The Washington Post - USA (2020-12-11)

Hisdeath shookMitchell just as its leaderswere contemplat- ing something previously de- nounced and dismissed: are- quirement thatits staunchly conservative residents wear masks. As Wellsandt-Zell led those mourning Timmins in thehymn “JesusLoves Me,” the rumble of an approaching helicoptercut through the sound of the singing and the mourners’ softtears.In Mitchell, the medical emergency SEESOUTH DAKOTAONA

months, not botheringwith masks or social distancing.Res- taurants were packed. Big wed- dings and funerals went on as planned. Then people started dying. Thewifeofthe former bank president.Astate legislator.The guy whose family has owned the bikeshop since 1959.Then Tim- mins,amild-spoken72-year-old who had worked with hundreds of local kids during six decades as aLittl eLeague and high school coachand referee.

Wellsandt-Zell told the small group of masked mourners that justast here hadbeen seasons in the coach’s life —basketball season, football season, volleyball season—Mitchel lwas now en- duringaphase of itsown. Pandemic season. In astate where the Republi- can governor,Kristi L. Noem, has defied calls forastatewide mask mandateeven as cases hit record levels, manyinthisrural communityanhour westof Siou xFalls ignoredthe virus for

BYANNIEGOWEN

IN MITCHELL,S.D.

Acold wind whipped through the prairie as theylaid Buck Timmins to rest. Timmins,alongtime coach and referee, was not thefirst person inMitchell, S.D., pop. 15,600, to die of the coronavirus. He was noteven thefirstthat week. As the funeral director tucked blanketsoverthe knees of Tim- mins’swife, Nanci,PastorRhonda

No going homeAustralia has largely tamed

the virus, but its severe restrictions have left

tens of thousands stranded overseas. A

U.S.-brokered dealMorocco is the fourth

Arab-majority country in recent months to

say it will normalize ties with Israel. A

WEEKEND

Festive lights Aguide for addingsome much-needed brightness to your holidayseason.

STYLE

Krakenalert! Whyare they dredgingup the sea monster of Norse mythologynow?C

In the News

THE NATION

Crit ics assailedthe Trump administration’s plan to carry outawave of executions, including one Thursday night, before Biden takes over.A ADemocraticstate representative found that alistsubmitted as part ofaTrump lawsuit alleging voter fraud in Georgia included the names of two friends and aconstituent.A TheTrumpadministra- tion plans to impose long-awaited sanctions on Turkey for purchas- ing and testing a Russian-made missile defense system.A

Rep. JamesClyburn (D-S.C.) raised concerns with HHS officials that the CDC director may have ordered the deletion of an email showing Trump administration efforts to inter- fere with coronavirus guidance.A

THE WORLD Argentinacould become the largest Latin American country to legalize elective abortion as lawmakers resumeadebate derailed by the onset of the pandemic.A TheUnitedStatesflew two bombers to the

Middle East asashow of force against Iran.A

THE ECONOMY Facing bipartisan scrutiny, Steven Mnuchin defended the Treasury Department’s $700 million loan to a troubled trucking company backed byaprivate equity firm.A Alawsuitfrom the maker of Cydia, a once-popular app distributor, presented a new kind of legal chal- lenge for Apple: one fromadirect App Store competitor.A

THE REGION LoudounCountyis re- suming online-only instruction for public

school students, and Fairfax County is adopting highly lenient grading.B VirginiaGov.Ralph Northam (D) is creating aplan to reinvent in Richmond the site of the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.B Before PresidentJim- my Carter lit the menorah near the White House in 1979, the Secret Service hurried to anearby store forabox of long matches.B TheMetro board movedastep closer to adoptinga“doomsday” budget that severely cuts transit service in the wake of pandemic- related financial strug- gles.B

Inside

MITCHELL JEFFRIES OF PERTH ON CANADA’S LAKE LOUISE FAMILY PHOTO

BUSINESS NEWS.......................A COMICS.......................................C OPINION PAGES.........................A LOTTERIES...................................B OBITUARIES.................................B TELEVISION.................................C WORLD NEWS............................A

CONTENT© TheWashingtonPost /Year 144, No. 6

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ABCDE

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Partly sunny, mild 59/48 •Tomorrow: Mainly cloudy, mild 60/51B10 Democracy Dies in Darkness FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 , 2020 .$

BYHANNAHKNOWLES,WESLEYLOWERY

ANDMARKBERMANIN MEMPHIS

Since Little began cooperating withauthorities inMay2018, he has confessed to killing93peo- ple in 19 states, virtuallyall women. Nearly half of them remainunidentified.Even as Lit- tle vividly recalls certain details of hi scrimes—the pattern of a sundress, anecklace nestled against asoftthroat,aleg pro- truding fromashallow grave— he often cannot remember his victims’ names. With Little now 80 andin failinghealth,police across the nationare racingtocomplete a wave of investigations in reverse: They havethe culprit.Nowthey needtofind thevictims. TheFBI considers Little’s con- fessionscredible, and hasgone to extraordinarylengths to publi- cizedetailsoft he unsolved cases. Theagencyhas circulated Little’s eeril ylifelike drawings and crea ted awebpage withvideo snippets of him describinghis victims. Meanwhile, local police are searching dusty filesfor crimes SEELITTLEONA

INDIFFERENT JUSTICE|PART 3

The killer confessed.

The cases aren’t closed.

