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
Land ownership question hovers over $185M Sioux Falls redevelopment plan
Questions about the ownership of a strip of land within the Sioux Steel Co. site in downtown Sioux Falls has created a new, unexpected hurdle for the proposed $185 million redevelopment of the property.
The land in question was once a channel of the Big Sioux River and has ownership
South Dakota News Watch wins grant to report on Native American issues
South Dakota News Watch has been accepted into a national grant and educational program that will enable News Watch to expand its coverage of the Native American community in South Dakota throughout 2020.
In February, News Watch was one of 12 journalism organizations selected for participation in the Solutions Journalism
SD hunter residency investigation and arrest create ‘nightmare’ for retired combat veteran
The legal language describing who qualifies as a South Dakota resident when it comes to in-state hunting privileges is laid out in state law, but the real-world definition is now murkier than ever.
Serenity still missing: One year later, SD girl’s fate unknown despite extensive search and investigation
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a new version on April 4, 2023, headlined: 2019 mystery still causing misery.
ROCKERVILLE, S.D. – The most extensive investigation in western South Dakota and one of the most exhaustive searches in state history have failed to determine what happened to
A year after Serenity disappeared, broken hearts unable to heal
The passage of nearly a year since Serenity Dennard went missing has done little to soothe the hurt felt by those who love and miss her greatly.
In fact, the idea that Serenity has been gone for a year and yet nothing certain is known about her whereabouts is haunting
Surprise inspections part of oversight reforms for SD youth homes
For the first time in South Dakota, unannounced surprise inspections would be conducted at private youth treatment centers as part of a sweeping oversight reform package being pushed by Gov. Kristi Noem.
Noem has proposed a major overhaul to how South Dakota oversees, inspects and updates the public about conditions
A look inside a CAFO: SD farmers share stories of a life in livestock
MILLER, S.D. – The expansion of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, in South Dakota is without a doubt one of the most controversial topics in agriculture.
CAFOs are large livestock farms that generally house 1,000 or more animals in a confined, indoor space at any one time.
Supporters