'End of an era' — expats and San Diegans mourn Queen Elizabeth II

S1: Reaction to Queen Elizabeth's passing.

S2: I know that her death brings great sadness , and I share that sense of loss with you all.

S1: I'm Jade Hindman. This is KPBS Midday Edition. A close look at conditions that led to a death inside an El Cajon nursing home.

S3: With the persons refusing to take their medication and you suspect they could become violent. You have an absolute duty to the other residents to discharge that patient to protect the rest of your patients.

S1: And we take you around town to this weekend's art scene. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Today , British subjects across the globe awoke to a king , a first in 70 years , the death of Queen Elizabeth , the second , Britain's longest reigning monarch marks a seismic shift for the country and passing of the crown to her son , King Charles , the third. He spoke publicly this morning for the first time since her death.

S2: In her life of service. We saw that abiding love of tradition together with that fearless embrace of progress , which makes us great as nations. The affection , admiration and respect she inspired became the hallmark of her reign. And as every member of my family can testify , she combined these qualities with warmth , humor and an unerring ability always to see the best in people. I paid tribute to my mother's memory , and I honor her life of service. I know that her death brings great sadness to so many of you , and I share that sense of loss beyond measure with you all.

S1: For people in the U.K. , the queen is omnipresent. Her face is on the money stamps on the sides of buildings and in people's homes. California has its own connection to the Queen , along with hundreds of thousands of British expats. Prince Harry , Duke of Sussex , his wife , Meghan Markle , Duchess of Sussex , and their two children now live in California. We wanted to hear reaction to the queen's death from former Britons living right here. So we reached out to Craig Tolson , president of the House of England at Balboa Park's Hall of Nations. Craig , welcome to Midday Edition. Hi.

S3: Hi. Thank you for having me.

S1:

S3: She's been on the throne 70 years , so everybody's grown up with her as pretty much almost a part of our family as well. So it's going to take some getting used to.

S1:

S3: When I was growing up back home , the Jubilee parties , then obviously everybody's reaching out for the money and the stamps and her face is always there. So very hard to avoid.

S1: Queen Elizabeth was monarch for 70 years , beginning just after World War Two , and for many people , she represented stability.

S3: It was always a big TV audience to watch that , just being in the public eye a lot and for such a long time , 70 years. She basically came on the throne before the broadcast of TV. She was just everywhere. And then I think not only in Britain or university , like across the globe , we got a lot of visitors in the cottage from different nations. Always the royal display is always one of the most popular ones there. So to go down in history as the most popular queen of all time.

S1: The Queen died just days after appointing a new Prime Minister , Liz Truss , to lead Parliament. But the power of the monarchy is largely ceremonial.

S3: You get the annual royal gala event. People used to come and watch things like the trooping , the colour. There was the Jubilee Party just a few months ago. She was just a steadying power , despite all the political change and things like that. So regardless of anybody's political views , whichever side of the fence she sat on , I think she got a lot of respect.

S1: And Queen Elizabeth's eldest son is now known as King Charles the third.

S3: I notice a lot of people have different opinions about him. You know , obviously , Diana was a popular figure , tragically lost her. So people have questioned his private life of his marriage , but only time will tell. I think like with anybody new , you just got to give him a chance , the benefit of the doubt and hopefully things will be okay and can just keep carrying on.

S1: I mean , there's been some talk and suggestion that new King Charles , now 73 , could or even should abdicate so that the younger Prince William can assume the throne.

S3: You know , I understand , you know , a lot of people would like to see William became part of it. He and his wife and his children do purvey the image of a , you know , a steady family , no internal squabbles rather than somebody who's taking the throne after going through a messy divorce. I can understand people not wanting that and would prefer that , you know , somebody younger with a solid family base around them.

S1: You mentioned this earlier , but Americans and American media have long had a fascination with the British royal family.

S3: Or dissolving from British rule. I still think there's been a fascination with this tradition that goes back , people say , hundreds of years. But when you look back thousands of years , it's just this queen. Now , if she was in power , should I say I'm just going to use the saying that myself. I've been in power for 70 years and maybe I like to think about 14 presidents have come and gone , but she's been there while there's been so much change in the world.

S1: I've been speaking with Craig Thomson , president of San Diego House of England. Craig , thanks so much for joining us today.

S3: Thank you for having me.

