ORIGINAL ITEM: In Indianapolis tonight, my NEWSWEEK colleague Suzanne Smalley spoke to a Clinton strategist, who asked to remain anonymous when spinning discussing strategy. Here’s what he had to say: “The [new emphasis on] 2,209 [delegates being needed to secure the nomination] means Florida and Michigan are a real part of this thing. You can’t ignore the millions of voters there …Whatever happens today this thing remains extremely close and there are hundreds of superdelegates who haven’t made a decision yet and superdelegates who haven’t even been selected yet....

Once impeachment is over, the Republicans will launch a furious debate on how to get out of this fix. One side of the party thinks the answer is to go more aggressively conservative: brag about the impeachment fight and promise to cut taxes by 30 percent. But the party establishment prefers another course. They would not put it this way, but their strategy is to Clintonize the GOP by using the same tactics that the president used to modernize the Democrats to renovate the Republicans....

The pair sat down for an episode of Anderson Cooper 360° and discussed life, death, faith, grief and gratitude. Cooper, who lost mom Gloria Vanderbilt in June, was brought to tears when he asked the late night show host about comments he made on learning to “love the thing that I most wish had not happened.” Cooper paused to seemingly brace himself as he read a quote by English writer J....

The viral video, shared on TikTok on Tuesday by the cats’ owner under the username Anagrijota93, shows the older cat Oreo slowly warming up to his sibling, Sugar, who had one of their back legs amputated, until they become inseparable. Limb and tail amputations are undertaken to treat different conditions. Most commonly in cats, they result from trauma such as being injured in a car accident. According to International Cat Care Organization (ICCO), amputee cats tend to be less active and move slower, but in all other aspects, they are generally no different from how they were before the amputation....

Griffin put another defender on a poster Thursday night when he yammed all over the Warriors’ Kevon Looney. It was vintage Blake, who is still plenty explosive even after missing time this season with a knee injury. MORE: Howard’s return to Houston complete with big Hawks rally Griffin was a bright spot in the Clippers’ 133-120 home loss to the Dubs. He finished with 31 points and eight rebounds....

Following the arrivals of George and Kawhi Leonard at the Clippers and Anthony Davis joining LeBron James at the Lakers, the two LA teams are seen as genuine championship contenders in 2019-20. But while the sides will share the same home at Staples Center and comparisons are likely to come easy, the Clippers will not be thinking that way internally. George said: “Staples Center is where you want to be, with the team we’ve got and the team they have....

Why do the right people keep writing the wrong books? A few years ago Jonathan Winters, a comedian whose biography has been sought by publishers for several decades, put out a collection of short stories. This fall Bob Dylan will publish his … drawings. And right pow we have Marilyn Quayle-a fascinating woman for both who she is and the company she keeps-promoting a book that absolutely no one has been waiting for....

The closed captioning gods reached down and blessed the Giants quarterback with a fantastic new nickname on Sunday. In the middle of the broadcast, as the closed captioning subtitles scrolled by, viewers noticed something strange with Manning’s name. He was referred to as “ELI MAN PENGUIN BOY.” Penguin Boy… How? Why? Who cares? This is great. MORE: Best photos from Week 12 | Down go the Patriots | Ndamukong Suh rips Ian Rapoport...

Many of those currently watching LeBron James contend he is the greatest player in the history of basketball. Many of those who watched Michael Jordan two decades ago insist he never will be surpassed. NBA FINALS: Predictions for Part IV of Cavs vs. Warriors Many of those who back James in this discussion will point to his consecutive NBA Finals appearances — with the eighth beginning Thursday night as his Cavaliers visit the Warriors — in support of their position....

Detroit Tigers: The Tigers bullpen is like quicksand. The more the team tries to improve it, the deeper it sinks. Closer Joe Nathan is still struggling, loading the bases in consecutive games and blowing one save this past weekend; new acquisition Joakim Soria is on the DL with an oblique injury and hadn’t been very good in Detroit anyway; and setup man Joba Chamberlain has allowed six runs in his last seven outings....

