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

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

South Dakota Matters: The Future of Pheasants — News Watch to host online panel discussion

South Dakota Matters: The Future of Pheasants — News Watch to host online panel discussion

Join South Dakota News Watch Content Director Bart Pfankuch as he hosts a discussion among four top wildlife management experts from South Dakota regarding pheasant management and the controversial Nest Predator Bounty Program. The event will be held live on Facebook at 7:30 p.m. Central, 6:30 p.

For now, masks and vaccines optional in South Dakota back-to-school plans

Back-to-school plans for this fall are taking shape in South Dakota and — so far, at least — it looks like most teaching will take place in person and masks and COVID-19 vaccinations will be optional for students, teachers and staff. But safety protocols could change quickly as public school officials keep