Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Easy-Bake Oven going gender-neutral

PAWTUCKET, R.I., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Rhode Island-based toymaker Hasbro said it will include boys in the marketing for Easy-Bake Ovens after meeting with a 13-year-old girl.

McKenna Pope, 13, won an audience with Hasbro officials after she received more than 40,000 signatures on hr Change.org petition and received the endorsement of celebrity chef Bobby Flay for her campaign to have Easy-Bake Ovens marketed to children of both genders, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Pope said she was inspired by her brother, Gavyn Boscio, 4, who loves to bake but fears to play with an Easy-Bake Oven because it's a "girl" toy.

Hasbro officials said at the Monday meeting Gavyn will be able to play with a gender-neutral version of the oven, which will be marketed to both sexes, starting in the fall of 2013.

The new Easy-Bake Oven will have its debut at the New York Toy Fair in February, Hasbro said.

Police called to gas-related disturbance

SPARTANBURG, S.C., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Authorities in South Carolina said they were called to a home on a report of a disturbance caused by bad flatulence and vanilla-scented Lysol.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office report said Shannon Manatis, 41, told deputies the incident began Monday afternoon when her husband, Michael Manatis, 46, passed gas that smelled "bad enough to cause her to almost puke," The Smoking Gun website reported Tuesday.

The woman said she sprayed vanilla-scented Lysol in the "area" of her husband, but Michael Manatis said his wife "sprayed the Lysol in his eyes."

Michael told deputies he "threw water on Shannon" and threw a plastic water bottle at her. Shannon said she was struck in the back of her head with a glass of tea, but deputies said there was no sign of tea on the floor.

"Upon my original arrival to the residence there was a clear liquid on the back door and floor. This was not consistent with tea but is believed to be water," a deputy wrote in the report.

No arrests were made, the sheriff's office said.

City bans feeding pets outside at night

BARBERTON, Ohio, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- An Ohio city council passed an ordinance banning the feeding of pets outdoors at night with $50 fines imposed on violators.

The eight-member Barberton City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve the ordinance, which bans any pet food from being made available to animals at night unless the food and pet are inside an enclosed pen, WJW-TV, Cleveland, reported Tuesday.

Barberton Mayor Bill Judge said the ordinance is designed to combat health and safety issues.

"It attracts unwanted animals at night: raccoons, possums and skunks," Judge said. "We are trying to help the domesticated animals. There are safety issues if there are rats or rodents running around."

Police have not said how they plan to enforce the ordinance.

Baby born at side of New Mexico freeway

ALBUQUERQUE, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A pair of New Mexico parents said they delivered their daughter at the side of an Albuquerque freeway, with a 911 dispatcher talking them through the process.

Deanne and Andrew Milligan said they were traveling on Interstate 25 on their way to the hospital when they realized the baby was not going to wait and they pulled over to the side of the road, KOAT-TV, Albuquerque, reported Tuesday.

Andrew Milligan said he received advice on the delivery from a 911 dispatcher who informed him that he had to tie off the umbilical cord.

"So I find an MP3 cable from my stereo, and I'm like, 'This has got to work,'" he said.

The cable did the trick and an ambulance soon arrived to take mother and baby to Lovelace Woman's Hospital, where the girl was officially named Brinna Lee Milligan.

"(She's a) very determined little girl already. She's going to know what she wants. She's going to know how to get things done. She is such a blessing, and she's going to go so far," Deanne Milligan said.