The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty, spent 80 minutes detailing the day of the bombings and the subsequent events that led to Tsarnaev’s arrest. Chakravarty’s closing argument included graphic photos of the three people killed and more than 260 injured when two pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. MORE: Prosecution rests in Boston bombing case | Bombing victims recount horrors...

Police say that Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, killed five people and injured many others after opening fire at Club Q in Colorado Springs on Saturday night. Photos of Aldrich, who was treated at a hospital after the shooting, were released on Wednesday, featuring multiple facial injuries that could have been caused by bar patrons who fought back and subdued the suspect. The Colorado Springs Police Department shared two booking photos of Aldrich to Twitter on Wednesday, with bruises and scratches being visible over large portions of the suspect’s face and neck....

The host of Watch What Happens Live was co-hosting with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and was visibly inebriated as he drank shots and went on a rant about New York mayor Bill de Blasio. During the show, Cohen took some jabs at rival network ABC’s New Years’ Eve special and its host Ryan Seacrest. “Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers that are performing behind us,” Cohen said during the broadcast, before adding: “I mean, with all due [respect], if you’ve been watching ABC tonight, you’ve seen nothing....

“I just wanted to read to you from an inner-circle source familiar with Pompeo and the situation,” said Gangel. “The source said that he is the one leading the way, and it is the president’s policy, but Pompeo has been the leading voice.” “I was also told by the same source that, quote, taking out Soleimani has been Pompeo’s mission for a decade, and that he has told friends and colleagues that he really did not want to retire from public service before Soleimani was taken off of the battlefield....

The same day, GM Trent Baalke restated his support for linebacker Aldon Smith. Baalke also made frequent use of "disappointed" in reference to off-field actions by members of the team. Kaepernick and wide receiver Quinton Patton are part of an investigation police call a "suspicious incident" involving a 25-year-old woman in Miami. Smith was arrested April 13 at Los Angeles International Airport. Police say he was randomly selected for a secondary screening and became uncooperative with the process, telling a TSA agent that he had a bomb....

In taping an episode Thursday morning of “Basketball and Beyond," his Sirius/XM radio show, Krzyzewski said he had “a little setback” in advance of boarding the plane to Atlanta on Monday night. MORE: Ranking the best states for college hoops “Under advisement, wise advisement, I did not make the trip,” Krzyzewski said. He initially figured he would catch a plane the following day, but that was not how the circumstance developed....

“This is a Dallas Mavericks hard-play problem, all right?” Carlisle said after the Mavs’ 98-92 loss to the Suns, via ESPN.com. “We don’t play hard all the time. And that’s a problem. MORE: Howard takes ‘big step’ toward return | Westbrook’s 10th triple-double | Aldridge bothers hand injury “It’s pretty clear that’s where our inconsistency is, and we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to be a more together team....

Werts had been suspended from the team on Aug. 2, stemming from an arrest during a traffic stop. According to an arrest report from the Saluda (S.C.) Police Department, two officers initially attempted to pull Werts over for an alleged speeding violation on July 31. Werts allegedly called 911 to inform them he would not stop until he was further into town, where it was better lit. Once police pulled Werts over, police arrested him for the speeding violation before asking him “about the white powder on the hood of his vehicle....

Kneeling beside the young woman in the parking lot, the doctor gazed into her eyes and murmured a few comforting words. " ‘How are you?’ I asked. She looked up at me and said, ‘OK.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry, it will be all right.’ I was struck by how beautiful she was." He shouted for immediate intubation–the insertion of a tube into the windpipe to create an open airway–over the objections of another doctor, who thought that Rivkind should be focusing on more obviously wounded victims....

“Even through the impenetrable darkness, Ukraine and the civilized world clearly see these terrorist acts,” Zelensky said through his Telegram account. “Deliberate and cynical missile strikes on civilian critical infrastructure. No military facilities. Kharkiv and Donetsk regions were cut off. In Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Sumy there are partial problems with power.” Zelensky shared this Telegram video of the alleged attack. Zelensky just one day earlier said Ukraine’s 30-plus years of independence will come down to 90 days of harsh winter in the region....