274 illegal aliens caught SAN DIEGO - Raids of two strawberry farms in northern San Diego County resulted in the arrests by U.S. Border Patrol agents of 274 illegal aliens, and authorities say employers were cited for health code violations. John Belluardo, Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman in Los Angeles, said the illegals were living in "Lean-tos made of cardboard, tunnels burrowed in the ground where six and eight people were sleeping like spiders."

Screen contract OK'd LOS ANGELES - The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have voted by 98 percent to approve a contract with advertising groups t`at increase wages and benefits for commercial actors. Key provisions of the three-year pact covering radio and television commercials include 5-10 percent salary increases, stepped-up pension and health contributions and improved language covering non-discrimination, stunt safety and protection of minors. The unions' agreements with the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers are retroactive to Feb. 7.

Energy production peaks WASHINGTON - Annual energy production reached a record high in the United States of 65.5 quadrillion British thermal units last year, and consumption rose for the first time in five years, the government says. Production rose for every major source of energy, up 4.3 quadrillion Btu over the previous year in the largest annual increase ever recorded. Consumption rose 4.6 percent to 73.7 quadrillion Btu in 1984 for the first increase since 1979, according to a report by the Energy Department.

Chemical making resumes INSTITUTE, W.Va. - Production of methyl isocyanate, the chemical that killed more than 2,000 people in India in December, has resumed at Union Carbide's plant here, company officials said. Carbide shut down production of the chemical at the plant, the only U.S. producer, after fumes from the chemical leaked from a Carbide subsidiary plant at Bhopal , India. Since then, the company has installed $5 million of additional safety equipment at the Institute plant. The chemical is used to make pesticides, particularly Sevin.

Bennett suggests columns WASHINGTON - Education Secretary William J. Bennett says classroom teachers should be invited regularly to speak to civic organizations and newspapers should solicit them to write columns for opinion pages. In a speech to the National Education Association, Bennett also criticized a system that rates and renumerates teachers more highly if they are in higher education rather than in elementary and secondary schools. "We have to get over this notion that the later on in life that you teach someone and that the less influence you have on that person, that the more important you are," he said.