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

Pending closure and poor care at Ipswich nursing home latest outcomes of staffing crisis

Pending closure and poor care at Ipswich nursing home latest outcomes of staffing crisis

IPSWICH, S.D. – A crisis at the nursing home in Ipswich illustrates the two worst potential outcomes of staffing shortages affecting long-term care facilities across the state: possible nursing home closures and troubling incidents of inadequate resident care. A shortage of staff was given as one reason that officials for

As Native students struggle in SD schools, a Lakota-immersion model emerges

For the third time in five years, Native American legislators and supporters of improving Native education in South Dakota have proposed legislation that would allow for creation of state-funded charter schools aimed at immersing students in Lakota Indian language, culture and history. And once again, the measure has failed in

Rising anger and violence toward healthcare workers hampering patient care in SD

Increasing anger and even violence toward healthcare workers in South Dakota and across the U.S. is adding great stress on practitioners who are already enduring the pain and hardship of providing care during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers in South Dakota have been called offensive names, faced threats

News Watch to host panel discussion March 3 on proposed Native-focused charter schools in S.D.

Use this link to register to listen live to the March 3 Native education panel Click THIS LINK to be taken to a web page where you can sign up to watch the March 3 panel discussion live. South Dakota News Watch is convening a panel of experts for an

Veteran journalist Stu Whitney joins South Dakota News Watch as investigative reporter

South Dakota News Watch continues to strive for excellence with its latest addition to our award-winning investigative news team. A 30-year veteran of newspaper journalism, Stu Whitney of Sioux Falls joins South Dakota News Watch as an investigative reporter starting Feb. 22, 2022. Whitney is a graduate of the journalism

Legislation seeks to clarify who decides what happens to the dead in South Dakota

South Dakota has some of the weakest laws in the nation when it comes to regulating who decides what should happen to the body of someone who dies, and the vague laws are causing greater expense for survivors, creating emotional trauma for grieving families and funeral directors, and occasionally leading

South Dakota tribal college part of NASA plan to build housing for use on the moon and Mars

Sinte Gleska University, a tribal college in Mission, S.D., may soon enter into a partnership with NASA that would result in new science education programs, more affordable housing for state reservations and the development of 3D housing that could someday be used on the moon or Mars. The National