Drones, Shootings, and Sunday's Biggest Stories

In this episode of The Morning Rundown, hosts Maya and David work through a dense news cycle spanning international conflict, American crime and culture, sports milestones, and the latest in wearable technology.

The episode opens with a full geopolitical briefing: Ukraine launched hundreds of drones deep into Russian territory, striking St. Petersburg for the second time in a week, hours after Putin addressed an economic forum there. The hosts unpack why the timing matters and connect the strike to Putin's rejection of a Zelenskyy meeting. They also examine the US proposal to use frozen Iranian assets to compensate Gulf allies for war-related damages, a plan David describes as legally creative but potentially precedent-setting. Fighting in southern Lebanon rounds out the international segment, with IDF soldiers killed and US involvement threading through each story.

On the domestic front, the episode covers a shooting at Toledo's Old West End Festival that left at least 12 people wounded with no suspects in custody. A federal judge dismissed the Kennedy Center's lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd, who had canceled a Christmas Eve performance after Trump's name was added to the building. And the recently completed Reflecting Pool overhaul is set to reopen, with President Trump pointing to the project as evidence of his broader vision for Washington, D.C.

The episode closes with lighter fare: 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva won the French Open and spoke candidly about battling her inner demons to claim the title. The US men's national soccer team dropped a 1-2 result to Germany in a World Cup tune-up, raising readiness questions ahead of a home tournament. And a Wall Street Journal head-to-head comparison of four major wearables left the hosts with no clear recommendation, which they embrace with characteristic honesty.

• Ukraine drones strike St. Petersburg for the second time in a week, framed as direct fallout from stalled diplomacy with Russia.
• Frozen Iranian assets may be redirected to compensate Gulf allies, a novel but potentially precedent-setting Treasury move.
• Federal judge dismisses Kennedy Center lawsuit against Chuck Redd, who canceled over the building's renaming under Trump.
• Mirra Andreeva wins the French Open at 19, offering a notably candid reflection on mental struggle in her post-match comments.
• US falls to Germany 1-2 in a pre-World Cup friendly, prompting pointed questions about the team's readiness as host nation.

Transcript

0:13

[Maya] Good morning,[Maya] and welcome to the Morning Rundown.[Maya] I'm here with David,[Maya] and we have a packed show for you today.[David] Yeah, no slow news day here. Not even close.[Maya] So first up, Ukraine launched hundreds of drones deep into Russia,[Maya] hitting St.[Maya] Petersburg for the second time in a week. This after Putin rejected a Zelenskyy meeting. So yeah.[David] Real productive diplomacy happening over there.[David] We're also getting into the U.S.[David] possibly using frozen Iranian assets to pay back Gulf allies for war damage.[David] The Treasury angle on that is interesting.[Maya] Right.[Maya] And fighting in southern Lebanon is still going,[Maya] with IDF soldiers killed.[Maya] A lot moving on the global front.[David] Then we shift gears to some American stories.[David] A festival shooting in Toledo left at least 12 people wounded,[David] suspects still out there,[David] and there's a wild legal story out of the Kennedy Center.[Maya] Oh, the jazz musician who said no thanks to performing under Trump's name?[Maya] A federal judge just ruled on that.[David] Yep. And Trump's Reflecting Pool overhaul is reopening.[David] He's calling it proof of his D.C. vision.[Maya] Then sports,[Maya] tech,[Maya] and a surprise music moment to close things out.[Maya] All right, let's get into it.[David] Let's go.[Maya] All right,[Maya] St.[Maya] Petersburg.[Maya] Not the one in Florida,[Maya] the one in Russia.[Maya] Ukraine hit it with drones,[Maya] and this was not a small operation.[David] Yeah,[David] The Guardian is reporting hundreds of drones fired into Russia overnight Saturday.[David] One person killed,[David] an oil depot on fire,[David] and multiple strikes on St.[David] Petersburg itself.[Maya] Wait,[Maya] St.[Maya] Petersburg?[Maya] That's not a frontline city.[Maya] That's deep inside Russia.[Maya] Putin was literally just speaking at an economic forum there.[David] hours before the strikes landed,[David] and the New York Times confirmed this was the second Ukrainian attack on the city in less than a week.[Maya] That's wild,[Maya] right?[Maya] Like, strategically,[Maya] Kyiv is not just playing defense anymore.

