believe that we can devise an umbrella that can protect the entire American population from nuclear incineration. I think that's unrealistic.''  - John G. Tower.  [ A1:6. ]

Quotation of the Day

Alberto Tomás Botía Rabasco is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Super League Greece 2 club A.E. Kifisia.

Alberto Botía, Spanish footballer

Alberto_Botía

Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS was a British aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman.

January 27, 1989

Headlines from January 27, 1989

Greenspan Shuns Curb On Buyouts

INSIDE

The Chip Industry Is Sliding Again

To Cut Local Taxes, Kean Urges Shifting Some Costs to State

TOWER DECLARES 'STAR WARS' SHIELD CAN'T BE COMPLETE

Billboard 200

Don't Be Cruel

Appetite For Destruction

Traveling Wilburys

Hysteria

Open Up And Say...Ahh!

Notable Births

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for January 27, 1989