Title: investigative reporter and 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 First Amendment Committee
Social platforms: X/Twitter; LinkedIn
Archive of work: South Dakota News Watch
Bart Pfankuch
Total 308 Posts
SD election officials say vote-by-mail and voting at polls will be safe, fair and accurate
Editor’s note: This article, the first in an ongoing series on the 2020 election, was produced through a partnership between South Dakota News Watch and the Solutions Journalism Network, a national non-profit group that supports rigorous journalism about responses to problems.
The people who will operate and oversee the
Many SD teachers on their own when adding safety barriers in classrooms
South Dakota public school teachers are largely on their own when it comes to building and installing protective barriers for their classrooms that may reduce the spread of the coronavirus among their students and themselves.
With no statewide policy in place, and little or no guidance from individual school districts,
Smoking, and possibly vaping, can increase risks of serious health consequences from COVID-19
A growing body of medical research shows that cigarette smokers and possibly e-cigarette users face a significantly higher risk for serious complications from COVID-19 than non-users.
Medical professionals across the country are also worried that smoking or vaping may increase a person’s chances of getting COVID-19 in the first
COVID-19 outbreak infects students at Northern State University in Aberdeen
Eight students of Northern State University in Aberdeen and a youth who attended a recent athletic camp on the NSU campus have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a university spokesperson.
The university is working closely with the state Department of Health to undergo contact tracing of those with confirmed
University faculty in SD fear return to campus may lead to COVID-19 outbreaks
The plan to return to face-to-face teaching and learning at colleges in South Dakota in August is causing great concern among faculty and staff who fear that campuses across the state could become sources of major outbreaks of the potentially deadly coronavirus.
Though extensive planning and preparation are underway to
Back-to-school plans in SD awash with worry over safety of children, teachers and staff
With a new school year fast approaching in South Dakota, the usual feelings of excitement, anticipation and opportunity have been replaced with angst, anxiety and worry.
The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a pall of uncertainty over whether students, teachers and staff can safely return to schools for in-person teaching and
Committed to their communities: Two rural medical professionals go the extra miles
Editor’s note: This article is part of the final segment in the South Dakota News Watch series, “Small Towns, Big Challenges” and features two rural medical professionals who show a deep commitment to providing medical care to residents of remote small-towns in South Dakota.
In many rural areas of