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.
BENSON, Minn. — The Benson School District will continue to use the Braves logo and mascot after receiving an exemption from the Upper Sioux Community.
“We are deeply grateful to the Upper Sioux Community for their understanding and appreciation for the way Benson Schools uses the mascot in a respectful and honorable manner,” said Benson Superintendent of Schools Dennis Laumeyer.
The exemption allows the district to maintain a mascot that has represented the Benson Schools since 1945. School teams previously competed as the Plowboys.
The Minnesota Legislature in the 2022-23 session adopted legislation that required schools with American Indian mascots to end their use by Sept. 1, 2025, unless they received an exemption from all 11 tribal nations in the state and the Tribal Nations Education Committee.
The Benson School District requested the exemption, but two tribes and the Tribal Nations Education Committee rejected it.
In the last session, legislation was approved to allow school districts to seek an exemption from the tribal community nearest to the school district.
Benson School Board members met twice with the Upper Sioux Community Board of Trustees to make their request for an exemption. The superintendent said they explained how the district uses the mascot to motivate students to be of good character and do well in a very positive and respectful way.
Throughout the elementary school, signs promote the “Braves Way” with the ‘B’ representing positive attributes such “B respectful, B engaged, B my best.”
It was a two-way conversation with the local tribal trustees, according to the superintendent. The Upper Sioux Community indicated a willingness to help the district as it meets state education requirements for instruction about the Indigenous peoples of Minnesota, in particular the Dakota.
The community has the resources and knowledge to help the district educate its students in an authentic way, the superintendent noted.
The decision to seek an exemption to maintain the mascot and logo came amid overwhelming support from the community to do so.
The superintendent said board members have been discussing the issue for over two years now, and feedback from residents and school alumni was overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining the mascot. Alumni indicated that they would feel as if they lost their school if the mascot was lost, he said.
A major concern too was the potential cost for adopting a new mascot and logo. The superintendent said it was a $1 million proposition. Everything from athletic uniforms to the scoreboards, furniture, gym floors and more would need to be changed.
The legislation provided no funding for schools to make a mascot change. The cost would have come at the expense of educational programming. The district is discussing the possibility of adopting a four-day schedule for the potential cost savings to help maintain educational offerings.