The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Woodbury, which abruptly closed earlier this month, will reopen sometime later this summer.

The cinema, known for its arthouse films, expansive dinner menu and craft beer, will be opening back up as soon as possible, officials with the company posted on the Alamo Drafthouse Twin Cities (Woodbury, MN) Facebook page.

“After the sudden closure of our Twin Cities location by their former franchise owner, we are thrilled to announce that we have officially purchased and plan to reopen our Twin Cities theater,” officials wrote in the post.

The cinema closed June 6 after a Texas-based franchise operator filed for federal Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, according to news reports.

Employees of franchise operator Two is One and One is None said they were taken aback as they shared news of the closings on social media. Five of the six shuttered locations were in North Texas.

The Woodbury location will reopen as soon as the theater is ready, officials wrote in the Facebook post, adding that Alamo will be “making up for all the lost film, food and fun” that was missed during the closure.

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Caitlin Aldridge knew the mental turmoil her husband was going through and tried to get him help, while also making plans to keep herself and their 13-year-old daughter safe.

But Johnny Ray Aldridge “took that from her when he killed her” in their St. Paul home as their daughter slept down the hallway, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Nicole Harris said Friday at his sentencing for second-degree intentional murder.

Ramsey County Judge Elena Ostby sentenced Aldridge to a term of more than 21 years, over Aldridge’s attorney’s argument that he should receive a lesser sentence because he was mentally ill when he killed his 41-year-old wife.

Aldridge, 49, was a victim of random violence about three months before the homicide, which caused his mental health to devolve into paranoid delusions, said Katie Conners, managing attorney of the Ramsey County public defender’s office. There was no history of domestic violence between him and Caitlin, Conners said.

In a victim impact statement read by Harris, Caitlin Aldridge’s sister, Shaun Walsh, said she was initially sad, “but now, to say that I’m mad is an understatement.”

She said she’s “enraged that our mental health system doesn’t work,” that Johnny Aldridge killed her sister, that it took over two years to transfer custody of the Aldridges’ daughter to her, and that “the court expectation is that I … explain to you who my sister was and why she did not deserve to be murdered in her own bedroom by someone who said they loved her.”

Caitlin Aldridge, who was known as Casey, “was generous to a fault,” Walsh said. She “spent endless hours listening to (her daughter’s) stories, singing and watching her dance.” Her daughter “deserved to get to grow up with Casey as her mom,” Walsh’s statement said.

Speaking before Ostby sentenced him, Johnny Aldridge said he wanted to tell everyone — but especially his daughter, and Caitlin’s mother and sister — “how sorry I am for the pain that I caused.”

He said he’s learned about his mental illness, but “I did not understand at the time how sick I was. I did not understand what was happening to me. … Because of my confusion, I have ruined my life, my daughter’s life, my wife’s life. I’m sorry that I took my daughter’s mom away from her.” He said he loved his wife and still does.

Aldridge pleaded guilty in April.

Reported himself

On Sept. 28, 2021, Aldridge went to the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center at about 3 a.m. and called 911, saying that he had killed his wife at their home in the 30 block of Winnipeg Avenue on St. Paul’s North End, according to a criminal complaint. Officers took him into custody and found Caitlin, Aldridge’s wife of 11 years, dead in their home.

Johnny Ray Aldridge (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Throughout interviews with police, Johnny Aldridge appeared to be obsessed with claims that people were trying to harm their daughter, according to police. He believed his wife was somehow involved.

In a separate court proceeding after he was charged, Aldridge was civilly committed as mentally ill and dangerous. He was found to be competent to stand trial in March 2023.

In Walsh’s statement read Friday, she said she’s also angry at the implication that a “mental health crisis could explain shooting someone you love in the head. There are a million other responses Johnny could have had to the state of delusion” he had about Caitlin as it related to their daughter.

Caitlin Aldridge spent most of her career as a leader on the youth programs team at the YWCA of Minneapolis. She developed programs focused on leadership, anti-racism and wellness, Walsh said. “She worked primarily in programs that supported the empowerment of girls and left lasting impacts in our communities.”

Domestic violence help

Help is available 24/7 through the Minnesota Day One crisis hotline by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.

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Michael Macagnone | (TNS) CQ-Roll Call

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday denied Steve Bannon’s request to stay out of prison while the ally of former President Donald Trump appeals two convictions for contempt of Congress.

The Supreme Court’s brief order means Bannon will have to report to prison for his four-month sentence by Monday.

Bannon had argued that the justices would eventually overturn his convictions for ignoring a subpoena from the House select panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. He urged them to let him remain out of prison until they do so.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court rejected a similar request to remain out of prison pending an appeal from former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, who is currently serving a similar prison term for his two contempt of Congress convictions.

Navarro also did not comply with a subpoena from the House select panel and was convicted at trial. Both Bannon and Navarro have said they intend to fight their convictions to the Supreme Court.

The brief order Friday did not explain the court’s reasoning for denying the request from Bannon, and it likely moves action in the appeal back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

House Republican leadership on Wednesday announced plans to file a brief supporting Bannon’s next appeal.

In a statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer claimed that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi “abused” her power in setting up the House select panel in 2021.

The group said they intended to argue that the panel had been improperly appointed, an argument that Bannon and others have unsuccessfully made in court.

The last-minute fight over reporting to prison has previewed Bannon’s appeal of a rare contempt of Congress conviction, as his was one of only two in more than two decades.

Bannon’s attorneys have argued that he relied on advice from his attorney that the subpoena sought information protected by executive privilege and he did not have to respond.

The Justice Department, in a Wednesday filing at the Supreme Court, pointed out that Bannon had multiple opportunities to comply with the subpoena and should not be able to rely on his claims that his attorney advised him not to cooperate.

The DOJ filing, by Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, argued that allowing Bannon to duck contempt charges by relying on his attorney’s advice would poke a hole in congressional power.

The “point is that permitting such a defense would undermine the statute’s function of supporting Congress’s ability to investigate, which is essential to its constitutional authority to legislate,” the Justice Department brief said.

In 2022, a federal jury convicted Bannon on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the House select Jan. 6 panel seeking testimony and documents related to the attack.

District Judge Carl Nichols of the District of Columbia rejected ahead of trial Bannon’s attorneys’ argument that he was advised not to cooperate because of Trump’s executive privilege.

Following the conviction, Nichols sentenced Bannon to a four-month prison term but allowed him to remain free pending his appeal.

In the ruling last month, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit found that there was no executive privilege involved in the subpoena, and even if there was Bannon would have had to at least respond to the subpoena.

After that ruling, Nichols ordered Bannon to report to prison for his sentence by July 1. Bannon’s attorneys then launched a last-minute plea to the D.C. Circuit, which ruled 2-1 to reject his effort to stay free pending a Supreme Court appeal.

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©2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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