The Trump Administration Subpoenas a Journalist’s Mom’s Phone Records; the Iran War Gets Deadlier–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: July 20, 2026

Indy Digest: July 20, 2026

In the interest of full transparency, you should know today’s Indy Digest is being written by a cranky person.

I’ve spent a chunk of the day dealing with someone who’s unhappy with a story we did. We were accused of being bad journalists—of misquotes and such—even though the story is fact-checked and accurate. The complainer just doesn’t like some of the things in the story.

Grr.

Then I read a piece by The New York Times, which made me even crankier. Here’s the lede (gift link):

The Trump administration sought the phone records of several New York Times journalists and their relatives—including one reporter’s mother—in its effort to unmask the confidential sources who had provided information for articles about the security capabilities of President Trump’s new Air Force One jet.

The Justice Department told The Times late last week that it had issued subpoenas to third-party phone service providers seeking several journalists’ phone and text messaging records. That effort was in addition to the subpoenas issued on July 10 that sought to compel reporters to testify before a federal grand jury.

The government’s actions amount to an extraordinarily aggressive and unorthodox attempt by the Trump administration to unearth the confidential sources of independent journalists whose reporting had angered the president.

The additional subpoenas—which also sought information about calls and messages on the phones of two of the reporters’ spouses—were described in a motion filed on Saturday by lawyers for The Times, which is seeking to quash the requests. The motion was unsealed on Monday morning by Judge Arun Subramanian of U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

They subpoenaed a reporter’s mother’s phone records. Ugh.

This piece also made Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) chief of advocacy Seth Stern rather cranky. He said:

“Even the Mafia says families are off limits. It’s gross that the administration—in its never-ending effort to harass and intimidate reporters who reveal its incompetence—is going after the communications of journalists’ relatives.

“The administration’s own guidelines say pursuing journalists is a last resort. But instead, it’s looking for any excuse to snoop on reporters and their relatives, because this has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with chilling journalism. They’re even seeking records from months before the report they claim they’re investigating.

“The Times’ reporting actually bolstered national security by ensuring that Trump and those who travel with him, including journalists, aren’t flying on an unsafe plane to serve the president’s personal vanity. Trump’s hangers-on should be sending the Times thank-you cards, not subpoenas.”

Bleh.

If you encounter a journalist, give them a big ol’ hug, please.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• The mess in Iran—which, as a reminder, was started by the Trump administration—is getting U.S. soldiers killed and hurt, and the feds are being far from transparent regarding these injuries. The Washington Post reports (gift link): “The Pentagon said Monday that nearly 100 U.S. troops have been injured in the war with Iran over the last two weeks, underscoring the significance of Tehran’s strikes on U.S. military installations across the region since negotiations to end the conflict collapsed. The disclosure came as the U.S. military identified two U.S. soldiers who were killed in a fatal attack on Friday night, and after the Trump administration for days declined to detail how many U.S. service members have been injured recently. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, said on social media that ‘nearly 100 service members were deemed to have some degree of injury since July 7,’ with 96 percent of those since returning to duty. … Parnell said further updates would be posted to an online Pentagon database that was stagnant for days if not weeks, showing 14 troops dead and 427 troops injured since the beginning of the war on Feb. 28. On Monday evening, it was updated to reflect that 18 service members have died and 447 have been injured since the beginning of the war on Feb. 28. It was not clear whether those figures include all recent injuries.

• And now, here’s your explosive diarrhea update, compliments of The Associated Press: “Federal health officials said Monday they remain focused on lettuce from Taylor Farms as the source of a multistate outbreak of a diarrhea-causing parasite, despite inaccurate test results that the government briefly publicized over the weekend. Food and Drug Administration officials on Monday said a laboratory test incorrectly identified a positive result for cyclospora on a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms. The FDA posted the finding to its website on Saturday but then said Sunday that the result had been a false positive. Federal and state authorities have been investigating a rise in cases of the parasite, initially linking the outbreak in five states to lettuce served at Taco Bell locations. On Saturday, Taylor Farms announced it was recalling 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products sold under eight different brand codes. The products are used by a number of U.S. food chains and suppliers. ‘FDA’s traceback investigation and the outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms’ locations in central Mexico,’ FDA’s acting food chief, Donald Prater, told reporters on Monday.”

• Headlines like this one from the Los Angeles Times make me nervous: “The San Andreas fault has gone ominously silent. Scientists fear when it finally snaps.” Eek. Details: “The San Andreas is central to any discussion of California. It’s the massive 800-mile spine of the state, trundling up the Coachella Valley to the San Gabriel Mountains, and pushing along the edge of Silicon Valley to beyond the Golden Gate. There is no simple answer for why California’s longest fault, responsible for some of America’s most powerful earthquakes, has produced so few in the last century. But it is clear that the quiet period is only increasing strain on the San Andreas, as well as on the state’s second-longest fault, the San Jacinto. A new study underscores the concern. Researchers estimated that key sections of the fault in Southern California are at their highest level of tectonic strain in the last 1,000 years. The San Andreas, in other words, is locked, loaded and inevitable.”

• The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is on hold for now. NPR explains: “Paramount’s owners were planning to have secured firm control of Hollywood rival Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of this week in a blockbuster deal that has the blessing of President Trump’s Justice Department. A federal judge has instead ground the process to a halt, at least for now. And her ruling on Monday in response to a lawsuit filed by a dozen states suggests Paramount may have some tough sledding ahead in order to get the deal through. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a 14-day temporary restraining order to pause the acquisition. The Democratic attorneys general allege that Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros. would reduce competition, hurting filmgoers along with TV and news consumers and especially those who create entertainment programming and the news content that the public relies on. The $111 billion deal would put under the same corporate roof Paramount’s and Warner’s movie and television studios, streamers Paramount+ and HBO Max, Paramount’s CBS (the nation’s most watched broadcast outlet), and 50 cable TV channels, not to mention both CBS News and CNN.”

• The state is cracking down on power companies’ ability to turn off power when it’s dangerously hot. Our partners at Calmatters report: “California regulators concluded more than a year ago that rules protecting delinquent customers from power shutoffs during heat waves weren’t strong enough. They ordered the state’s largest utilities to come up with better safeguards. When the utilities unveiled their plan in December, their proposals barely changed anything, the commission concluded on Thursday, finding their proposal ‘does not offer sufficient health protections for ratepayers.’ The commission had set a May 1 deadline for the new rules. Utilities missed it, and consumer advocates filed emergency motions to force action. As another stretch of dangerous heat gripped the state, the California Public Utilities Commission wrote stronger rules itself. In a 4-0 vote, the commission lowered the temperature at which utilities must stop shutting off power to delinquent customers, from 100 to 90 degrees, and ordered utilities to adopt a more protective, region-specific heat standard within six months.”

• And finally … today’s recall news (non-explosive-diarrhea category) involves … toaster ovens! USA Today reports: “Panasonic is recalling nearly 11,500 electronic toasters sold on its website, Costco’s online shop, Amazon and other online retailers nationwide. According to the notice published July 16 on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website, a faulty power cord on the toaster poses a risk of shock and/or fire hazard. … Panasonic issued a recall notice July 16 for its model number NB-G200 electric toaster oven. They were sold from October 2024 through April 2026, and cost roughly $170 each.”

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