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

Donations to South Dakota News Watch doubled from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2021

If you are in favor of a well-informed citizenry, accountability of government and a better life for all South Dakotans, there’s never been a better time to donate to South Dakota News Watch. From Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, donors can double the impact of their gift to News

Rising prices for meat and other groceries placing financial burden on South Dakota families

Rising food prices have added another financial burden on South Dakota families already facing increased costs for essential goods and services during the pandemic and amid a recent spike in inflation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the average price of food bought for home consumption has risen at double the typical

Investigation part 1: Questions arise over COVID grants received by state senator’s son

UNION CENTER, S.D. – The son of a South Dakota state senator received more than $1 million in COVID relief funding for a business he says is located in Union Center but which public records and other data indicate actually operates in Texas. Chris Cammack, son of Senate Majority Leader

Investigation Part 2: South Dakota outsourced management and auditing of COVID relief grants

The state Bureau of Finance and Management is not conducting its own auditing of individual grant applications or grants awarded under the Coronavirus Relief Fund, according to Colin Keeler, director of financial systems in the department. The state hired an independent firm to manage both the application and award process

Labor shortage and COVID-19 costs causing crisis in South Dakota's long-term care industry

Finding a safe, affordable and accessible nursing home or assisted-living center for sick or elderly South Dakotans has become more difficult in recent years but is getting harder than ever due to a shortage of facility workers and financial losses suffered amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The labor shortage affecting businesses

South Dakota News Watch wins Community Spirit Award from Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation

South Dakota News Watch has been chosen to receive the 2021 Community Spirit Award from the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, which cited News Watch for its “impact in the lives of those it serves and in the community we call home.” The annual award recognizes a non-profit organization that

Political partisanship and GOP messaging driving vaccine hesitancy in South Dakota

Even as COVID-19 infections and deaths are rising once again in South Dakota, resistance to getting vaccinated remains entrenched among some state residents, and the political divide over whether to get vaccinated shows no signs of narrowing. Two new sets of polling data on vaccine-hesitancy rates and reasons have raised