KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Fire officials say a build-up of methane gas caused an explosion at a Kansas City wastewater treatment plant.

No injuries were reported.

Brooke Givens, spokeswoman for the city’s water department, said the Blue River Wastewater Treatment Plant was damaged by the Wednesday explosion but it remained in operation.

The explosion occurred near the plant’s rear door and damage was reported in the hallway and stairwell. A monetary damage estimate was not immediately available.

Methane gas is a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process. Givens says the cause of the explosion is being investigated.

NIXA, Mo. (AP) – A dive team is searching for a car that crashed into a southwest Missouri river during a police chase.

KYTV reports that the driver was unhurt. It isn’t clear if the driver has been charged.

A Christian County deputy on Wednesday attempted to stop the car for speeding. Sheriff Brad Cole says the deputy suspected the car was stolen, and that the driver was intoxicated.

A chase began. The car left the roadway on Highway 14 near Nixa and landed in the James River, near an access area.

A dive team from the Missouri State Highway Patrol is searching for the submerged vehicle.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A fiddle that Goodwill believes was once owned by country music legend Roy Acuff is expected to generate thousands of dollars for the charitable organization in the Kansas City area.

The fiddle was donated anonymously to Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas and is being sold in an online auction at shopgoodwill.com. As of Thursday morning the high bid was $7,780. The auction is open until 11 p.m. Central time Saturday.

Acuff died in 1992 at age 89. He was the first living inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, best known for hits such as “Wabash Cannonball and “Tennessee Waltz.”

The fiddle was made by Evart Acuff, Roy Acuff’s uncle, in August 1945 in Maryville, Tennessee. It isn’t clear why it was donated to a Kansas City Goodwill store.

“We recognized right away that it was something special and we now have it up for auction,” Raines said. “We have no information on the owner. They just donated it and moved on.”

The fiddle, made of apple wood apparently from a tree on a family farm, is now in the possession of Gary Raines, who runs Goodwill’s e-commerce program in Kansas City. He said he was confident the fiddle was Acuff’s, even though the certificate of authenticity and other paperwork are copies. The report didn’t explain how Raines reached that conclusion.

Acuff, a native of Maynardville, Tennessee, first became famous as the singer and fiddler for the Crazy Tennesseans, later called the Smoky Mountain Boys. Their hits also included “Wreck on the Highway,” ”Pins and Needles” and “Night Train to Memphis.”

Acuff performed regularly at the Grand Ole Opry and starred in the 1940 film “Grand Ole Opry.” In 1942, he and Fred Rose formed Acuff-Rose Music, which became a powerful country music publishing firm.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) – A teenager is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in a deadly shooting in the Kansas City, Missouri, suburb of Independence.

Seventeen-year-old Matthew Haylock was shot to death Tuesday night at the Independence Center mall. Jackson County authorities have charged 18-year-old Tyler Gates. He does not yet have a listed attorney.

The victim was from Independence, as is the suspect.

Haylock’s body was found near a vehicle in the mall’s parking lot. Gates had been sought as a person of interest since the shooting.

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INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Police are investigating a deadly shooting in the parking lot of a suburban Kansas City shopping mall and have identified a person of interest, according to a media release

Police are looking for Tyler J. Gates, 18, from Independence, MO, in connection with the homicide. Tyler is described as 5-foot-11 and weighs about 160 pounds.

Police didn’t immediately release the man’s name or what led up to the shooting.

WASHINGTON, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri man on parole is accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl in a motel room and forcing her to eat methamphetamine and smoke marijuana.

Franklin County prosecutors on Tuesday charged 48-year-old Brett Pendleton of Union with sodomy and endangering the welfare of a child. He is jailed on $250,000 bond and does not yet have an attorney.

Police say the girl had permission from her mother to visit Pendleton and told her mother about the abuse. The child was treated and released at a hospital, where workers called police.

Pendleton is on parole after pleading guilty in 2012 to manufacturing meth.