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

Fatal train crash highlights lack of railroad crossing protections in South Dakota

Fatal train crash highlights lack of railroad crossing protections in South Dakota

HARRISBURG, S.D. – Jodi Kuipers learned the hard way how much time, work and determination it takes to get safety improvements made at a railroad crossing in South Dakota, even at the site of a tragedy that took the lives of two of her closest family members. Driven first by

Easter Sunday offers break in church attendance decline

Easter Sunday offers break in church attendance decline

South Dakota churches will undoubtedly see attendance jump during Easter services on Sunday as Christians come out in large numbers to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But behind the scenes, many church leaders will worry whether they can maintain the holiday momentum as religious affiliation and church attendance continue

How some South Dakota churches are adapting to attendance declines

How some South Dakota churches are adapting to attendance declines

Falling attendance and membership at many South Dakota churches has prompted pastors, leaders and elders to look for creative ways to keep people engaged and pursuing a larger purpose. Constanze Hagmaier, bishop of the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said that includes using technology to

Serenity Dennard disappearance: 2019 mystery still causing misery

Serenity Dennard disappearance: 2019 mystery still causing misery

One of the biggest mysteries in all of South Dakota — the unknown fate of 9-year-old Serenity Dennard — elicits one singular emotion more than any other for those who loved, cared for or searched for the precocious girl who disappeared from a Black Hills youth home more than four years ago.

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