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

Colleges part 2: Pandemic puts college degree out of reach for more South Dakotans

The COVID-19 pandemic has further lowered the ability of low-income and minority students in South Dakota, including Native Americans, to enroll in college, obtain a degree and gain the lifelong financial and upward mobility benefits that come with higher education. Education experts in South Dakota and around the country are

Colleges at a crossroads: Pandemic creates new challenges and highlights historic concerns

Colleges and universities across South Dakota were facing long-range financial, logistical and access challenges even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Enrollment was falling, state financial support for public universities was dropping, and rising tuition led to high loan burdens for many students and reduced access to obtaining a degree for

Poll: Women less supportive than men of Gov. Kristi Noem and state virus response

Poll: Women less supportive than men of Gov. Kristi Noem and state virus response

While a majority of South Dakotans continue to approve of the overall performance of Gov. Kristi Noem, a new poll shows that women are far less supportive than men of the governor, her handling of health-care issues and the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The poll results come

Poll part 2: SD women express support but also criticism of Gov. Kristi Noem

A new statewide poll shows that women are less supportive than men when it comes to almost every aspect of the performance of Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican who is the state’s first female governor. The poll of 600 residents was conducted from Oct. 22-28 and sponsored by South

SD election officials take new approaches to voting amid pandemic

Editor’s note: This article was produced through a partnership between South Dakota News Watch and the Solutions Journalism Network, a national non-profit group that supports rigorous journalism about responses to problems. South Dakota election officials are taking a wide range of steps — and implementing some creative measures — to ensure

Long-term care residents in SD suffering health crisis due to COVID-19 isolation

As nursing homes and assisted-living facilities have restricted the movements of residents and eliminated most in-person visits by friends and families amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an unexpected elderly health crisis has emerged in South Dakota and across the country. The mental and physical health of many residents of long-term care

CDC report on Smithfield COVID outbreak in Sioux Falls was redone with ‘watered down’ safety recommendations

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved a final report on a massive COVID-19 outbreak at the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, then retracted that report and redid a second final report with much less stringent worker-safety recommendations. The first report was dated April 21, 2020, and