LEAD: A variety of companies are making progress toward ways to put to good use the hundreds of millions of tires Americans throw out each year. But environmentalists say the new technology still falls short of conquering on its own a problem that has become one of the nation's most notorious.

  Shrinking the Old-Tire Mountain: Progress Slow

LEAD: With uncharacteristic public anger, Mayor David N. Dinkins yesterday defended his attempt to mediate a black-led boycott of Korean-American grocery stores in Brooklyn and his response to other racially charged incidents.

Angry Dinkins Defends Role In Race Cases

LEAD: Randee Sacher's second graders were smart enough to know where they stood, even though no one had told them.

Class Mission Is Teaching, Not Labeling

LEAD: YOUNG Americans seem to be looking more alike these days. And that's not all. Young people of different ethnic backgrounds are acting and sounding a lot alike, too.

In Looks, a Sense of Racial Unity

LEAD: A study prepared for the oil industry and released yesterday has cast doubt on a much-discussed method of fighting air pollution, concluding that requiring grain alcohol in gasoline will produce a minor reduction in carbon monoxide, but a large increase in smog. An amendment to the Clean Air Act approved by the Senate would mandate such a change.

'Gasohol' May Cut Monoxide but Raise Smog, Study Asserts

LEAD: Gong Daifang, a 36-year-old peasant, has made a decision that her ancestors probably would never have understood: her 10-year-old son is enough, and she will not have another child.

More in China Willingly Rear Just One Child

LEAD: Seeking to speed up the nation's savings and loan bailout, the Government today agreed to permit big markdowns on the $16.4 billion worth of real estate and other properties it has for sale.

Savings Bailout Agency to Allow Large Cuts in Prices of Real Estate

LEAD: Raising the pressure on Congress to negotiate a budget settlement, the White House warned today that without agreement on major reductions in the deficit, the Government would face mandatory cuts of up to $100 billion this fall.

BUSH BUDGET CHIEF SOUNDS THE ALARM ON A RISING DEFICIT

LEAD: Making mistakes in the United States is nothing new to the Nissan Motor Company. The third-largest Japanese auto maker in the market tried three times unsuccessfully to introduce a mini-van, failed to anticipate changes in American taste and underwent a name change that alienated some dealers and confused consumers.

  Nissan Prospers Despite Errors

LEAD: American history prompts varied interpretations. For those whose ancestors were worked as slaves for over two centuries only to be relegated to life under less obvious masters, the view can be as unsentimental as Mother Hale's.

About New York;   Clara Hale Uses Babies to Scare Drug Abusers

LEAD: A jury said today that The Dallas Times Herald was not harmed by the loss last fall of 26 comics and features to its larger rival, The Dallas Morning News, and voted, 10 to 2, to decline a damage award.

Dallas Times Herald Loses Its Suit Over Features Deal

LEAD: The two largest credit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, agreed yesterday to stop joint development of a nationwide debit card. The agreement was part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed last year by law enforcement officials in 14 states.

Visa and Mastercard Cancel Card Venture

BUSINESS DIGEST

LEAD: Driven by a record bid from small investors, the Treasury sold $10.5 billion in three-year notes yesterday, with the yield rising to 8.74 percent, the highest level in a year.

  New 3-Year U.S. Notes Sell Well

LEAD: In a policy switch, President Bush has offered to end the production of chemical weapons if the Soviet Union agrees to American proposals, including one to bring about deep cuts in the two nations' poison gas supplies, Administration officials say.

In a Switch, Bush Offers to Stop Producing Chemical Weapons

LEAD: IT was at the exclusive Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs that Frank Hale had his first taste of caviar. The year was 1964 and he was working as a busboy. He was standing in the kitchen when the chef came over with a cracker. ''I spit it out,'' recalled Mr. Hale, the 50-year-old son of a Baptist minister, unashamed to say in his Southern twang that he could not understand why anyone would pay through the nose for fish eggs.

Caviar: Black Gold In America

LEAD: New York State's highest court today for the first time upheld random drug testing for a broad group of public employees, ruling that jail guards in New York City could be subject to chance testing.

New York's Top Court Allows Random Drug Tests of Guards

LEAD:    The Diaries of Oliver North       Newly disclosed notes kept by Oliver L. North show that he met with Vice President Bush in 1986 only hours after lying to Congressmen about the Iran-contra affair. Page A14.       Your Dream Subway Car       New York transit officials are designing a new generation of subway cars, and they are asking for ideas on everything from the shape of seats to the wording of signs.

INSIDE

LEAD: Recent cases of racial harassment on the nation's campuses and a general atmosphere of racial tension have become increasingly important factors in the decisions made by many black families about where to send their children to college, according to high school counselors and black students and their families.

Racial Harassment Altering Blacks' Choices on Colleges

LEAD: An Immigration and Naturalization Service employee was charged yesterday with taking more than $100,000 in bribes in return for helping to provide Colombian drug smugglers with cards identifying them as permanent residents, the authorities said.

I.N.S. Agent Accused of Selling Green Cards to Drug Dealers

LEAD: After three years of contentious negotiations, rich and poor countries agreed today on a 50 percent increase in the resources of the International Monetary Fund, giving it the money to speed market-oriented economic policies in Eastern Europe and help third world countries cut their debt burden.

I.M.F. PANEL VOTES TO ADD $60 BILLION TO POOL FOR LOANS

LEAD: WASHING fresh food before it is cooked or eaten was ingrained in the over-40 generations by parents who never picked up a baby bottle from the floor and stuck it back in the baby's mouth; who washed the outside of milk and cream bottles when they came from the milk truck, and who always transferred leftover food from a can before storing it.

  Good Health Habits Can Reduce Risks Of Hazards in Food

LEAD: For George Applebaum, the most frustrating part of riding the subways is not being able to get on a train during rush hour because the doorway is blocked by passengers.

For This Project, Subway Cars Are the Stuff of Dreams

LEAD: ''I have to deal with racism the rest of my life. Why should I deal with that in college?''       - Robin Scott, a black high school senior from Detroit, who will attend Spelman College. [B10:4.]

May 9, 1990

Headlines from May 9, 1990

Shrinking the Old-Tire Mountain: Progress Slow

Angry Dinkins Defends Role In Race Cases

Class Mission Is Teaching, Not Labeling

In Looks, a Sense of Racial Unity

'Gasohol' May Cut Monoxide but Raise Smog, Study Asserts

Billboard 200

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814

Brigade

Soul Provider

Historical Context for May 9, 1990