‘Oh my goodness, we made it!’: Couple from California barely escaped Ukraine with newborn

A man and woman with a baby in a blanket.
Jessie and Jacob Boeckmann with child Vivian.
(Boeckmann household)

Good morning, and welcome to the Important California publication. It’s Wednesday, March 2. I’m Justin Ray.

Russia’s assault on Ukraine has led to many unhappy updates. However I’m right here to let you know a narrative a few couple who made it safely again to their Costa Mesa residence after touring to Ukraine to choose up their new child daughter by a Ukrainian surrogate mom.

Reporter Cindy Carcamo just lately defined how Jessie and Jacob Boeckmann made a deadly escape to the Ukrainian-Polish border in 30-degree climate. Each 10 to twenty minutes, the couple checked to make it possible for Vivian, their days-old toddler, was heat sufficient and nonetheless respiration. On the time, the couple consistently questioned whether or not they made the appropriate resolution.

“What have I carried out to my candy angel?” Jessie, an ophthalmologist, thought to herself. “This could possibly be the worst resolution I’ve ever made.”

It was a difficult scenario from the starting. After waking as much as the sound of explosions Thursday morning, as Russian forces launched their invasion, the couple determined they needed to go away instantly.

The outbound journey grew to become a 27-hour ordeal. The story explains how the escape was troublesome as a result of scores of Ukrainian refugees and foreigners who had comparable plans to flee. The journey was additional sophisticated by the truth that the couple needed to hold an in depth eye on their little one as they confronted the bitter chilly.

Maybe essentially the most harrowing second befell once they received to the border.

“It was chaos. There wasn’t a line, solely three Ukrainian border guards with machine weapons. Males pushed. Youngsters cried. Girls screamed,” Carcamo writes. “Vivian began to cry. She was hungry. However the bag with the child components and water bottles had been with Jacob, on the opposite aspect of the barbed wire.”

Listed here are another current tales we’ve revealed in regards to the turmoil:

Three maps explaining the Russia-Ukraine battle. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Thursday. These maps inform the story.

The Occasions’ Lorraine Ali calls out a grim bias in Western media protection. When columnists and TV correspondents specific shock at European battle, they reveal a damning perception that warfare is suitable elsewhere, she writes.

Wish to assist Ukraine? These California organizations want your assist. Should you’re moved to assist, listed below are some organizations in California that proceed to assist folks within the nation below siege.

And now, right here’s what’s taking place throughout California:

Observe: A few of the websites we hyperlink to might restrict the variety of tales you'll be able to entry with out subscribing.

L.A. STORIES

Los Angeles County will most likely raise its common indoor masks mandate Friday. Whereas nothing is about in stone, the potential adjustments would align L.A. County’s masks guidelines with these unveiled Monday by the California Division of Public Well being, which means it could be strongly advisable — however not required — for each vaccinated and unvaccinated residents to put on masks in public indoor settings. Los Angeles Occasions

Contained in the ‘vicious’ feud tearing Playboy alumni aside. Almost 30 girls seem in “Secrets and techniques of Playboy,” a 10-episode docuseries that takes intention on the legacy of Hugh Hefner, the corporate’s late founder. Since premiering in January, the sequence has featured Hefner’s former lovers, colleagues and journal centerfolds making stunning allegations about Playboy and its creator. Los Angeles Occasions

A woman and a man
Sondra Theodore and Hugh Hefne
(Ron Galella/Ron Galella Assortment through Getty)

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Almost 200 Rocklin Unified College District educators referred to as in sick or took go away Monday, protesting the district’s defiance of state-imposed Ok-12 masks mandates. “Whereas there are various opinions on masking in our group and our faculties, the problem academics are most involved about is the dearth of respect for educators blatantly displayed by the RUSD Board of Trustees in making this transformation,” the Rocklin Lecturers Skilled Assn. stated in an announcement. Though Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new guidelines on classroom masking would appear to settle the disagreement, academics stay annoyed that the district’s resolution was made in a closed session as a substitute of a public assembly. Sacramento Bee

Why we turned the L.A. River right into a freeway (for water). Like different nice cities of the world, Los Angeles with out its river won't exist. Patt Morrison explains how the channel has supported — and in a single catastrophic incident, harmed — the town all through its historical past (the column additionally contains a fake IMDb itemizing for the river’s appearances in media). Los Angeles Occasions

A postcard reads: "Los Angeles River Valley from Scenic Point, Elysian Park, Mt. Lowe in the Distance"
The river, the railroad and a really completely different L.A. panorama than 2022 Angelenos are used to is seen on this classic postcard from Patt Morrison’s assortment.