[David] And note the timing: 2:12

[David] according to The Guardian,[David] this came one day after Putin flat-out rejected Zelenskyy's proposal for a direct meeting.[David] So Ukraine's answer was basically,[David] okay,[David] here's our response.[Maya] Diplomacy by drone.[David] Essentially.[David] And Ukraine's SBU security services said they hit a naval base as part of the strike package,[David] so this wasn't random targeting.[Maya] Here's the thing, though.[Maya] The more Ukraine extends its range,[Maya] the more the pressure falls on its backers,[Maya] and that connects to something else that dropped today.[David] And the Iranian assets story.[Maya] Right.[Maya] 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.[Maya] image tied to Iran.[David] A source familiar with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's thinking confirmed it to CBS.[David] And the Financial Times had the same story.[Maya] So the idea is basically we're not asking Congress for more money, we're using assets we already seized from Iran to compensate allies.[David] Hmm.[David] On one hand,[David] that's kind of elegant.[David] You use the aggressor's own frozen funds to repair the damage they caused.[Maya] On the other hand, those assets were frozen for a reason.[Maya] and redirecting them sets a precedent.[David] Who decides where the money goes and for what?[David] That's not a small question.[David] Follow the money on this one because it gets complicated fast.[Maya] And it's also worth noting this isn't totally separate from the Ukraine picture.[Maya] The U.S. is trying to support multiple allies simultaneously without writing unlimited checks.[Maya] The Iranian assets angle is one way around that problem.[David] Which is smart budgeting or creative accounting depending on how you look at it.[David] Got it.[Maya] Right.[Maya] Meanwhile,[Maya] southern Lebanon is still hot.[Maya] The Times of Israel is reporting two IDF soldiers were killed in separate incidents as fighting against Hezbollah drags on.[David] This is not a ceasefire situation in practice.[David] Israeli strikes also killed Lebanese army officers this week. The AP and BBC both covered that.[Maya] So we've got three active or semi-active conflict zones all intersecting in some way. Ukraine.[Maya] the aftermath of the Iran war in the Gulf,[Maya] and southern Lebanon,[Maya] and the U.S. is somewhere in all three conversations.[David] Good morning, everyone.[Maya] Seriously.[Maya] And here's what I keep coming back to.[Maya] All of these situations involve governments and powerful institutions making expensive,[Maya] complicated decisions under real pressure.[Maya] And that doesn't stop at the border.[David] No,[David] it doesn't. Back home, there are stories this weekend that hit a lot closer to the ground.[Speaker 3] round and some of them raise pretty similar questions about institutions,[Speaker 3] pressure and who ends up paying for it.[Maya] So when governments and powerful institutions act fast under pressure,[Maya] how often do they actually get it right?[Maya] Closer to home now,[Maya] Toledo,[Maya] Ohio had a really rough Saturday.[Maya] NPR and CNN are both reporting that gunfire broke out near the Old West End Festival at around 5.30 in the afternoon,[Maya] wounding at least 12 people.[David] A festival,[David] people out enjoying the day.[Maya] Exactly.[Maya] And hours later,[Maya] no suspects in custody.[Maya] Toledo's Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan was asking anyone who witnessed it to come forward.[Maya] just a chaotic, scary scene.[Speaker 3] You know what makes it worse?[Speaker 3] People at the festival were scrambling for cover,[Speaker 3] and some were rushing toward victims to help.[Speaker 3] That dual reaction every time.[Maya] Yeah, every time.[Maya] And we just don't have a lot more than that right now.[Maya] It's still developing,[Maya] suspects still at large,[Maya] so we'll keep an eye on it.[Speaker 3] Twelve people at a festival.[Speaker 3] I hope they're all okay.[Maya] Same.[Maya] Okay,[Maya] so shifting gears a bit, there's a story out of Washington that has some real irony baked into it.[Speaker 3] Oh, the Kennedy Center thing?[Maya] Yes, 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.[Maya] His reason?[Maya] Trump's name had been added to the building.[Speaker 3] Right,[Speaker 3] and the Kennedy Center sued him for it.[Maya] They did,[Maya] and a federal judge just tossed the lawsuit,[Maya] sided with Redd.[Speaker 3] So he cancelled,[Speaker 3] they sued,[Speaker 3] and they lost.[Maya] That's basically the whole story,[Maya] yeah.

[Speaker 3] Here's the thing, though: 6:17

[Speaker 3] I get that the judge ruled in his favor,[Speaker 3] but from a pure contract standpoint,

[Speaker 3] this is interesting: 6:22

[Speaker 3] you can't just cancel a paid gig because you don't like who the building's named after.[Maya] Well,[Maya] the judge apparently thought otherwise,[Maya] or at least found enough grounds to toss the suit.[Speaker 3] Which,

