LEAD: For 15 years, Jerry L. Crispino, like most of his colleagues on the New York City Council, performed his duties with little fanfare. He had a few streets renamed, made sure the trash was collected in his Bronx district and earned a good living as a lawyer.

Land-Use Chief Off to a Rocky Start

LEAD: At the request of Mayor David N. Dinkins, a special counsel will be appointed to continue a city inquiry into some of his activities while he was Borough President of Manhattan, including a transfer of his stock in a broadcasting company.

Counsel Due For Inquiry On Dinkins

LEAD: The Federal prosecution of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega has been plagued by a lack of preparedness, sniping among current and former prosecutors, and early missteps in what many officials believe was a weak case from the start.

U.S. Prosecution of Noriega: Signs of Trouble at the Start

LEAD: After hours of harsh criticism by executives in the securities and futures industries, officials of an independent Congressional agency said today that they would make significant revisions in a draft report that questioned some fundamental practices of the two industries.

Market Plan, Under Fire, To Be Revised

LEAD: President Roh Tae Woo's party and two opposition parties announced today that they would merge into a conservative majority party to break a two-year political deadlock in Parliament.

2 PARTIES IN SEOUL AGREE TO A MERGER WITH RULING GROUP

LEAD: Under intense pressure from American business and Western European allies to relax curbs on exports of high technology to Eastern Europe, the Bush Administration said today that it would work toward opening the door.

U.S. Set to Ease High-Tech Curb On Eastern Bloc

LEAD: The $2 billion Saturn project, which General Motors hopes will prove it can match the best from Japan on its own, will not begin production until June. But there are early indications of success in a number of ways, say experts who have criticized G.M. in the past, as well as workers and managers at the new plant here.

G.M. Saturn Plant Makes Friends

LEAD: It was a Saturday morning meeting of the Trenton Volcanoes, and 15-year-old Lewis Williams led the opening prayer. He gave thanks for Brother James and the others who were helping out, and concluded with a special supplication.

Our Towns;   Where Muscles And Characters Are Being Built

BUSINESS DIGEST

LEAD: In the course of their work, lawyers have to wear many hats - as advocates, counselors, publicity agents and confessors. And, as the recent experience of Stanley Friedman, a lawyer for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation makes clear, at least some of those hats must be black.

Defense Tactics in the AIDS Doctor's Suit

LEAD: Robert Tappan Morris, a suspended graduate student at Cornell University, was convicted of computer fraud and abuse yesterday in the disruption of a nationwide network of computers in 1988.

Student Found Guilty In Computer Jamming

LEAD: THE derailed sexuality of child molesters, exhibitionists, rapists and deviant murderers, as well as others with peculiar erotic interests that are less repugnant, has its roots in early childhood when the first links between love and sex are forged, a pioneering researcher has demonstrated.

Scientists Trace Aberrant Sexuality

LEAD: The stock market yesterday posted its biggest loss since Oct. 13 as the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 77.45 points, or 2.89 percent, to 2,600.45.

Dow Tumbles 77.45 to End at 2,600.45

LEAD: Merrill Lynch & Company yesterday reported the full cost of its mammoth reorganization effort that began last November, saying that it would take a charge of $470 million against earnings for the last quarter of 1989 to pay for it.

Article 931390 -- No Title

LEAD: For the first time in 14 years, spending on corporate research and development in the United States has not even kept pace with inflation, raising concerns that the nation is lagging in its efforts to hold a competitive edge in high technology.

A CORPORATE LAG IN RESEARCH FUNDS IS CAUSING WORRY

LEAD: The Parliament of Azerbaijan today demanded the prompt withdrawal of Soviet troops from the republic's battered capital and threatened secession if the demand was not met.

Upheaval in the East;   Azerbaijan Vows to Secede if Soviet Troops Stay

LEAD: SINCE 1983, scientists have been bitterly divided over whether a nuclear war is likely to result in a catastrophic global chilling. But the five scientists who introduced the term ''nuclear winter'' now acknowledge that they overestimated its severity, and their concession appears to have moderated the longstanding debate.

Nuclear Winter Theorists Pull Back

LEAD: JOHANNES KEPLER, the father of modern astronomy, fabricated data in presenting his theory of how the planets move around the Sun, apparently to bolster acceptance of the insight by skeptics, a scholar has found.

After 400 Years, a Challenge to Kepler:He Fabricated His Data, Scholar Says

LEAD: A 39-year-old unemployed plumber, punched and spat at by a homeless man while standing on a subway platform Sunday night with his 3-year-old son, beat the vagrant so badly that he died a few hours later, the transit police said.

Man Held in Beating Death of Homeless Man After Subway Fight

LEAD: The fall of Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. has created a hard political choice for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is under enormous pressure to enter the race for mayor here.

Barry Case Puts Political Spotlight on Jackson

LEAD:    Yugoslav Party Eases Grip    Yugoslavia's Communist Party voted to yield its monopoly on power and let other parties compete. But a key delegation walked out after the defeat of other changes. Page A9.       Palestinian Out on Bail    The Israeli authorities released a leading Palestinian nationalist while investigating charges that he helped organize the Arab uprising.

INSIDE

LEAD: Laying blame for high automobile-insurance costs on the insurance industry, Gov. Jim Florio today proposed a drastic change in the way automobile insurance works in New Jersey with a plan his aides said would reduce what drivers pay to $860 annually, from $1,112, within one year.

Florio Presents Plan for Reducing Car Insurance Costs About 20%

LEAD: Rejecting free-speech arguments, the Supreme Court ruled today that a group of criminal defense lawyers here violated Federal antitrust law six years ago when the lawyers refused to accept more cases representing indigent defendants until the local government raised their pay.

Supreme Court Says Strike By Lawyers Violated Law

LEAD: ''We agreed to put a full stop to politics that bring confrontations and splits over partisan interests.''     -President Roh Tae Woo of South Korea, on his party's merger with two opposition groups.     [A1:4.]

Quotation of the Day

LEAD: A Republican State Senator who had been a strong opponent of abortion reversed his position today, providing a further sign of the intense political pressure on abortion foes. The move also bolstered predictions that abortion restrictions are unlikely to come up for a vote in the Legislature this year.

Once Abortion Foe, State Senator Reverses Stand

Alexander Freitas is a Canadian professional wrestler best known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where he is a former Impact Gut Check Winner under the ring name Alex Silva.

Alex Silva, Canadian wrestler

Alex_Silva_(wrestler)

Larkin Allen Collins Jr. was an American guitarist, and one of the founding members of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He co-wrote many of the band's songs with frontman and original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant.

January 23, 1990

Headlines from January 23, 1990

Land-Use Chief Off to a Rocky Start

Counsel Due For Inquiry On Dinkins

U.S. Prosecution of Noriega: Signs of Trouble at the Start

Market Plan, Under Fire, To Be Revised

2 PARTIES IN SEOUL AGREE TO A MERGER WITH RULING GROUP

Billboard 200

...But Seriously

Girl You Know It's True

Forever Your Girl

Storm Front

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814

Notable Births

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for January 23, 1990