How to contact me: beth.dalbey@patch.com
Beth Dalbey, a longtime award-winning community journalist, is Patch’s national editor. She has been with Patch since 2011 when she launched sites in Iowa and provided national Iowa Caucus and swing-state general election coverage. She worked as a regional manager before moving to the national desk in 2017. Throughout her time at Patch, she has reported and written about local topics of national interest and is currently focusing on exclusive Patch content, including Block Talk, an only-on-Patch neighborhood etiquette column for which readers supply advice.
Dalbey and the newspapers she has edited have earned numerous awards for news, feature and government coverage, editorial and column writing, and overall general excellence from the Iowa Newspaper Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Associated Press Media Editors. In 1992 in Iowa, she led the weekly Dallas County News to win the INA's prestigious Newspaper of the Year award, competing against metro newspapers many times its size. She was the youngest recipient ever of the INA’s Distinguished Service Award in 1994. At Patch, she received the Todd Richissin Award for Excellence in Reporting and Writing for the “Menace of Bullies” project.
In Iowa, Dalbey’s byline has also appeared in the Fairfield Daily Ledger, where she was editor for five years; and in the Des Moines Business Record, Cityview, dsm magazine and other publications under the umbrella of Business Publications Corp., where she was the editorial director for several years. Dalbey also freelanced for the Des Moines Register and other print and digital publications
Dalbey grew up in Missouri and majored in journalism at Northwest Missouri State University. Except for a three-year stint as communications editor for a scientific institute doing ape language research, she has spent her entire career in community journalism. At the former Great Ape Trust of Iowa, she wrote about the world-famous resident bonobos Kanzi and Panbanisha.
Teen’s song debuting on Spotify gives voice to a generation; baseball is life, and artist captures it with each brushstroke; more good news.
Five times allowable limit of lead in dinosaur-shaped treat; cheese tied to a multi-state E. coli outbreak; Weber faces class action suit.
Readers share blunt warnings — and controversial fixes — to stop drivers who speed through neighborhoods.
Is it OK to eat dyed eggs? How long will eggs stay good in the fridge? Plus, see video showing how to peel eggs without damaging the whites.
It used to be so simple. Calculate a 15 percent tip on a restaurant bill, and you’re out of there. Has tipping gotten out of control?
Conservation efforts large and small are paying off, but monarch butterfly populations remain perilously low and vulnerable to collapse.
Along with the nominees for the “Oscars of culinary arts,” the James Beard Foundation also announced Achievement Award winners.
If you need to make a last-minute run, you should be able to find a grocery store open. Ulta Beauty, IKEA others announce Easter hours.
Stores expected to shutter this year include familiar names like Kroger, Walgreens, Macy’s, Francesca’s, Carter’s, Pizza Hut and Wendy’s.
More people are outside as the weather warms. What can be done about people who speed, don’t pay attention, and drive like jerks?
![Drivers Treat Neighborhood Streets Like Racetracks: What To Do? [Block Talk]](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/shutterstock/790386/20260326/042055/styles/patch_image/public/shutterstock-1226365753___26161721822.jpg)
Student memorizes 1,067th digits of Pi; researchers find a vintage recording of a whale’s song; toe-sucking stalker learns his fate.
These Easter “gifts” are often abandoned, and they don’t know how to survive on their own because their mothers never got to teach them.
Nobody got hurt. Everybody laughed — eventually. And at least one prankster is waiting for the inevitable day when he will get his.
Demonstrations come amid backlash over federal immigration operations and U.S. involvement in an escalating conflict with Iran.
“What I can’t understand is why people bag it and then leave the full bag,” one person said of cold-weather dog poop scooping etiquette.
Severe storms are expected to become more intense and frequent in areas that historically haven’t faced the same risk as “Tornado Alley.”
‘Gel-like mass’ found in children’s ibuprofen; product sold at Aldi may contain rodent hair; vitamins contain erectile dysfunction drugs.
A good April Fools’ Day prank is clever, well-timed and without a hint of malice. Share the best prank you ever pulled or had pulled on you.
Everyone’s a critic. One shock-worthy combination at an MLB stadium is as wrong as wearing socks with sandals, someone said on social media.
Iran continues its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and unless it’s reopened, oil and gas prices could continue to increase.
