Drones, Shootings, and Sunday's Biggest Stories

MayaGood morning, and welcome to the Morning Rundown. I'm here with David, and we have a packed show for you today.

DavidYeah, no slow news day here. Not even close.

MayaSo first up, Ukraine launched hundreds of drones deep into Russia, hitting St. Petersburg for the second time in a week. This after Putin rejected a Zelenskyy meeting. So yeah.

DavidReal productive diplomacy happening over there. We're also getting into the U.S. possibly using frozen Iranian assets to pay back Gulf allies for war damage. The Treasury angle on that is interesting.

MayaRight. And fighting in southern Lebanon is still going, with IDF soldiers killed. A lot moving on the global front.

DavidThen we shift gears to some American stories. A festival shooting in Toledo left at least 12 people wounded, suspects still out there, and there's a wild legal story out of the Kennedy Center.

MayaOh, the jazz musician who said no thanks to performing under Trump's name? A federal judge just ruled on that.

DavidYep. And Trump's Reflecting Pool overhaul is reopening. He's calling it proof of his D.C. vision.

MayaThen sports, tech, and a surprise music moment to close things out. All right, let's get into it.

DavidLet's go.

MayaAll right, St. Petersburg. Not the one in Florida, the one in Russia. Ukraine hit it with drones, and this was not a small operation.

DavidYeah, The Guardian is reporting hundreds of drones fired into Russia overnight Saturday. One person killed, an oil depot on fire, and multiple strikes on St. Petersburg itself.

MayaWait, St. Petersburg? That's not a frontline city. That's deep inside Russia. Putin was literally just speaking at an economic forum there.

Davidhours before the strikes landed, and the New York Times confirmed this was the second Ukrainian attack on the city in less than a week.

MayaThat's wild, right? Like, strategically, Kyiv is not just playing defense anymore.

DavidAnd note the timing: according to The Guardian, this came one day after Putin flat-out rejected Zelenskyy's proposal for a direct meeting. So Ukraine's answer was basically, okay, here's our response.

MayaDiplomacy by drone.

DavidEssentially. And Ukraine's SBU security services said they hit a naval base as part of the strike package, so this wasn't random targeting.

MayaHere's the thing, though. The more Ukraine extends its range, the more the pressure falls on its backers, and that connects to something else that dropped today.

DavidAnd the Iranian assets story.

MayaRight. So CBS News is reporting that the Treasury Department is planning to use frozen Iranian assets to help U.S. Gulf allies recover from war damage. image tied to Iran.

DavidA source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's thinking confirmed it to CBS. And the Financial Times had the same story.

MayaSo the idea is basically we're not asking Congress for more money, we're using assets we already seized from Iran to compensate allies.

DavidHmm. On one hand, that's kind of elegant. You use the aggressor's own frozen funds to repair the damage they caused.

MayaOn the other hand, those assets were frozen for a reason. and redirecting them sets a precedent.

DavidWho decides where the money goes and for what? That's not a small question. Follow the money on this one because it gets complicated fast.

MayaAnd it's also worth noting this isn't totally separate from the Ukraine picture. The U.S. is trying to support multiple allies simultaneously without writing unlimited checks. The Iranian assets angle is one way around that problem.

DavidWhich is smart budgeting or creative accounting depending on how you look at it. Got it.

MayaRight. Meanwhile, southern Lebanon is still hot. The Times of Israel is reporting two IDF soldiers were killed in separate incidents as fighting against Hezbollah drags on.

DavidThis is not a ceasefire situation in practice. Israeli strikes also killed Lebanese army officers this week. The AP and BBC both covered that.

MayaSo we've got three active or semi-active conflict zones all intersecting in some way. Ukraine. the aftermath of the Iran war in the Gulf, and southern Lebanon, and the U.S. is somewhere in all three conversations.

DavidGood morning, everyone.

MayaSeriously. And here's what I keep coming back to. All of these situations involve governments and powerful institutions making expensive, complicated decisions under real pressure. And that doesn't stop at the border.

DavidNo, it doesn't. Back home, there are stories this weekend that hit a lot closer to the ground.

Speaker 3round and some of them raise pretty similar questions about institutions, pressure and who ends up paying for it.

MayaSo when governments and powerful institutions act fast under pressure, how often do they actually get it right? Closer to home now, Toledo, Ohio had a really rough Saturday. NPR and CNN are both reporting that gunfire broke out near the Old West End Festival at around 5.30 in the afternoon, wounding at least 12 people.

DavidA festival, people out enjoying the day.

MayaExactly. And hours later, no suspects in custody. Toledo's Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan was asking anyone who witnessed it to come forward. just a chaotic, scary scene.

Speaker 3You know what makes it worse? People at the festival were scrambling for cover, and some were rushing toward victims to help. That dual reaction every time.

MayaYeah, every time. And we just don't have a lot more than that right now. It's still developing, suspects still at large, so we'll keep an eye on it.

Speaker 3Twelve people at a festival. I hope they're all okay.

MayaSame. Okay, so shifting gears a bit, there's a story out of Washington that has some real irony baked into it.

Speaker 3Oh, the Kennedy Center thing?