[Speaker 3] Okay; but I do think there's a broader point here: 6:34

[Speaker 3] you sign a contract,[Speaker 3] you perform.[Speaker 3] The political atmosphere doesn't automatically get you out of it.[Speaker 3] That principle matters regardless of who's in office.[Maya] I mean, I see both sides a little bit.[Maya] The name change was genuinely controversial.[Maya] But yeah, walking away from a signed contract and then expecting zero consequences?[Maya] That's a stretch.[Speaker 3] And the Kennedy Center found that out the hard way too, I guess.[Speaker 3] Filed the suit and got nothing for it.[Maya] Not a great look for anyone involved.[Maya] Involved, honestly.[David] No.[Maya] And then there's the Reflecting Pool.[Maya] The Washington Post has a piece on Trump's Oval Office comments this week.[Maya] He called the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool overhaul, and I'm quoting here,[Maya] a 2,000-foot-long example of his plan to beautify the capital.[David] Two thousand feet?[Maya] He also said, and this is a direct quote,[Maya] I'm very good at building things and constructing things.[Speaker 3] I mean, he has a point.[Speaker 3] Love him or not, the man's been in construction his whole life.[Maya] The project is supposed to reopen this weekend.[Maya] He says it fixed a years-long leaking problem,[Maya] but preservation groups aren't thrilled with how fast it all moved.[Speaker 3] That's kind of his whole approach to D.C., right?[Speaker 3] Move fast, worry about the process criticism later.[Maya] Pretty much. Whether you like the results or not,[Maya] things are getting done.[Speaker 3] File that away,[Speaker 3] because that pattern keeps showing up.[Maya] It really does.[Maya] Alright,[Maya] on that note,[Maya] not everything this weekend is a loss or a lawsuit.[Maya] There's actually some genuinely good news in sports and culture.[Maya] A 19-year-old just made history at the French Open,[Maya] and the wearable tech wars,[Maya] oh,[Maya] they are heating up.[Speaker 3] Yeah,[Speaker 3] I want to talk about those fitness trackers.[Maya] Same.[Maya] Let's get into it.[Maya] All right,[Maya] shifting gears to something a little lighter to close this out.[Speaker 3] Yes,[Speaker 3] please.[Maya] So Mirra Andreeva won the French Open yesterday.[Maya] 19 years old and AP News quoted her saying she had to overcome so many demons inside to get there.[Speaker 3] That's a lot of pressure to carry onto a court.[Maya] Right?[Maya] She burst onto the tour at 15.[Maya] Four years of being this prodigy, everyone watching,[Maya] and she f-[Maya] she finally gets through it,[Maya] beat Maja Chwalinska in the final,[Maya] 6-3,[Maya] 6-2,[Maya] she just dropped to her knees on the clay.[Speaker 3] AP also noted she's the youngest women's singles winner at Roland Garros since nineteen ninety two.[Speaker 3] That's not a small footnote.[Maya] Not at all![Maya] There's something about watching a nineteen year old talk openly about mental struggle and then go win a Grand Slam.[Maya] That's the story.[Speaker 3] Speaking of things that are a little harder to celebrate.[Speaker 3] The US lost to Germany yesterday,[Speaker 3] one to two.[Maya] Oh no![Speaker 3] According to ESPN's game analysis,[Speaker 3] it's a friendly,[Speaker 3] technically, but we're hosting the World Cup next year and that result stings.[Maya] I mean, the host nation losing to Germany in a tune-up is not ideal optics.[Speaker 3] It's fine, it's fine, these are just friendlies.[Speaker 3] Someone will say that.[Maya] Someone is definitely saying that right now.[Speaker 3] And 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.[Speaker 3] A little urgency wouldn't hurt.[Maya] Fair.[Maya] Okay,[Maya] last one.[Maya] The WSJ ran a wearable tech shootout,[Maya] and it is exactly the kind of thing I didn't know I needed this morning.[Speaker 3] Wait,[Speaker 3] how many are we talking?[Maya] Oura Ring 5,[Maya] Fitbit Air,[Maya] Whoop Band,[Maya] and Apple Watch,[Maya] all compared head-to-head.[Speaker 3] And?[Maya] I mean, it's genuinely hard to pick.[Maya] They're all tracking sleep,[Maya] recovery,[Maya] heart rate.[Maya] The Oura ring is the only one that's off your wrist entirely,[Maya] which some people love.[Speaker 3] I've always been curious about the ring.[Speaker 3] You basically forget you're wearing it.[Maya] Unless you're doing dishes.[Speaker 3] Fair point.[Maya] The Apple Watch still wins on ecosystem if you're already deep in Apple,[Maya] but Whoop the one athlete's swear by for recovery data.[Speaker 3] So the answer is it depends on what you're actually trying to track.[Maya] Which is both the most useful and annoying answer possible.[Speaker 3] That tracks.[Maya] Okay,[Maya] that's your sports, tech,[Maya] and a little bit of human triumph for the morning.

[Maya] That's the rundown for today: 10:47

[Maya] three conflict zones,[Maya] a festival shooting,[Maya] a court case involving jazz and presidential naming rights.[Speaker 3] And somehow,[Speaker 3] Jerome striking St. Petersburg hours after Putin gave a speech there.[Speaker 3] I mean, come on, the timing on that.[Speaker 3] Right.[Maya] Yeah.[Speaker 3] Yeah.[Maya] If today taught us anything,[Maya] it's that the world doesn't wait around.[Speaker 3] No, it really doesn't.[Maya] Thanks for spending your morning with us.[Maya] If you're getting something out of this,[Maya] please subscribe and leave us a review.[Maya] you"[Maya] helps more than you think.[Speaker 3] Seriously,[Speaker 3] it means a lot.[Speaker 3] We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the world throws at us next.[Maya] And that's the Rundown.[Maya] Take care, everyone.