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 376 Posts
The wall and on the web: New ways to honor SD Vietnam vets
Posthumous honors are planned in June to memorialize the lives of several South Dakotans who served in Vietnam, including a biologist from Rapid City, a school superintendent from Rosholt and a corrections administrator from Piedmont.
1 of world's largest energy storage plants launches in SD
Facility will absorb excess, low-cost energy from wind turbines that might otherwise be lost due to capacity limits on the existing power grid and store it in carbon blocks for use when needed.
Homeowners stuck in 6 years of sinkhole limbo
"If the Supreme Court rules against us, we're pretty much done. ... As for being compensated for your loss, you're pretty much out of luck."
SD tourism leader: High gas prices could hold 'silver lining'
"It's our family trip, so if we needed to pay a little more for gas, it's no big deal."
Water worries: Billions needed to keep South Dakota taps flowing
South Dakota water systems will increasingly turn to the Missouri River to provide water for future population, agricultural and industrial growth. But plans will require billions of dollars and decades of construction to keep taps flowing freely.
4 big water projects underway in South Dakota
Billions of dollars of construction plans are in the works to provide water to serve South Dakota for generations to come.
Affordable housing investments opening new doors in Rapid City
A shared funding model by philanthropy groups in the Black Hills has led to development of nearly 650 affordable apartments in a market where rents are the highest in the state.