To place an obituary, please include the information from the obituary checklist below in an email to obits@pioneerpress.com. There is no option to place them through our website. Feel free to contact our obituary desk at 651-228-5263 with any questions.
General Information:
Your full name,
Address (City, State, Zip Code),
Phone number,
And an alternate phone number (if any)
Obituary Specification:
Name of Deceased,
Obituary Text,
A photo in a JPEG or PDF file is preferable, TIF and other files are accepted, we will contact you if there are any issues with the photo.
Ad Run dates
There is a discount for running more than one day, but this must be scheduled on the first run date to apply.
If a photo is used, it must be used for both days for the discount to apply, contact us for more information.
Policies:
Verification of Death:
In order to publish obituaries a name and phone number of funeral home/cremation society is required. We must contact the funeral home/cremation society handling the arrangements during their business hours to verify the death. If the body of the deceased has been donated to the University of Minnesota Anatomy Bequest Program, or a similar program, their phone number is required for verification.
Please allow enough time to contact them especially during their limited weekend hours.
A death certificate is also acceptable for this purpose but only one of these two options are necessary.
Guestbook and Outside Websites:
We are not allowed to reference other media sources with a guestbook or an obituary placed elsewhere when placing an obituary in print and online. We may place a website for a funeral home or a family email for contact instead; contact us with any questions regarding this matter.
Obituary Process:
Once your submission is completed, we will fax or email a proof for review prior to publication in the newspaper. This proof includes price and days the notice is scheduled to appear.
Please review the proof carefully. We must be notified of errors or changes before the notice appears in the Pioneer Press based on each day’s deadlines.
After publication, we will not be responsible for errors that may occur after final proofing.
Online:
Changes to an online obituary can be handled through the obituary desk. Call us with further questions.
Payment Procedure:
Pre-payment is required for all obituary notices prior to publication by the deadline specified below in our deadline schedule. Please call 651-228-5263 with your payment information after you have received the proof and approved its contents.
Credit Card: Payment accepted by phone only due to PCI (Payment Card Industry) regulations
EFT: Check by phone. Please provide your routing number and account number.
Cash: Accepted at our FRONT COUNTER Monday – Friday from 8:00AM – 3:30PM
Rates:
The minimum charge is $162 for the first 10 lines.
Every line after the first 10 is $12.20.
If the ad is under 10 lines it will be charged the minimum rate of $162.
On a second run date, the lines are $8.20 per line, starting w/ the first line.
For example: if first run date was 20 lines the cost would be $164.
Each photo published is $125 per day.
For example: 2 photos in the paper on 2 days would be 4 photo charges at $500.
Deadlines:
Please follow deadline times to ensure your obituary is published on the day requested.
Hours
Deadline (no exceptions)
Ad
Photos
MEMORIAM (NON-OBITUARY) REQUEST
Unlike an obituary, Memoriam submissions are remembrances of a loved one who has passed. The rates for a memoriam differ from obituaries.
Please call or email us for more memoriam information
Please call 651-228-5280 for more information.
HOURS: Monday – Friday 8:00AM – 5:00PM (CLOSED WEEKENDS and HOLIDAYS)
Please submit your memoriam ad to memoriams@pioneerpress.com or call 651-228-5280.
By DAVID FISCHER, Associated Press
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last year told a federal judge on Friday that prosecutors haven’t proven that an assassination attempt occurred. But the judge denied his motion for acquittal, meaning jurors will eventually decide the man’s fate.
Prosecutors rested their case against Ryan Routh Friday afternoon following testimony from 38 witnesses over seven days. After jurors were dismissed for the weekend, Routh, who is representing himself, made a motion for acquittal directly to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on four of the five counts against him, excluding the charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors have said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.
Routh argued Friday afternoon that prosecutors haven’t proven any attempt to assassinate Trump.
“They maybe proved that someone was outside the (golf course) fence with a gun, but the gun was never fired,” Routh said.
Routh said the area outside the Trump International Golf Club was a public right of way for a public road, and anyone had a right to be there with a weapon.
Prosecutors responded that Routh took multiple substantial steps in his attempt to kill Trump, including aiming a loaded gun with its safety off through the fence.
“This is as far from peaceful assembly as you can get,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley said.
Cannon denied Routh’s motion, explaining that a juror could reasonably find that prosecutors had met their burden of proof. That means the next step is for the defense to begin its case Monday morning. Routh has indicated he plans to call three witnesses: a firearms expert and two character witnesses. He hasn’t said whether he plans to testify himself. He told the judge Friday that his case should take about half a day.
Cannon said attorneys should be prepared to deliver their closing arguments on Tuesday, giving each side one hour and 45 minutes. Jurors will begin deliberating after that. Cannon had initially blocked off more than three weeks for the trial at the Fort Pierce federal courthouse, but Routh’s relatively short cross examinations have led to a quicker pace than anticipated.
The prosecution’s final witness spent about six hours over Thursday and Friday tying together about a week’s worth of testimony. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Kimberly McGreevy used cellphone records, location data, text messages, bank records, internet searches, security video and various store receipts to illustrate Routh’s actions and movements over the month prior to the attempted attack and to show that he began trying to acquire a gun, despite being a convicted felon, nearly six months before his arrest.
Evidence showed that Routh traveled to South Florida about a month before the assassination attempt, McGreevy said. He lived out of a black Nissan Xterra, normally parked at a western Palm Beach County truck stop, while routinely traveling to the areas around Palm Beach International Airport, Trump International Golf Course and Trump’s primary residence at Mar-a-Lago, the agent said.
“He was living at that truck stop and conducting physical and electronic surveillance and stalking the president, then-former President Trump,” McGreevy said.
Recounting the alleged attack at the golf course, a Secret Service agent testified last week that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot, the agent said.
Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who testified that he saw a person fleeing the area after hearing gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witness said he confirmed it was the person he had seen.
Just nine weeks earlier, Trump had survived an attempt on his life while campaigning in Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.
Originally Published: September 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM CDT