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 First Amendment Committee
Social platforms: X/Twitter; LinkedIn
Archive of work: South Dakota News Watch
Bart Pfankuch
Total 337 Posts
Vaccine hesitancy in South Dakota could prolong pandemic and delay a return to normal
Medical experts in South Dakota and across the country are concerned that reluctance among some people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 may prolong the pandemic, delay a return to normal life and possibly lead to more deaths.
Health officials say that the U.S. and individual states are in a
South Dakota Matters: News Watch to host online panel discussion on civics and history initiative
In her State of the State speech in January, Gov. Kristi Noem proposed one-time funding to enhance and expand teaching of civics and history in public schools, and the state Legislature approved her $900,000 request during the spring session.
In response, the state education department has embarked on development
Civics/history Part 2: How new civics and history program will be developed
If all goes as planned, South Dakota public school teachers and students should find it easier to teach and learn social studies topics in the coming years.
The proposed South Dakota Civics and History Initiative is just getting started, but hopes are high that the effort will result in deeper,
Educators and historians want politics kept out of new history and civics initiative
Educators, historians and some elected officials are urging South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and the state Department of Education to keep politics and personal bias out of the process to develop a new and enhanced civics and history initiative for public K-12 schools across the state.
In her State of
New reporter hired at South Dakota News Watch
Journalist Danielle Ferguson of Sioux Falls has joined South Dakota News Watch as its second full-time investigative reporter.
Ferguson comes to News Watch from the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, where she most recently served as the Watchdog Reporter for Law and Order. Ferguson, a native of Salem, South Dakota,
Medical marijuana in Oklahoma: ‘A mess’ or a potential model for South Dakota?
As South Dakota moves forward on creating a regulatory system for medical marijuana by the end of 2021, some people have looked to Oklahoma for guidance on how — or how not to — develop a functioning framework.
Oklahoma voters approved the legal sale, possession and use of medical marijuana on a
How medical marijuana is playing out among South Dakota’s neighbors
If medical marijuana becomes legal starting July 1, 2021, in South Dakota, as proposed so far, the state will join 36 other U.S. states where medicinal pot is legal, including neighboring states North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota.
Nebraska does not allow marijuana in any form, while Iowa has a