NOTEBOOK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, GREG FULTON, LINA LOFARO, LAWRENCE MONDI, MICHAEL QUINN AND ALAIN L. SANDERS

WINNERS & LOSERS THE GRAMMY AWARDS

[WINNERS]

COOLIO Gangsta's Paradise wins rap award with antiviolence plea, repeated in hip acceptance

THE ACADEMY Winners less awful as a panel screens out many uncool and sentimental favorites

I LOVE TO POLKA Album beats stiff competition to cop seventh Best Polka win for the innovative Jimmy Sturr

[& LOSERS]

MARIAH CAREY Crowd-pleasing diva began the evening with six nominations, ended it with nothing

EDDIE VEDDER "I don't think it means anything," Pearl Jammer said of his award. But he took it anyway

GOD Thanked endlessly, but most theocentric nominee, Joan Osborne's One of Us, bites dust

FORBES' CUBA PROBLEM

President Clinton was not the only politician facing a Cuban crisis last week. So was Steve Forbes. The Republican presidential aspirant continued to come under fire from conservative Cuban-American quarters in Congress for the "repugnant activities" of one of his top political boosters, economic consultant Jude Wanniski. In 1994 Wanniski made a friendly port of call to Havana in a private effort to market his famed supply-side capitalist remedies to top Cuban officials. Wanniski, then a Bob Dole booster, received a prompt letter of admonishment from the Senate leader ("I would appreciate being consulted..."). Though Forbes opposes Castro, he has so far stayed silent about his economic guru's Caribbean fling. Did Forbes know about it? "Steve knew everything about the trip," says Wanniski. "I share with him everything I send my clients, and I get Forbes and FYI magazines in return."

RE-NAME THAT TUNE

Gone are the days when candidates had songs tailor-made for their campaigns, such as 1952's Irving Berlin classic I Like Ike. Today, politicians (like Lamar Alexander, right) prefer pre-existing melodies that sum up their drive for the White House. Here are songs currently associated with the candidates--and suggestions they might consider, given the results of the primary season so far.

CANDIDATE PAT BUCHANAN

CURRENT SONG R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. 1986 John Cougar Mellencamp anthem

POST-CAROLINA ANTHEM? Tomorrow Belongs to Me John Kander and Fred Ebb from the 1966 musical Cabaret

[CANDIDATE] BOB DOLE

[CURRENT SONG] You'll Never Walk Alone Rodgers and Hammerstein, from the 1945 musical Carousel

[POST-CAROLINA ANTHEM?] Help! 1965 Lennon-McCartney song

[CANDIDATE] LAMAR ALEXANDER

[CURRENT SONG] Alexander's Ragtime Band Irving Berlin's first hit, from 1911

[POST-CAROLINA ANTHEM?] I Wanna Be Around (to Pick Up the Pieces) Tony Bennett's 1963 hit, penned by Johnny Mercer

[CANDIDATE] STEVE FORBES

[CURRENT SONG] None (Said to be considering Stars and Stripes Forever)

[POST-CAROLINA ANTHEM?] Can't Buy Me Love 1964 Lennon-McCartney song

[CANDIDATE] BOB DORNAN

[CURRENT SONG] God Bless the U.S.A. 1984 Lee Greenwood song, a fixture at Republican conventions

[POST-CAROLINA ANTHEM?] Down and Out Bessie Smith classic from the 1920s

[CANDIDATE] BILL CLINTON

[CURRENT SONG] These Are Days 10,000 Maniacs hit from 1992

[POST-CAROLINA ANTHEM?] Who Cares? George and Ira Gershwin, from the 1931 musical Of Thee I Sing!

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

Flour and other grain products are now required to be fortified with folic acid, a nutrient that reduces the risk of neural-tube birth defects like spina bifida. About 2,500 infants are born each year with such defects, which occur in the fetus before most women know they are pregnant.

Scientists have grown lab samples and photographed for the first time the virus believed to cause Kaposi's sarcoma, a disease found in AIDS patients. The research may lead to a blood test for the virus.

Researchers have evidence that the gene BRCA1 suppresses tumor growth in breast and ovarian cancers. When BRCA1 is defective, it makes women susceptible to those cancers. The finding opens a window for new therapy.

THE BAD NEWS

The largest study to date on the health effects of breast implants shows that they may somewhat increase the risk of connective-tissue diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. The study of nearly 400,000 female health professionals found that women with implants are 24% more likely to report such diseases than women without implants.

Evidence suggests that exposure to pesticides damages the immune system, weakening resistance to infectious diseases and certain cancers. Children, the elderly and the chronically ill are at the greatest risk.

Obese women are more likely to have pregnancy complications like hypertension and diabetes--even if they gain only the recommended minimum weight of 15 lbs.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Food and Drug Administration; Nature Medicine; Nature Genetics BAD NEWS: The Journal of the American Medical Association; World Resources Institute; Obstetrics and Gynecology

LOCAL HEROES

PAUL DESANTIS, 38; SAUGUS, MASS.; Plumbing An employee at M.I.T., he applied his knowledge of drains to create a medical device for his daughter Ashley, 4, who suffers from multiple handicaps, including excessive buildup of stomach gas. The mechanism has a valve to control the flow of liquids and an air vent to allow gas to escape. The plumber and M.I.T.'s Technology Licensing Office now have a registered patent. He says, "I did this out of necessity in a desperate, frustrating situation."

CONNIE SESSOMS, 41; CHARLOTTE, N.C.; Trucking Business A regular blood donor since 1972, Sessoms was the first to participate in a local pilot program for children with sickle-cell anemia, where he was paired with a specific patient with similar characteristics. There is a medical reason for the one-to-one matchup: transfusions from the same donor may help children build antibodies, lengthening the time between crises. Says Sessoms: "I would do whatever it takes to make another's life a little easier."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW

HOPE COOKE, 55 Former Queen of Sikkim; historian

In 1963 the Sarah Lawrence graduate became a celebrity when she married the widowed Prince of Sikkim, a tiny Shangri-La-like kingdom in the Himalayas. When he was crowned chogyal (king), she became his gyalmo (queen). Like Diana's, however, Cooke's fairy tale came crashing down. In 1975, after she and her children had taken up residence in New York City, Sikkim was annexed by India and her husband placed under house arrest. They divorced in 1980. (He died in 1982.) Since then she has written an autobiography (Time Change) and become an expert on New York history. In 1987 she remarried. But her ties to Sikkim and its Buddhist tradition remain; her grandchildren are being raised in a dual-culture household, and her daughter specializes in tours to her homeland. Cooke holds Sikkim as dear as she believes Diana does Britain: "I don't think you ever leave your responsibility to the country that loved and honored you."

35 YEARS AGO IN TIME

PRIMA DONNA ASSOLUTA

Leontyne Price, with her ravishing and powerful voice, took audiences by storm in her debut season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City: "'Leontyne leads with that voice,' says her accompanist, David Garvey. 'It is her Rock of Gibraltar.' Leontyne's Gibraltar is known technically as a lyric spinto--a high soprano voice with dramatic feeling. No singer today is better capable of straddling both the lyric and the dramatic moods than she is, and none possesses a voice that is more secure throughout its considerable range--the G below middle C to the D above high C. Says she: 'I never try an F in public. I sometimes do it in the shower, but there I may just be intoxicated by the soap.'" --March 10, 1961

--By Kathleen Adams, Charlotte Faltermayer, Greg Fulton, Lina Lofaro, Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn and Alain L. Sanders