California residents don’t need math and data to tell them that this July was scorching hot, but the latest numbers may help paint a picture.

According to new figures from the National Centers for Environmental Information, this July was the hottest month ever recorded in the state of California by average temperature.

The average temperature in California was 81.7 degrees last month, marking the first time an entire month averaged a temperature that was more than 80 degrees. The average was seven degrees more than the typical July, according to the NCEI.

The NCEI data tracks back as far as 1895.

The new record surpassed the previous high of 79.8 degrees from July 2023. Each of the other top five hottest months in the history of the state was also in July — 2018, 1931 and 2006.

July was a month in which several California cities also set records for their heat. Palm Springs, tucked away in Riverside County’s desert, had its hottest all-time day on July 5 when it reached a scorching 124 degrees.

Needles, the Route 66 town nestled adjacent to the Arizona-California border, was the warmest city in the U.S. last month, surpassing Phoenix for the crown.

Governor Gavin Newsom is putting pressure on local cities and counties to comply with an order to dismantle homeless encampments across the state.

On Thursday afternoon, Newsom was seen clearing an encampment under the 5 Freeway in Mission Hills alongside Caltrans crews.

The executive order, signed on July 25, followed a recent Supreme Court decision giving local governments the authority to remove encampments and ticket people for camping in public. 

The order urged officials to “address unsanitary and dangerous encampments within their communities and provide people experiencing homelessness in the encampments with the care and supportive services they need.”

The issue spans 88 cities in Los Angeles County, which has a combined homeless population of over 75,000 people. 

The state of California has an estimated 180,000 unhoused people which is roughly one-third of the nation’s total homeless population.

Newsom called on California officials to “act with urgency to address dangerous encampments.” In a post on X, he said, “No more excuses. We’ve provided the time. We’ve provided the funds. Now it’s time for locals to do their job.”

Agencies are urged to prioritize clearing encampments after providing advance notice. While Newsom can’t force local authorities to act, his administration can apply pressure by withholding money and resources from counties and cities that fail to cooperate.

Some local officials, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, have criticized the move, saying that citing or arresting people in encampments is not a solution if doing so unfairly criminalizes them.

“My position has and continues to be that I do not believe the criminalization of homelessness is the right path,” said L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “I find it almost ludicrous to think that we’re going to issue $250 tickets to individuals who are unhoused who are then going to get another ticket and another ticket and then have a warrant out for their arrest…and for what?” 

Under Newsom, the state has invested over $40 billion to boost affordable housing and over $27 billion to address homelessness. 

“This is not about criminalization,” Newsom said on Thursday. “What’s criminal is neglecting people who are struggling, suffering and dying on our watch. We need local government to step up. This is a crisis. The state’s unprecedented billions of dollars of support? I’m not interested in providing that support and not seeing the results. I’m a taxpayer, not just the governor. It’s not complicated. We’ll send that money to counties that are producing results.”

The full text of Newsom’s executive order can be read here. 

A woman has been arrested and faces charges in the death of a newborn baby girl whose body was found inside a dumpster 37 years ago in Southern California.

The baby’s body was found on Oct. 13, 1987, by a man rummaging for recyclables in a dumpster behind a business on the 5400 block of La Sierra Avenue in Riverside.

The newborn’s death was ruled a homicide by the Riverside County Coroner’s Office and although the Riverside Police Department investigated the case, “all leads were exhausted and a suspect was not identified.”

The investigation was eventually closed until the Police Department formed a homicide cold case unit in 2020 and a new generation of detectives began looking into the child’s death.

Through modern DNA technology, detectives were able to identify the baby’s mother as 55-year-old Melissa Jean Allen Avila.

Avila was 19 at the time of the baby’s death.

After she was identified, local police worked with the U.S. Marshals Service to locate Avila, who had since left Riverside County and California altogether.

She was eventually located in Shelby, North Carolina, and was arrested by local authorities for murder. On Monday, she was brought back to Riverside County to face charges for killing her daughter.

She’s currently housed at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and is being held on $1.1 million bail.

Avila is due in court on Sept. 9, at which point she is expected to be charged with first-degree murder.

Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said his department and the detectives working cold cases are dedicated to “seeking justice for homicide victims and ensuring their families find closure.”

The Riverside Police Department also said the arrest would not have been possible without help from law enforcement partners across the state and nation, as well as the nonprofit organization Season of Justice, which helped fund the DNA analysis that ultimately led to the identification of the newborn baby and the person accused in her death.

“This victim now has an identity, bringing resolution to the case,” Gonzalez said.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the 1987 homicide or the suspect is urged to contact the RPD Homicide Cold Case Unit by email or by calling 951-320-8000.

Detectives say they do not have any reason to believe the baby’s biological father has any “criminal culpability in the murder.”

To read more of the cold case homicides in the Riverside area that remain unsolved, click here.

In 2001, California passed the Safe Arms for Newborns law which allows a parent or legal guardian to confidentially surrender a newborn, three days or younger, any hospital emergency room or fire station.

If the baby has not suffered abuse or neglect, that person may surrender the child without fear of arrest or prosecutions, police officials said.

For more information about these safe surrender sites, as well as additional resources for parents in need, visit the California Department of Social Services website.