Title: content director / investigative reporter
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 307 Posts
Special report part 2: Daycare shortage especially hard on parents in rural and reservation communities
While waiting lists for child care are common in cities like Sioux Falls and Rapid City, it can be impossible to find any child care options in rural and reservation communities in South Dakota.
According to a recent report by South Dakota Kids Count, a non-profit data center, seven counties
Special report part 1: Child care crisis in SD hurting families, employers and state economy
The signs of the workforce shortage in South Dakota are as omnipresent as they are ominous.
“Now hiring” signs on nearly every business. Fast-food restaurants with shuttered dining rooms. Delayed building construction. Long wait times for consumer goods and services. And a nursing shortage that in mid-December led Monument Health
South Dakota Matters: Child care crisis in South Dakota — on online panel discussion Dec. 16, 2021
South Dakota is experiencing a crisis in regard to a lack of access to quality, affordable child care across the state, and the situation is causing great stress and pressure on working families, daycare providers and employers who are struggling to find workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further restricted access
Poll shows strong statewide support for Gov. Noem, except on marijuana legalization
With nearly three years as governor complete, and as she kicks off a reelection campaign, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is enjoying strong statewide support for her performance, according to a new poll.
The poll of 500 registered voters conducted in late October showed that a majority of South Dakotans
Home heating costs high and getting higher in South Dakota
Many South Dakota consumers already facing high prices for gasoline and groceries should also expect to pay far more to heat their homes this winter, with prices for propane and heating oil already far higher than last year and rising fast.
Some experts worry the high prices could push some
As holidays approach, cellphones and speeding remain major roadway risks in SD
Despite new laws and public-information campaigns, distracted driving and cell phone use behind the wheel continue to make roadways in South Dakota and across the country more dangerous.
New survey data from the American Automobile Association show a significant reduction in some unsafe behaviors in recent years — including impaired driving,
South Dakotans overwhelmingly support teaching of Native American history and culture in public schools
South Dakota education officials have struggled to revise social studies standards that include guidelines for teaching Native American history and culture, but a new poll suggests state residents are very firm in their support for inclusion of Native studies in public schools.
The poll of 500 registered South Dakota voters