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

Construction crews prepare to work on the exterior of an apartment complex

Warning signs found in new South Dakota economic data

Farm income, sales tax collections, job openings, unemployment, personal income and gross domestic product are among the top concerns. 'No red flags ... (but) a return to more of the normal.'

A historic building sits on a hit in Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Hot Springs takes next steps in push for prosperity

The Southern Black Hills city is part of a pilot project to identify top problems and solutions using journalism and community engagement.

A blue watertower in the city of Watertown, South Dakota.

Watertown taps resident input to solve problems

The South Dakota city of 23,000 is among those crowdsourcing solutions to community challenges like housing, child care and labor.

A man and a woman pose for a photo taken by another person at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Southeast SD surges ahead of Black Hills in tourism revenue

South Dakota saw $4.96 billion in tourism spending in 2023, with 14.7 million visitors. Increasingly, more of them are drawn to the 14 counties in and around Sioux Falls.

A doctor and a nurse help a homeless man in a wheelchair with his foot in an alley in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

How Midwest Street Medicine is bridging health equity gaps for the homeless

"This is where we can make a real difference in health equity and life expectancy."

Dudley Schroeder stands in front of his business, Transmission Depot, on Aug. 8, 2024, in Armour, South Dakota.

Armour shop owner jailed over nuisance property ruling

The case demonstrates the clash of personal rights with the need to protect the entire community and keep small towns from dying.

The outside of the Dakota State University Madison Cyber Labs building.

How a small college became a national cyber powerhouse

A credit card company's move to South Dakota 40 years ago helped turn Dakota State University into a unique, high-tech campus.