CRIME, COURTS AND POLICING

Former combined martial arts heavyweight Cain Velasquez was arrested Monday on suspicion of tried homicide after a taking pictures within the Bay Space, authorities stated. Right here’s what we all know in regards to the case. Los Angeles Occasions

A testy custody battle and restraining order preceded a taking pictures Monday through which a 39-year-old man killed his three kids and one other particular person at a Sacramento-area church throughout a supervised go to, in line with courtroom information and county authorities. Los Angeles Occasions

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Man searching for firefighter who saved his life. On Feb. 8, former Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Karges walked right into a grocery retailer along with his buddy. He out of the blue felt sick. “I started to lose my sense of stability and handed out.” Karges quickly hit the ground and stopped respiration. A retired firefighter visiting from Sacramento who was simply leaving the shop gave him CPR and chest compressions that most likely helped break up the blood clot in his lungs and he was in a position to breathe once more. Now he’s looking for the retired firefighter whose fast motion saved his life to thank him. Redding Searchlight

Vehicles from L.A.’s port rumble down their tiny road day and night time. Residents have had it. “Diesel fumes dangle within the air. Filth desserts vehicles and windowsills. Outside conversations are strained, and residents marvel what occurred,” writes employees author Thomas Curwen. The overflow visitors stems from “a legacy of redlining, antiquated zoning ordinances, ageing infrastructure, and the ever-expanding ports” of Lengthy Seaside and L.A., and it “raises questions vital to issues of environmental justice, particularly in communities of shade.” Los Angeles Occasions

Trucks on a residential street.
Industrial truck visitors has elevated closely in an L.A. county neighborhood since 2019, when the earlier truck route was closed.
(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Occasions)

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

A beloved Fresno cookie maker is closing its doorways after 25 years. The house owners of Doug-Out Cookies stated in an announcement Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing shortages had taken their toll on enterprise. “We've not been in a position to sustain the standard of our services or products. We've had some fantastic, fantastic years and we need to thank all of our prospects for the privilege of serving them,” the assertion stated. Fresno Bee

Richard E. Weintraub, a developer who labored on the previous Cathedral of St. Vibiana in downtown L.A., has picked up Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman Home for $1.8 million. For Weintraub, the acquisition is a part of a long-running curiosity in early twentieth century design. “I’m obsessed with structure,” he says. “That was what I wished to be.” For USC’s College of Structure, the sale of the Freeman Home marks a continued shift away from the stewardship of personal properties. Los Angeles Occasions

A vintage color image from the 1950s shows an upward view of the textile block exterior of the Freeman House.
A view of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman Home within the Hollywood Hills, as photographed by Julius Shulman in 1953. Designed and constructed round 1924, it's certainly one of 4 textile block properties designed by Wright within the Los Angeles space that decade. Since 1986, it has been owned by USC, however the house is in want of an unlimited quantity of restore because it was broken within the Northridge earthquake in 1994.
(Julius Shulman / Getty Analysis Institute/J. Paul Getty Belief)

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CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles: Overcast, 81. San Diego: Overcast, 71. San Francisco: Overcast, 62. San Jose: Overcast, 73. Fresno: Overcast, 79. Sacramento: Overcast, 75. This musician expresses a lot emotion whereas singing and enjoying the piano.

AND FINALLY

At the moment’s California reminiscence is from Paul De Anda:

In March of 1979, my older brother Ronnie and I had been returning residence, to Somerton, Ariz., from Anaheim. Somerton is a small farming group that abuts Mexico and California and Ronnie would go to his soon-to-be spouse in Anaheim each two weeks. He would milk the go to to its final second, and we'd begin our return go to to Somerton round 11 p.m., figuring out that we'd arrive residence simply in time to alter into our work garments. We linked to Interstate 10 going south towards Indio when the track “Coronary heart of Glass” by Blondie began enjoying on the radio. It was a sound that was extraordinarily distinctive and in contrast to something I had heard earlier than. To today, I hyperlink the odor of the salt cedar timber that line the railroad tracks and California with this uniqueness.

You probably have a reminiscence or story in regards to the Golden State, share it with us. (Please hold your story to 100 phrases.)

Please tell us what we are able to do to make this article extra helpful to you. Ship feedback to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

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