Bart Pfankuch

Bart Pfankuch

Title: content director; expertise: agriculture, state government, education, rural issues, Indigenous people, poverty; language spoken: English; contact: 605-937-9398 / bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org

South Dakota Republicans criticize program that provided $3.8B to state

South Dakota Republicans criticize program that provided $3.8B to state

South Dakota’s Republican congressional delegation and GOP Gov. Kristi Noem supported funding measures signed by President Donald Trump that provided more than $10 billion in federal funding to the state to battle and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. But they’re not so willing to praise a program approved

11 billion-pound mystery: The chemicals South Dakota trains carry

11 billion-pound mystery: The chemicals South Dakota trains carry

Each year, trains carry nearly 11 billion pounds of chemicals through South Dakota’s cities and countryside, much of it on century-old tracks, a South Dakota News Watch analysis has revealed. Finding out which specific compounds are in those potentially toxic payloads is extremely difficult or even impossible for the

Civil civics: Observers note more positive pulse in South Dakota politics

As it winds to a close, the 2023 legislative session in South Dakota will likely be remembered as the year of the great tax cut debate and for the somewhat surprising willingness of the GOP-led Legislature to reject several proposals from a popular Republican governor. But many observers and participants

Exclusive: How South Dakota spent $14 billion of pandemic relief funds

South Dakota received nearly $14 billion in federal COVID-19 funding from March 2020 through January, according to an internal state fiscal report obtained exclusively by South Dakota News Watch. The document tallies the $13.84 billion intended to help governments, businesses, organizations and individuals survive and recover from a pandemic

Unexpected expenses: State project costs jump by millions

South Dakota taxpayers could pay millions of dollars in unexpected expenses caused by inflation and workforce challenges that are hitting the construction industry. Nine bills have been filed in the current legislative session in Pierre to increase funding for construction projects that were passed in prior years but have gotten

CEO of large SD non-profit agency remains in his job despite federal sexual harassment settlement

CEO of large SD non-profit agency remains in his job despite federal sexual harassment settlement

Editor’s note: This article is the result of a reporting collaboration between South Dakota News Watch Content Director Bart Pfankuch and Kristi Hine, editor of the True Dakotan newspaper in Wessington Springs. WAGNER, S.D. – The director of one of the largest non-profit social service agencies in South Dakota

Hurdles to homeownership: Why buying a home is out of reach for many South Dakota residents

A series of economic factors has coalesced over the past two years to make it extremely difficult or even impossible for many people in South Dakota to achieve the American Dream of homeownership. The price of new and existing homes has skyrocketed in recent years at a time when modest