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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 at this time. 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. Rates: The minimum charge is $162 for the first 12 lines. Every line after the first 12 is $12. If the ad is under 12 lines it will be charged the minimum rate of $162. Obituaries including more than 40 lines will receive a 7.5% discount per line. On a second run date, receive a 20% discount off both the first and second placement. Place three obituaries and the third placement will be free of charge. 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. Was Apple Valley going to do it again? One day after upsetting second-seeded East Ridge in the Class 4A quarterfinals in St. Paul, the Eagles took the first set against third-seeded Prior Lake in convincing fashion. Apple Valley fell to Prior Lake earlier in the month, but that was when star middle blocker Ginny Gores was out with a concussion. This was a different ballgame. “They definitely pushed us in ways that we hadn’t been pushed in a little while,” Lakers coach Mike Dean said. But Prior Lake responded. The Lakers won the next three sets to claim a four-set semifinal victory and advance to play top-seeded Lakeville South in Saturday night’s final — the program’s first since 2015. The Lakers have never won state. “I think we just stayed together and we really found ourselves and found our team,” Lakers sophomore middle blocker Brielle Gunderson said. “We came together, we really put it all out there and we showed them Prior Lake is going to come back and they’re not going to see the same team they saw the set before.” The Lakers’ serve and block stiffened. Offense that came so easily for Apple Valley quickly dissipated. “I’m just really proud of the way the girls responded,” Dean said. “I know in that first set we came out a little flat and gave them something to feel good about. The way we battled back and stayed composed spoke to the maturity and the resilience this team has.” Dylan Raveling paced Prior Lake (23-10) with 17 kills, while Addison Barbow tallied 16. Gorres and Sophia Cowan again spearheaded the Eagles’ offense. Cowan recorded a gaudy 24 kills. “Every match that we have, I feel like — whether it’s offensively or defensively — she does something that I don’t think I’ve seen her do, or maybe I haven’t seen a high school athlete do,” Apple Valley coach Hannah Specktor said of her star hitter. “I just think having a power outside like her is something every state tournament team needs if they want to keep pushing forward to the end.” Each year, the Eagles (19-10) make strides toward that goal. They again figure to be a major fixture next year with Gorres, Cowan and plenty more firepower back. With each tournament trip, Specktor noted, the Eagles learn and evolve. This year’s lesson for seventh-seeded Apple Valley? “I think we’re going to remember this tournament as something we used to prove to ourselves that we could do it,” Cowan said. “We are really hard workers and we can do hard things. It’s not easy to make it to the championship. We knew that coming in. But after the game (Wednesday against East Ridge), it proved that we’re relentless and we’re going to work our hardest to give everybody our best game. Just never give up.”