S1: The killing of a resident at an El Cajon nursing home raises questions about why the facility admitted a patient with a long history of severe psychiatric illness and allowed him to stay , even though he had reportedly assaulted other residents in the second part of a two part series. KPBS reporter Amita Sharma examines this case and a warning. This story contains graphic descriptions that some audience members may find disturbing.

S4: The warning to Sally Renee Johnson , Councilman in mid 2021 could not have been more ominous. Her 90 year old father was being treated at Sharp Grossmont Hospital when a staff social worker warned her against returning him to avocado post-acute nursing home in El Cajon.

S1: She said , You don't want to send him back there. It's a terrible place.

S4: The public record supports the social workers perception of avocado. More than 600 complaints have been filed against avocados since 2019. And in April , federal regulators moved to decertify the 256 bed facility , citing its failure to keep residents free of abuse , neglect and exploitation. Weeks later , they reversed their decision , saying the facility had returned to substantial compliance. But back in July 2021 , Johnson councilman says she had no option other than to place her dad back at Avocado from Sharp Grossmont. She had just a few thousand dollars a month for his care and little time to find an alternative. Six weeks later , her father , Robert Bradley , was dead , allegedly murdered by his roommate , Basilio Jefferson. Again , Johnson , councilman.

S1: This beautiful man who pulled himself up by his boot springs during the Depression and made a life for himself.

S4: The autopsy report states Bradley had abrasions and contusions on his neck and died from strangulation. The San Diego County medical examiner ruled Bradley's death a homicide. Johnson councilman saw her father in hospice before he died.

S1: His tongue was swollen and purple. And I saw scratch. Marks.

S5: Marks.

S1: And gashes and abrasions. His whole life was tremendously swollen.

S4: Jefferson admitted hitting Bradley before a caregivers found him , according to alcohol and police records. San Diego County prosecutors charged Jefferson with Bradley's murder last fall , but Jefferson was deemed not mentally competent to stand trial and sent to a psychiatric facility in San Bernardino , according to court records. Johnson claims women and her siblings have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Avocado. The lawsuit claims Jefferson suffers from severe chronic psychiatric illness and has been under multiple court ordered conservatorships. The lawsuit also alleges that Avocado new Jefferson , had previously attacked other residents and refused to take his medication. Scott Félix , a lawyer for Bradley's family , said an avocado nurse's comments to alcohol and police are telling.

S3: She told the police that they were going to need their help removing Mr. Jefferson from the facility and that she was concerned if they did it without police help , that he would whip their. Ass.

S4: Ass. Avocado. The California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services all refused to comment on Bradley's death. Lawyer Ernie Tosh is an expert on federal rules governing nursing homes. He says the facilities can admit mentally ill patients , but it can be fraught.

S3: With the person refusing to take the medication. And you suspect they could become violent in doing so. You have an absolute duty to the other residents to discharge that patient to protect the rest of your patients.

S4: JOHNSON Councilman says she's still haunted by how her father looked in his final hours.

S1: Part of me is going , oh , my God , what happened ? Oh , my God , this is like a war victim. Oh , my God. This is someone that's gone through hell. And I wasn't there to protect him. That was the thing that bothered me the most.

S4: Amica Shama , KPBS News.

S1: You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. For our Weekend Arts Preview , we have lots of visual art to tell you about , along with some music and theater to round things out. Joining me with all the details is KPBS arts producer and editor Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , welcome.

S5: Hi , J. Thanks for having me.

S1: All right. So let's just dig right into the visual art , starting with the many exhibitions opening at Bread and Salt Gallery in Logan Heights. Who and What's on View ? Right.

S5: So this is Barrio Art Crawl. And every month on the second Saturday , the galleries that make up the bread and salt complex , they kind of pull out all the stops for for this much. The action for barrio art is on Logan Avenue , but if you had a few blocks over to bread and salt , you'll find lots of great art. At the main gallery is a solo exhibition from Yasmeen Kassem. It's called Middle , and she identifies as a queer Muslim Egyptian American artist. And her art is intertwined with that , with that lived experience. And she uses a lot of layers of abstraction alongside traditional Arab and Islamic narratives and imagery. And this exhibition is all new works. Many of them are textiles , and that one is on view through October 23rd.

S1: And what about some of the other galleries inside bread and salt ? Yeah.