MayaYes, so the New York Times covered this. A jazz musician named Chuck Redd canceled a Christmas Eve concert at the Kennedy Center back in 2025. His reason? Trump's name had been added to the building.

Speaker 3Right, and the Kennedy Center sued him for it.

MayaThey did, and a federal judge just tossed the lawsuit, sided with Redd.

Speaker 3So he cancelled, they sued, and they lost.

MayaThat's basically the whole story, yeah.

Speaker 3Here's the thing, though: I get that the judge ruled in his favor, but from a pure contract standpoint, this is interesting: you can't just cancel a paid gig because you don't like who the building's named after.

MayaWell, the judge apparently thought otherwise, or at least found enough grounds to toss the suit.

Speaker 3Which, Okay; but I do think there's a broader point here: you sign a contract, you perform. The political atmosphere doesn't automatically get you out of it. That principle matters regardless of who's in office.

MayaI mean, I see both sides a little bit. The name change was genuinely controversial. But yeah, walking away from a signed contract and then expecting zero consequences? That's a stretch.

Speaker 3And the Kennedy Center found that out the hard way too, I guess. Filed the suit and got nothing for it.

MayaNot a great look for anyone involved. Involved, honestly.

DavidNo.

MayaAnd then there's the Reflecting Pool. The Washington Post has a piece on Trump's Oval Office comments this week. He called the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool overhaul, and I'm quoting here, a 2,000-foot-long example of his plan to beautify the capital.

DavidTwo thousand feet?

MayaHe also said, and this is a direct quote, I'm very good at building things and constructing things.

Speaker 3I mean, he has a point. Love him or not, the man's been in construction his whole life.

MayaThe project is supposed to reopen this weekend. He says it fixed a years-long leaking problem, but preservation groups aren't thrilled with how fast it all moved.

Speaker 3That's kind of his whole approach to D.C., right? Move fast, worry about the process criticism later.

MayaPretty much. Whether you like the results or not, things are getting done.

Speaker 3File that away, because that pattern keeps showing up.

MayaIt really does. Alright, on that note, not everything this weekend is a loss or a lawsuit. There's actually some genuinely good news in sports and culture. A 19-year-old just made history at the French Open, and the wearable tech wars, oh, they are heating up.

Speaker 3Yeah, I want to talk about those fitness trackers.

MayaSame. Let's get into it. All right, shifting gears to something a little lighter to close this out.

Speaker 3Yes, please.

MayaSo Mirra Andreeva won the French Open yesterday. 19 years old and AP News quoted her saying she had to overcome so many demons inside to get there.

Speaker 3That's a lot of pressure to carry onto a court.

MayaRight? She burst onto the tour at 15. Four years of being this prodigy, everyone watching, and she f- she finally gets through it, beat Maja Chwalinska in the final, 6-3, 6-2, she just dropped to her knees on the clay.

Speaker 3AP also noted she's the youngest women's singles winner at Roland Garros since nineteen ninety two. That's not a small footnote.

MayaNot at all! There's something about watching a nineteen year old talk openly about mental struggle and then go win a Grand Slam. That's the story.

Speaker 3Speaking of things that are a little harder to celebrate. The US lost to Germany yesterday, one to two.

MayaOh no!

Speaker 3According to ESPN's game analysis, it's a friendly, technically, but we're hosting the World Cup next year and that result stings.

MayaI mean, the host nation losing to Germany in a tune-up is not ideal optics.

Speaker 3It's fine, it's fine, these are just friendlies. Someone will say that.

MayaSomeone is definitely saying that right now.

Speaker 3And I get it. But Germany's good, and the US still has to figure out some things before that tournament kicks off on home soil. A little urgency wouldn't hurt.

MayaFair. Okay, last one. The WSJ ran a wearable tech shootout, and it is exactly the kind of thing I didn't know I needed this morning.

Speaker 3Wait, how many are we talking?

MayaOura Ring 5, Fitbit Air, Whoop Band, and Apple Watch, all compared head-to-head.

Speaker 3And?

MayaI mean, it's genuinely hard to pick. They're all tracking sleep, recovery, heart rate. The Oura ring is the only one that's off your wrist entirely, which some people love.

Speaker 3I've always been curious about the ring. You basically forget you're wearing it.

MayaUnless you're doing dishes.

Speaker 3Fair point.

MayaThe Apple Watch still wins on ecosystem if you're already deep in Apple, but Whoop the one athlete's swear by for recovery data.

Speaker 3So the answer is it depends on what you're actually trying to track.

MayaWhich is both the most useful and annoying answer possible.

Speaker 3That tracks.

MayaOkay, that's your sports, tech, and a little bit of human triumph for the morning. That's the rundown for today: three conflict zones, a festival shooting, a court case involving jazz and presidential naming rights.

Speaker 3And somehow, Jerome striking St. Petersburg hours after Putin gave a speech there. I mean, come on, the timing on that. Right.

MayaYeah.

Speaker 3Yeah.

MayaIf today taught us anything, it's that the world doesn't wait around.

Speaker 3No, it really doesn't.

MayaThanks for spending your morning with us. If you're getting something out of this, please subscribe and leave us a review. you" helps more than you think.

Speaker 3Seriously, it means a lot. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the world throws at us next.

MayaAnd that's the Rundown. Take care, everyone.