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
Meth epidemic, strict laws fuel dramatic growth in female inmate numbers
PIERRE, S.D. – The combination of epidemic meth addiction and strict drug laws have led to a dramatic spike in the rate of incarceration of women in the state, a South Dakota News Watch investigation has found.
The number of women in prison has increased 35 percent since 2013. By
Small SD towns struggle to repair and replace crumbling streets
EMERY, S.D. – It took eight years of planning, nearly $5 million and countless hours of paperwork, but this small town finally has new asphalt streets.
Residents of Emery – a Hanson County town of about 450 people and home to a crucial grain elevator – endured failing streets for decades, then
Should South Dakota farmers be forced to improve pollution control methods?
As South Dakota and most other states rely on voluntary efforts by farmers to treat pollution and limit runoff – historically with only limited success – a new regulatory approach in Minnesota is showing that mandating water protection methods can make a significant difference.
A 2015 law that is now fully taking
Upgrading wastewater systems a $160M task in South Dakota
Fixing the aging, often overworked systems that treat municipal wastewater in South Dakota would cost nearly $160 million, a cost borne mostly by state residents whose drinking water could be at stake.
Officials with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources said in an email to News Watch that
Rivers at risk: Studies reveal health hazards in Rapid Creek, Big Sioux River
Two separate scientific studies released in the past year reveal serious human health concerns for South Dakota’s four most prominent waterways: Rapid Creek, the Big Sioux, Cheyenne and Missouri rivers.
One study showed that Rapid Creek and the Big Sioux River host genetic markers for the most dangerous form
Rivers at risk: State, cities place few limits on farm and urban runoff into rivers
Part of a series of stories examining river quality in South Dakota.
State response to Smithfield ammonia release criticized
Water quality advocates say the state of South Dakota acted prematurely in reporting last week that human health was not at risk from high ammonia releases at the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources filed limited public notice before the violations stopped and