Title: Content Director
Contact: 605-937-9398 / bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org
Language spoken: English
Demographic expertise: South Dakota, including the Rapid City area, the Black Hills, rural towns and reservations
Topic expertise: agriculture, state government, education, rural issues, Indigenous people, poverty
Potential conflict of interest: Pfankuch serves on the board of the Oyate Prevention Coalition in Rapid City, which works to prevent substance abuse among Native American youth. He will recuse himself from reporting on the organization.
Biography: Pfankuch (pronounced FAN-cook) is Wisconsin native and former editor of the Rapid City Journal. He has worked for more than 30 years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Wisconsin, Florida and South Dakota, including as reporter or editor at the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and Capital Times in Wisconsin, and at the Florida Times-Union and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida. He also is a syndicated writing coach who has presented at newspaper conferences across the country. Pfankuch has won more than four dozen state, regional and national journalism awards, including, while at News Watch, agricultural writer of the year from the North American Agricultural Journalists association in 2020, 2021 and 2023 as well as first-place reporting awards in the Great Plains Journalism Awards sponsored by the Tulsa Press Club and South Dakota NewsMedia Association. Pfankuch lives in Black Hawk.
Professional memberships: Investigative Reporters and Editors, North American Agricultural Journalists, South Dakota NewsMedia Association First Amendment Committee
Archive of work: South Dakota News Watch
Bart Pfankuch
Total 352 Posts
Housing jumpstarts revitalization of Herreid, population 400
A small South Dakota town’s housing revival has relied on $2.2 million in grants — plus hundreds of thousands more in tax dollars and donations — to get new homes built.
Housing solutions from across South Dakota
A list of entities and programs that can assist in developing or obtaining housing as well as links to News Watch reporting on housing solutions.
High court considers if officer names can be kept secret
Two Sioux Falls police officers want privacy in public documents over concerns they or their families could be harassed.
Supreme Court takes up contested Igloo bunker leases
The high court will decide a case originating at the survivalist bunker complex near Edgemont that could have broader implications on the strength of contracts and leases in the state.
Gaming grants: Millions for Deadwood, thousands for rest of state
While the Black Hills town has received $237 million for historic preservation since legal gambling started, the rest of the state has received only $8 million.
After $237 million spent, Deadwood seeks more gaming proceeds
"We're a small town but we have big-city expenses because of the visitation." Analysis shows that $33 billion has been wagered.
Flood of bureaucracy leaves prime home lots vacant in Fort Pierre
"It's going to take an act of Congress, literally, to get this changed."