To place an obituary, please include the information from the obituary checklist below in an email to [email protected]. 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
– 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 the funeral home or cremation society are required. We must contact the funeral home or 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 is 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.
Payment options:
– 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 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM
**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 with the first line.
– For example, if the 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 totaling $500.
**Deadlines:**
Please follow deadline times to ensure your obituary is published on the day requested.
Hours Deadline (no exceptions) Ad Photos
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**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.
– Phone: 651-228-5280
– Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Closed Weekends and Holidays)
– Email: [email protected]
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### By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer
The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage declined again this week, easing to just above its lowest level this year.
The average long-term mortgage rate slipped to 6.27% from 6.3% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.44%.
The latest dip brings the average rate to just above 6.26%, where it was four weeks ago after a string of declines brought down home loan borrowing costs to their lowest level since early October 2024.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also eased this week. The average rate dropped to 5.52% from 5.53% last week. A year ago, it was 5.63%, Freddie Mac said.
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
The 10-year yield was at 4.02% at midday Thursday, down from around 4.14% the same time last week.
Mortgage rates started declining in July in the lead-up to the Federal Reserve’s decision last month to cut its main interest rate for the first time in a year amid growing concern over the U.S. job market. At their September policy meeting, Fed officials forecast that the central bank would reduce its rate twice more this year and once in 2026.
Still, the Fed could change course if inflation jumps amid the Trump administration’s expanding use of tariffs and the recent trade war escalation with China.
Even if the Fed opts to cut its short-term rate further, that doesn’t necessarily mean mortgage rates will keep declining. Last fall, after the Fed cut its rate for the first time in more than four years, mortgage rates marched higher, eventually reaching just above 7% in January this year.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained above 6% since September 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. The housing market has been in a slump ever since.
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. So far this year, sales are running below where they were at this time in 2024.
*Originally Published: October 16, 2025 at 11:12 AM CDT.*
https://www.twincities.com/2025/10/16/mortgage-rates-oct-16/
