ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP/ROCK

“Puffy” Booked: Rap mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs was booked Friday by New York City police on suspicion of assault and criminal mischief in connection with the beating of a record label executive. Combs surrendered to police who sought him for a Thursday afternoon attack on Interscope Records executive Steven Stoute, 28. Stoute suffered arm injuries and was briefly hospitalized, authorities said. Police suspect Combs, the force behind the Bad Boy Entertainment empire, is one of three men who beat Stoute and ransacked a sixth floor office at the Broadway headquarters of Universal Music during a midday confrontation. The attack on Stoute, who is also an advisor to rapper Nas, was reportedly prompted by the depiction of Combs in the new Nas video for the song “Hate Me Now,” from the nation’s No. 1 album, “I Am.” The video, which includes a scene showing Combs crucified, was pulled from MTV’s rotation on Thursday. Combs is credited as a featured artist on the album track.

Crazy Horse Moving: The Crazy Horse Steakhouse & Saloon in Santa Ana, Southern California’s leading country music club, is moving about 15 minutes south to the Irvine Spectrum Center. The move, planned for Dec. 1, will more than double seating capacity to about 600 as well as the size of its dance floor to about 1,000 square feet. The change is expected to help the Crazy Horse better compete with larger venues in attracting top country acts.

TELEVISION

Kudos for Kelly: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will honor veteran Los Angeles anchor, reporter and commentator Kelly Lange with the prestigious 1999 Los Angeles Area Governors Award, it was announced Friday. Lange left KNBC-TV earlier this year, where she had anchored the news for 28 years. The award will be presented June 5 at the 51st annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards. Lange, who arrived in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, started as a “helicopter weather girl” at KABC-AM (790), went on to become a news writer there and at KNBC. She is also the author of two mystery thrillers and, as ATAS notes, is “extremely active in the community.”

Another Kind of Record: “Scared Straight! 20 Years Later,” the updated documentary about the Rahway prison program to put juvenile delinquents on the right path, drew 5 million viewers Thursday, a record Thursday-night rating for UPN. The special did particularly well in big cities, including a second-place finish in Los Angeles, where it was seen in more than 400,000 homes.

PEOPLE

Hear Johnny: Johnny Carson says don’t believe tabloid reports about his declining health. “I don’t read them. They’ll print anything, anyway,” the reclusive Carson told Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd by telephone Thursday. The 73-year-old former “Tonight Show” host was released from Saint John’s Health Center on April 9, three weeks after quadruple bypass heart surgery. Supermarket tabloids have bannered stories, saying a chain-smoking Carson was near death because lung disease was complicating his recovery. “I quit seven years ago,” Carson said from his Malibu estate. He said he was feeling fine and that he was up and walking around the house, adding that he will soon start standard physical rehabilitation.

Stern Message: Actress Shirley Jones and her husband, Marty Ingels, have parted ways with Parents Television Council, a conservative media watchdog group, after a talk with shock jock Howard Stern. The former star of “The Partridge Family” resigned as honorary co-chairman of the council this week, and Ingels was asked to resign as a member of the advisory board. “We still agree with the aims of the PTC,” Ingels said, but noted that they had reservations about the group’s approach to reducing TV sex, violence and profanity. Stern, whose late-night CBS-TV show has been a particular target of the council, recently confronted the couple on his radio show. Said Ingels: “He kept asking, ‘Why would you want me thrown off the air?’ He said we were going along with McCarthy tactics.” Ingels said his wife reexamined the shows given a negative appraisal by the council and found she often disagreed with the group.

Believe It: Ripley’s Believe It or Not! wants actress Pamela Anderson Lee’s recently removed breast implants to display at its Hollywood museum. They would be included in an exhibit on what people do to themselves for beauty’s sake, Christine Barnes, a curator for the Orlando-based company, said. The exhibit will include displays of the old Chinese practice of foot-binding, corsets and body piercing. However, Lee’s spokeswoman, Marleah Leslie, said the implants were not for sale and called Ripley’s efforts a publicity stunt.

QUICK TAKES

It’s another son for actor-director Mel Gibson and wife Robyn. The couple’s seventh child--and sixth boy--was born on Wednesday. . . . Observing the fourth anniversary Monday of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Discovery Channel will present “On the Inside: Oklahoma City Bombing” from 8 to 9 p.m., examining how thousands of law enforcement officers cracked the case. . . . Beginning Friday and continuing for a month, four Disney live-action classics will play at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood: “Mary Poppins,” April 23-May 6; “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” May 7-13; “Tron,” May 14-20; and “Swiss Family Robinson,” May 21-23.