THANKS, ANYWAY: Steve Shepard has discovered the...

THANKS, ANYWAY: Steve Shepard has discovered the ultimate anti-theft device: his own car. . . . Two thieves robbed him at gunpoint in a Panorama City neighborhood Tuesday night, demanding his wallet, jewelry and car keys. “They asked me where the car was,” Shepard said. So he pointed out his 1984 Volvo wagon. Said Shepard: “They looked at it and gave me the car keys back.”

SHIP OF HOPE: What do you get when you combine a 92-year-old Valley comedian with the U. S. Navy? A mighty punch line, maybe?. . . . Toluca Lake resident Bob Hope will celebrate his 92nd birthday in New Orleans on Monday by helping lay the keel of the first ship bearing his name, the Bob Hope. The 950-foot-long vessel will lead a new class of strategic ships designed to rapidly move military arms around the world.

BLOOMIN’ TROUBLE: Victoria O’Casey’s flowers are raising a stink. . . . The Irish-born landscape designer has transformed a rotting Sylmar alley into the pride of her neighborhood by planting fresh flowers. But now the city has labeled her effort a public nuisance. “How often do I hear politicians say let’s beautify L. A.?” laments O’Casey. “Perhaps that’s all nonsense” (B1).

SO JUDGED: A former judge from Chatsworth was sentenced to a year in jail Wednesday for sexually assaulting a female attorney. That was twice as long as prosecutors had recommended (B4). . . . Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp said former workers’ comp judge Stanley Samuel Feinstein, 62, “was in a position of trust and he abused that position.”

LENO’S OWN: Three years after he replaced Johnny Carson as the host of “The Tonight Show” at NBC Studios in Burbank, Jay Leno has boosted his ratings by casting aside Carson’s old set and style (F1). . . . Among the casualties: fewer Burbank jokes. Said one show source: “Johnny used that city as his foil. Jay’s really focused on the Simpson trial and politics.”