February 15, 1991

The Commerce Department said today that Japan was selling the display screens used in popular laptop and notebook computers below fair market value, but in a preliminary ruling it found that the differences, or "dumping" margins, were relatively modest. The decision in the closely followed case was considered a victory for the Japanese makers of "flat panels," which include most of the leading Japanese electronics companies, and for the big American computer companies that buy Japanese panels. It was seen as a defeat, though, for domestic producers.

Shaken by the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the bombing of what the United States said it had identified as a purely military installation in Baghdad, senior American officers here said today that they had ordered intensive studies of methods to avoid the repetition of such an incident. As they weighed the lessons of Wednesday's bombing, American officials announced a sharp increase in the rate of destruction of Iraq's main ground weapons in Kuwait, including tanks, artillery and other armored vehicles. They put the number of tanks demolished at 1,300 -- almost a third of the 4,280 tanks Baghdad is believed to have had in position when the war began, and up from a total of 750 claimed as killed five days ago.

FRETTING about the future, network television has evidently decided to rush headlong into the past. Prime-time seems to be entering the Era of Primal Pop. Consider. In the middle of the February sweeps, a period during which ratings determine advertising rates for the next quarter, CBS is devoting much of this three-day weekend not to a flashy new television movie, not to a glittering new mini-series, but to what the network chooses to call a Classic Weekend. Tripping down memory lane are three resourceful, and very entertaining, tributes to distinguished accomplishments of the past:

Washington's Birthday will be observed on Monday. Here are holiday schedules. NEW YORK Government offices: Federal, state and city closed. Post office: Express Mail and special delivery only; main post office open at 33d Street and Eighth Avenue. Banks: Option to close. Parking: Alternate-side rules suspended. Sanitation: No street cleaning, pickup, or recycling. Schools: Closed. Financial markets: Closed. Transportation: Buses and subways on Saturday schedule. LIRR on holiday schedule. Metro-North on weekend schedule. NEW JERSEY Government offices: Federal, state, municipal closed. Post offices: Express Mail and special delivery only. Banks: Closed. Schools: Local option. Transportation: N.J. Transit bus and rail service on Saturday schedule. CONNECTICUT Government offices: Federal, state, municipal closed. Post offices: Express Mail and special delivery only. Banks: Closed. Schools: Closed Transportation: Metro-North New Haven line on weekend schedule.

Lowell P. Weicker Jr. of Connecticut, who was elected Governor without the support of either major political party, began a campaign today to leapfrog the legislature and convince the people of his state to accept what they have opposed in the past: an income tax. On the morning after Mr. Weicker stunned the General Assembly and the state with his plan to resolve Connecticut's fiscal crisis and ease the recession in a single blow by throwing out the state tax system and starting over, the effort at selling the package began. In his shirtsleeves, meeting with reporters and politicians, Mr. Weicker showed that the push was on -- if not to make people like his ideas, then at least to make them understood.