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 353 Posts
Lawmakers spar over potential reduction in state sales tax rate
A debate is raging in Pierre this legislative session over how – and some say even if – taxpayers will see a reduction in the sales tax rate now that South Dakota has begun to collect new money from online retailers.
When it comes to legislative intrigue, the contentious wrangling over the
Thousands of South Dakota children are trapped in poverty
RAPID CITY, S.D. – More than 40,000 South Dakota children, from infants to teenagers, live in families with incomes low enough to qualify for the federal food stamp program, creating challenges for a fruitful childhood and a prosperous adult life.
The number of children in South Dakota families receiving
Educators struggle to reduce need for remedial classes in SD colleges
Every year, about 30 percent of South Dakota high school graduates who enroll in a state university must take remedial courses in math or English because they don’t test high enough in those topics. Those courses cost the students about $1,000 per class and provide them with no
Governor proposes higher payment rate, grant program for nursing homes
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Wednesday announced a plan to aid South Dakota’s financially troubled nursing home industry by raising the rate of Medicaid payments and providing $5 million in grants to facilities that innovate.
Noem shared her ideas as part of her first budget address to both
Jobs abound, but low wages hamper South Dakota workforce
Jobs are plentiful in South Dakota, but most positions pay far below the national average and lower than neighboring states.
In fact, South Dakota has the third-lowest average wage for employed people in the country behind only Arkansas and Mississippi. A News Watch analysis shows that the lowest-paying jobs — in
Economic fears follow ShopKo store closures in SD small towns
WAGNER, S.D. – The pending closure of ShopKo department stores may have devastating effects on six South Dakota small towns that will suffer job losses, decreased access to basic necessities and reductions in sales-tax collections that could limit municipal services.
The announcement that the retail chain will close several stores
Women to have ‘larger voice’ in 2019 South Dakota Legislature
In South Dakota and across the country, women will play a larger role in lawmaking and policymaking at almost all levels of government in 2019.
The new U.S. Congress will feature a record number of women in both the House and Senate. South Dakota will have its first female