Paper-thin files, multiple matches: Police race to find Samuel Little’s victims as families seek closure

S

inceher mothervanished in July 1990, BerniceTall- ey hasheard manystories about whathappened.In one,her mother left for Texas withatrucker. In another,she fledbecause she owed someone somemoney. Worstofall wasthe rumor thatTalley’sfather beather mother to death and buried her in the backyard. “Don’t be stu- pid,” Talley’s father saidwhen she askedhim about it. But it strained their relationship, and Talleynever could quite shake the fear thatshe’d been walking over her mother’s bodyall these years. Then, in winter 2019,she saw the drawingonTV. SamuelLittle, believedtobethe deadliestserial killer in America, had confessed to murderingawoman inMem- phis in themid-1980s.Heoffered policeahand-paintedportrait: darkskin,big brown eyes, a cloud ofcurly hair. “That’smymama!”Talleyex- claimed in calls to her fatherand aunt.

BYMATTVISER

ANDALEXHORTON

President-electJoe Bidenadd-
ed DenisMcDonoughand Susan
E. Rice to hisgoverningteam
Thursday,bolsteringastrategyof
turning to Obama-era fi gures and
longtimeallieswhilesofarleaving
little roomat the top for fresh
faces from the nextgeneration of
Democrats.
Biden’s choice ofMcDonough,
who served asPresidentBarack
Obama’schiefofstaff, ashis secre-
taryofveterans affairsstunned
veterans groups, which immedi-
ately raised alarms thatMc-
Donough had never served in uni-
form.In selecting Rice,anational
security adviserunder Obama, as
director of theDomestic Policy
Council, Biden moved toavoida
bruising confirmationfight be-
cause the position doesnot re-
quire congressional approval.
Thechoic es providedafuller
pictureofthe type ofgovernment
Biden is building,one thatrelies
heavily on officials who have
spent decades in public service —
and has severalhistoricfirsts
amongthenominations—buthas
had less space forrising Demo-
cratic stars and representativesof
the party’s liberal wing.Thatis
prompting opposition not just
from Republicans but also from
SEEBIDENONA

Biden picks

leave little

room for

fresh faces

Longtime allies for VA, domestic policy posts stir worry about rising stars

‘God be with us’

In asmall South Dakota town, neighbors’ deaths shake residents and stiradebate about masks

KC MCGINNIS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST DianeKenkel,alocal nurse practitioner,supportsacitywide maskmandate amid masklessdissenters—after followingacoughing anti-masker—atthe Corn Palace inMitchell,S.D., on Nov. 23. TheMitchell CityCouncilvoted on the issue laterthatday.

BYCRAIGTIMBERG

ANDDREWHARWELL

Anyonewhostillthink sofF ace- bookchiefex ecutiveMarkZucker- bergasthe awkward Harvard un- dergradportr ayed in“The Social Network” —sneakyand ambi- tious, sure,but also longingfor human connection—might be startled to encounterthe bare- knu ckled operator portrayed i na pairofgovernment lawsuitsfiled Wednesday. In callingfor the breakupof his $800billion company, federal and stateofficialsportr ay aZucker- bergwho could more easilystar in aSiliconValleyupdateto“The Godfather.” Rivals cowerat the thoughtof“ the wrathofMark”as heschemesto“eliminate”compet- itors, whoface being“snuffed out” SEEFACEBOOKONA

Lawsuits against

Facebook find a

villain in its CEO

BYLAURIEMCGINLEY,

CAROLYNY.JOHNSON

ANDJOELACHENBACH

Federal advisers endorsed the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine onThursday,making it all but certain theFood andDrug Administration will authorize thevaccine on an emergency basis within hours or days, kick- ing offanunprecedentedeffort to inoculateenough Americans to stop arampagingpandemic. But the prospectofrelieffrom the coronavirus came as 107, people were hospitalized with covid-19, the diseasecaused by the virus,and arecord3, deaths were reported bystate health departments, topping the milestone reached one dayearli- er.Within days, the countrywill pro bably surpass300,000 deaths since the pandemic’s arrival. Theworsening situation has heightenedattention on thefinal steps of the vaccineapproval process.Thethumbs-upfromthe FDA’svaccine advisorycommit- tee was theculmination of an all-daymeeting during which the panel heard presentations on the safety and effectivenessofthe vaccine, includingplans to moni- tor its longer-term safety. Thekey moment came just after 5:30 p.m., when the agency asked itsindependent advisers: “Based on the totalityofscientif- ic evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19Vaccine outweigh its risks for use in individuals 16 years of ageand older?” Thecommittee voted yes,17 in favor,fouragainstand oneab- stention. Panel membersdid not have an opportunitytoexplain their votes,but at least twodissenters objected to inclusion of 16-and 17-year-olds, givenwhattheyde- scribed as the low risk of severe SEEVACCINEONA

Pfizer vaccine clears key FDA hurdle

PANEL’S BACKING SIGNALS APPROVAL

Progress arrives on deadliest day to date

TheBiden agenda:U.S. to muster
allies to counterRussia, China.A

Asomber marker:Virusdeath toll in D.C. region passes 10,000.B

BYDAVIDNAKAMURA

ANDROBERTBARNES

With hislegal options dwin-
dling and time running out be-
foreakey electoral college dead-
line,PresidentTrump onThurs-
dayramped up pressure on the
SupremeCourttohelp overturn
JoeBiden’s victory, gaini ng the
support of morethan 100con-
gressional Republicansinthe
unprecedented assault on the
U.S. electionsystem.
In amorningtweet,Trump
calledonthe courtto“save our
Countryfromthe greatestElec-
tionabuseinthe historyofthe
UnitedStates,”repeating his
baseless claims of widespread
fraud.He hadaprivatelunchat
the WhiteHouse with some of
the attorneys general from 18
Republican-ledstates asking the
court to dismiss the results in
fourswingstates thatBiden won,
an effortsupported by theTrump
administration.
By late afternoon, 106 GOP
House members—amajority of
SEETRUMPONA

Trump, GOP

allies turnto

highcourt in

long-shotbid