(AP) — Baby gates meant to protect young children aren’t always as safe as parents think. A new study says nearly 2,000 U.S. kids get emergency room treatment each year from injuries resulting from falling through or climbing on these gates.

Most injuries weren’t serious. But the researchers say parents should know about precautions. That includes using bolted gates, not pressure-mounted ones, at the top of the stairs.

Researcher Lara McKenzie and colleagues at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, examined data on kids up to age 6.

The number injured on gates more than tripled over 20 years. These cases climbed from about 4 per 100,000 children in 1990 to almost 13 per 100,000 in 2010.

The study was published online Monday in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

(AP) — A public safety official in Rhode Island says investigators looking into what happened to send eight circus acrobats plummeting to the ground during a performance have found that a clamp snapped.

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare told WPRO-AM on Monday that the clamp that held the performers to the rafters failed.

He says federal workplace safety investigators are focusing on why it failed.

Several people on the ground were also injured when the performers fell 25 to 40 feet to the ground during a Sunday performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Three of the acrobats remain in critical condition Monday morning.

A spokesman for the circus’s parent company says none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.

(AP) — The Omaha Science Café scheduled for Tuesday will to explore the verbal behavior and skill acquisition of early learners with autism spectrum disorders

The featured speaker will be Amanda Zangrillo, who is an assistant professor and case manager for the severe behavior disorder program in the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at the Munroe-Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

She also will discuss problem behaviors.

The event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St. in Omaha.

Science Cafes are free educational events sponsored by UNMC and other groups to increase people’s science literacy. They are open to everyone 21 and older.

(AP) — Fifty years ago, a powerful tornado killed two people and carved a 70-mile-long path of destruction across south-central Nebraska.

The May 5, 1964 tornado also injured dozens of people and several farm homes as it moved across parts of Hamilton, York, Polk and Butler counties.

The two people who died were killed on a farm about 3 miles northwest of Bradshaw.

The storm injured 20 people near Harvard and other injuries were reported near Hastings and in rural areas.

The National Weather Service says that tornado was the last F5 tornado in Nebraska, which was the most-powerful rating at the time.

(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has affirmed that two farming brothers should not have been found negligent in a 2007 fatal crash where tall corn created a blind intersection.

The crash occurred on Oct. 6, 2007, in Saunders County, when two pickups collided at an intersection where the view was obstructed by 7-foot-tall corn planted only feet from the road. The crash killed one passenger and left another, Thomas Latzel, a quadriplegic who died from his injuries three years later.

Latzel’s wife, Amanda, sued the truck drivers and the farmers who planted the corn. But a Saunders County District Court judge granted a motion to dismiss the farmers — Ronald and Doug Bartek — from the lawsuit, saying the fault was with the truck drivers for entering a blind intersection.

(AP) — An Omaha man has been arrested after police say he flagged down an officer and confessed to keeping child pornography in his apartment. Police say 53-year-old Daniel Clement was arrested early Wednesday, after he stopped a patrol officer. Police say Clement told the officer that he had child pornography.

An investigation led to the discovery of multiple recordings containing explicit photos and videos of children between the ages of 3 and 12.

Clement was booked into Douglas County Corrections. He faces five felony counts of possession of child pornography. Court records do not list an attorney for Clement.

(AP) — Actor and comedian Cheech Marin says he and longtime comedy partner Tommy Chong may soon reunite on film.

Marin made the comments Friday while launching an exhibit of his art collection at the Las Cruces Museum of Art in southern New Mexico.

The 67-year-old, known as one half of “Cheech & Chong,” says there have been discussions about starting a project within the next year.

Meanwhile, the two have been touring together.

An avid collector, Marin met with artists and local high school students before the exhibit’s opening.

“Chicanitas: Small Paints from the Cheech Marin Collection” features 70 paintings by 29 Chicano artists.

Marin has plans to open similar exhibits in other cities as part of a “Chicanitas” tour, including one in France.

(AP) — The Adams County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the death of a 27-year-old Hastings man hit and killed by a train overnight.

Investigators say Dominique Lopez was struck by a west bound Union Pacific train late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

Investigators say Lopez’s body was found next to Union Pacific tracks west of Hastings around 4 a.m. Saturday.

(AP) — An internal investigation by the Lincoln Police Department has found that two officers used excessive force in separate incidents.

In the first incident in December, an officer shoved a handcuffed inmate into a Lancaster County jail wall, causing a head injury. That officer quit the force before facing a disciplinary hearing.

Internal investigators say that in March, another officer shoved a man into a wall at a Lincoln homeless shelter and threw the man across the room. That officer faces a disciplinary committee.

Police Chief Jim Peschong and City Attorney Rod Confer declined to release the names of the officers involved, saying the incidents are personnel matters not subject to the state’s open records laws.

(AP) — Up to two dozen residents trapped briefly on their Omaha apartment balconies by fire are now safe.

The residents were rescued by firefighters Thursday evening after the fire broke out in the south-central Omaha neighborhood.

Kevon Moss, who lives in a first-floor apartment, said he heard screaming and shuffling above him. He says he went outside and saw a woman on her balcony who said she was trapped. Moss says the woman dropped her young son, whom Moss caught.

Authorities say the fire was caused when a couch was set ablaze. Three children suffered smoke inhalation from the fire, but they were not seriously injured.