OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bridge engineers in Nebraska and Iowa says the safety problems seen in Delaware with an interstate bridge are not likely to happen here.

On Thursday, Delaware ordered immediate inspections of major bridges after closing a leaning bridge Monday. Officials think piles of dirt dumped near the bridge might be responsible for shifting the ground beneath the span.

Nebraska State Bridge Engineer Mark Traynowicz says a combination of inspections and laws requiring permits for any work or dumping of state rights of way would thwart similar problems in Nebraska.

Scott Neubauer, Iowa’s bridge maintenance and inspection engineer, says Iowa doesn’t plan inspections like Delaware is requiring. Neubauer says he’s never heard of an instance in Iowa with a contractor piling anything near a bridge that would interfere with its structural integrity.

A North Platte man has been arrested after he allegedly threatened to kill a North Platte city employee.

According to Investigator John Deal, officers responded to a disturbance at City Hall at around 8:46 a.m., on Thursday.

Deal said an officer met with an employee of the city who advised that a male subject, later identified as Brian Picard, had walked into City Hall and asked to speak to a certain employee of the city.

The employee stated that the employee wasn’t available and asked Picard what he needed.

At this point, Picard allegedly said that the employee was going to get killed if they didn’t “knock off their activities.”  Deal said Picard didn’t specifically say what activities he was referring to.

Deal said Picard then began to leave and made a comment about “government people being bombed.”  He then flipped off the employee and left.

According to Deal, investigators were able to identify Picard through surveillance footage of the incident.

Officers made contact with Picard later that day as he rode a bicycle near 2nd and Jeffers.

Following further investigation, officers determined that there was probable cause to arrest Picard.  He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center and charged with felony terroristic threats.

Authorities did not name the employee Picard was referencing.

A Canadian couple was killed when the vehicle in which they were driving was struck by a semi-trailer truck on Interstate 80 near Overton, in Dawson County.

The crash occurred around 2:30 p.m., Thursday, June 5, on westbound I-80 at mile marker 244, approximately four miles west of the Overton exit, when a westbound semi crossed the median and struck an eastbound 2009 Nissan Murano. The passenger vehicle, which was pulling a camper, was struck nearly head-on by the semi, with both vehicles coming to rest in the south ditch.

Bruce R. McPhail, 74, of Ontario, Canada and his wife Ruth McPhail, 76, of Ontario, were killed in the crash. Bruce McPhail was the driver of the vehicle. Both occupants of the Nissan were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

What caused the semi to cross the median and who was driving the semi remains under investigation. Two occupants of the semi, Jeremiah Kamau Ngengi, 50, SeaTac, Washington and John Bradley Seals III, 41, Charlotte, North Carolina, were both treated and released from the Lexington Regional Health Center.

Seat belts were in use in the passenger vehicle.  It has been undetermined if seat belts were used by either occupant of the semi.

The Nebraska State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office and Overton Fire & Rescue.  The crash remains under investigation.

A  North Platte man has been charged with a felony after he failed to return a viola he rented from a local business.

At around 3:47 p.m., on April 14, an investigation at Kittle’s Music, 106 E. 5th Street, regarding a viola that had not been returned.

According to Investigator John Deal, staff at Kittle’s reported that Scott Gray had filled out an agreement to rent a viola back in 2010.

Staff at the store said Gray stopped making payments and never returned the viola.

After repeated attempts by the business to contact Gray, including a certified letter, he still failed to return the instrument or make payments.

Eventually the case was turned over to police, who recently made contact with Gray and placed under arrest for felony theft, due to the value of the viola.

Gray was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.

Deal said the viola was never recovered.