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

Grain bin accidents and deaths rising due to poor crop conditions

Wet and cold weather in 2019 have created a dangerous situation this year for South Dakota farmers who store grain in bins, heightening a risk of entrapment or death that has existed on farms for generations. The number of reported grain entrapments across the country rose by 27% from 2018

Beyond the checkpoints: How a SD Native American tribe protects its people from COVID-19

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. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in north-central South Dakota has received extensive state and national press coverage in

SD colleges prepare for logistical and financial unknowns for next academic year

The COVID-19 pandemic has already changed the way colleges and universities are teaching students, forcing a move this spring and summer away from in-person classroom learning to remote education. Moving forward, the virus and the unknowns surrounding it have the potential to fundamentally alter the short-term and long-range future of

Communities rally to launch SD weekly newspaper with volunteer labor

A group of business leaders and volunteers with almost no journalism training or experience has banded together to launch a local weekly newspaper in Kingsbury County, S.D., where two weekly papers were closed on April 1 due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Armed only with an untested business

South Dakota News Watch wins national and regional reporting awards for work in 2019

South Dakota News Watch won several awards this month from two journalism organizations for work produced in 2019, with special recognition given to the staff’s coverage of agriculture. Content Director Bart Pfankuch won First Place in the News Category in the annual contest held by the North American Agricultural

Regulatory gaps and missed opportunities allowed COVID-19 to spread freely in US meatpacking plants

The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the U.S. meatpacking industry, but public health experts say the risks posed to workers and the U.S. food supply chain by airborne viral infections were readily apparent and could have been addressed years ago. Ongoing virus outbreaks could have been avoided, and future

SD students suffering loss of learning during school closures

Millions of American schoolchildren, including tens of thousands in South Dakota, are suffering a loss of learning and reduced exposure to instructional rigor now that schools across the country have closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the best efforts of administrators, teachers and parents to engage in remote learning