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 LARRY NEUMEISTER and MICHAEL R. SISAK, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Justice Department officials could face court-imposed sanctions for public comments about the prosecution of Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson if they don’t limit what they say, a New York judge said Wednesday.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett in Manhattan said in an order that statements by government officials about Mangione possibly facing the death penalty may have violated a local rule meant to limit public comments to ensure a fair trial.
Defense lawyers for Mangione had asked that his federal charges be dismissed and the death penalty be taken off the table as a result of the comments.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the fatal shooting of Thompson on Dec. 4 as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
In the federal case, Mangione is charged with murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty, as well as stalking and gun offenses.
Defense lawyers argued in a written submission to Garnett that Justice Department officials poisoned the case when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi declared prior to his April indictment that capital punishment is warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione.
His lawyers argued that Bondi’s statements and other official actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and President Donald Trump’s administration’s flouting of established death penalty procedures — “have violated Mr. Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case.”
In her order Wednesday, Garnett said it appeared that multiple Justice Department employees may have violated the rule limiting what can be said publicly about a case prior to trial. She said the statements apparently were made by two high-ranking staff members in the department.
The judge asked the department to explain how the violations occurred and what steps are being taken to ensure no future violations happen.
“Future violations may result in sanctions, which could include personal financial penalties, contempt of court findings, or relief specific to the prosecution of this matter,” the judge wrote.
A message for comment sent to the Justice Department was not immediately returned.
The order from Garnett was not the first time a Manhattan federal judge has scolded Justice Department officials for public statements in a criminal case.
In April 2015, Judge Valerie Caproni accused then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of straying “so close to the edge of the rules governing his own conduct” when he announced a corruption case against former Democratic New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver that Silver had a legitimate complaint that the “media blitz” that accompanied his arrest was prejudicial.
Silver was eventually convicted on corruption charges and was sentenced to over six years in prison. In January 2022, the federal Bureau of Prisons announced that he had died in federal custody at age 77.
Originally Published: September 24, 2025 at 11:48 AM CDT