S5: So at best practice , which is tucked away in the back corner , bread and salt , they'll have a new exhibition from Los Angeles artist Keaton Bacon. And this one , he's painted these judo size replicas of his personal record collection. And I love the way this deals with this sort of nostalgia , but it also plays into what it means to have records , which is this kind of derivative of a master copy of someone's art. And the record itself is fragile. It's susceptible to scratches or ruining or wearing out , but it's also just really enduring as well. So that one will be on view through October 15th and at the Athenaeum Art Center , that's the Athenaeum satellite location at BET , and they're opening a group exhibition of works on paper and also artist books. It's called Paper Prints and Bind , and there are books from 17 artists and then works of art from seven artists , each of whom has worked or collaborated with the Athenaeum in the past. Jean Lo is one of those artists and she works with paper and cardboard and paper mache Ala. She builds these incredibly detailed replicas and scenes. And Bob , no matter is another artist and she is known for her really remarkable Papercut works that's all on view until the 22nd and the Athenaeum does have more limited gallery hours at Red and South during the week , so it's a good bet to swing by on Saturday night. That joint opening reception for all of these things is the Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. and it's all free.

S1: Very nice. And the art isn't just limited to Barrio Logan. You have some other suggestions , including up in Carlsbad.

S5: Some of these chairs there are pretty utilitarian like you could actually sit in them and others are more artistic or delicate and decorative. But it's all this image to what's actually kind of a strange human construct , this object that makes us part way at rest and partly alert. So there's 18 artists in the show , including some names that are recognizable for making really interesting work like Wendy Maruyama , Matthew Hiebert , James Watts and Adam John Manley. And that all opens on Saturday with a reception from 5 to 7 , and then it'll be on view through December 3rd.

S1: And the Institute of Contemporary Art , San Diego , they're kicking off a new season with a reception at their north campus in Encinitas. Tell us about the new resident artist Ja Owusu.

S5: So he is a Ghana born artist and he will be working in residence for the next month and the resultant exhibition will be up until November 20th. There's a big celebration on Friday at 6 p.m. for that and there will be plenty of work on view right now. But throughout the month you'll also have a chance to stop by and watch OSU work and interact with him. And he'll be onsite Sunday of this weekend from 3 to 5 and after that every Saturday and Sunday afternoon for the rest of September. And one of the things he's doing with this exhibition , it's called A Penny. For What It's Worth , he's taking pennies and he's transforming them through oxidation. And then he's creating these works of art out of dozens and dozens of pennies. And the event on Friday evening is free and it will have music and food and drinks as well.

S1: In the theatre , the Old Globe opens a new Broadway bound production called Come Fall in Love the Deedle J. Musical. What Can You. You tell us about that. Yeah.

S5: Yeah. So this is an adaptation of a hugely popular 1995 Hindi language film. It was a musical rom com , and it's known affectionately by its initials Didi LJ. It's finally been adapted for the stage. That's by lyricist now Benjamin , who also adapted Mean Girls and Legally Blonde. And it has new music from Vishal Dadlani and Shakib Shani. And there will also be some musical elements from the original film. And the film's writer and director is also the director of this production at the Old Globe. It's a love story , and it follows two young people falling in love overseas , but one of them is facing an arranged marriage in India. There are some differences and modernizations like the play is set in the United States instead of in London , and the male lead is now a white American man. And it's on stage through October 16th. But after that , it is heading to Broadway.

S1: And finally , how about some music ? The Houseman Quartet performs on Sunday. Tell us about this.

S5: So this is part of their long running Haydn Voyages series , where they chip away at Haydn's String Quartet compositions , and they also contrast those works with some of Haydn's contemporaries , as well as modern composers. And they do this all on the deck of the Berkeley ship at the Maritime Museum. So this is Sunday afternoon at 230 , and they're playing fireworks works. There's quartets by Haydn and Beethoven , plus there's a 1989 piece by John Cage and this one , which is a 2016 work by a Pulitzer Prize winner , Caroline Shaw. It's called Blueprint. And I recently saw Caroline Shaw's special take over appearance. This was at the Local Music Society Summer Fest. And she is incredible. She is making such extraordinary work in chamber music right now.

S1: That's blueprint by composer Caroline Shaw. The Houseman Quartet will perform that piece at the Maritime Museum on Sunday. For details on these and more events or to sign up for Julia's weekly KPBS Arts newsletter. Go to KPBS Dawgs Arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts producer and editor Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , thanks.

S5: Thank you , Jade. Have a good weekend. You.

UU: You. Then. And.