SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE ABOUT WARRANTLESS VEHICLE SEARCH

Do police have the right to go on private property — uninvited and without a warrant — to search a vehicle?

That’s the question the U.S. Supreme Court will be asked to answer when the court takes up the case of a Virginia man who was arrested after a police officer walked onto his driveway and pulled back a tarp covering a stolen motorcycle.

Arguments are scheduled Tuesday in a case that could test the boundaries of an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s requirement that police obtain a warrant before searching a person, their home, papers or personal effects.

The exception dates back nearly a century, when federal agents did a warrantless search of a suspected bootlegger’s car looking for illegal alcohol. In that case, the Supreme Court found that a vehicle could be searched without a warrant as long as police have probable cause to believe it contains contraband or evidence of a crime.

Three injured in Trump Tower heating system fire.

YORK» A NEW fire in Trump Tower’s heating and air conditioning system injured three people and caused smoke to billow from the roof, the Fire Department of New York said Monday.

The fire started about 7 a.m. at the Manhattan building that contains President Donald Trump’s home and business offices.

Two civilians and a firefighter were treated for injuries, the department said. It took about an hour to put out the fire.

The president was at the White House when fire engines with flashing emergency lights clogged the streets around his Fifth Avenue luxury building during the morning rush-hour.

Medication caused confusion for journalist, police say. South, North begin talks.

A sports journalist who was found after she went missing during the weekend told police officers that she had a severe reaction to medication that led her to become confused and disoriented, police said Monday.

The disappearance of Courtney Roland, 29, caused alarm after she sent nonsensical texts to her mother. Her roommate called police Sunday, saying Roland had expressed concern that a suspicious man was following her.

Roland suffered memory loss as a result of her reaction to the medication, and she was continuing to be evaluated at a hospital, police said.

KOREA» South Korean media SOUTH say North and South Korea have begun talks at their border about how to cooperate in next month’s Winter Olympics and how to improve their long-strained ties. Yonhap news agency reported that the first talks between the rivals in about two years began as scheduled Tuesday morning at the border village of Panmunjom. YTN television network carried a similar report.

Gays marry in midnight wedding ceremonies across Australia.

Same-sex couples married in midnight ceremonies across Australia on Tuesday after the last legal impediment to gay marriage expired.

Most gay and lesbian couples were required to provide one month’s notice of their intention to marry after marriage equality became law Dec. 9, With overwhelming majority support of Parliament.

That made Tuesday the first possible date for gay marriages.

Prosecutors won’t charge Polanski after molestation report.

LOS

Los Angeles prosecutors will not bring criminal charges against Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski after a woman said he molested her in 1975 — when she was 10 years old — because the allegations are too old.

A district attorney’s memo obtained by The Associated Press on Monday says prosecutors were declining to bring charges in the case because the statute of limitations had expired.

The 84-year-old Polanski has been a fugitive since fleeing to France in 1978 while awaiting sentencing for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old.

The latest allegations were reported to police in October.