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.
Describing close calls between kids playing outdoors and speeding drivers, readers share frustrations that little is being done to stop it.
![‘Not A Drag Strip’: Things Neighbors Want To Tell Drivers [Block Talk]](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/getty/790386/20230323/074310/styles/patch_image/public/gettyimages-471078105___23193627679.jpg)
Amoxicillin, the antibiotic used to treat group A strep, is in short supply. Without treatment, infections become more dangerous and deadly.
“I love that a guy who walked on the moon still looks up at the night sky and says, “Wow, that’s really cool,’ ” someone tweeted.
The FAA safety alert responds to a string of high-profile near misses, but there have been 699 “runway incursions” so far this year.
If you’re going to dream, you may as well dream big. These ritzy estates let you live like you’re on vacation all year round.
The Drug Enforcement Administration said xylazine “is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier.”
It’s National Cocktail Day on Friday, March 24, because a “holidaymaker” said it is. But why not go ahead and celebrate with these drinks?
A now-disabled TikTok video was a how-to on stealing certain Kia and Hyundai models, driving a dramatic spike in thefts.
The fungus C. arius “spread at an alarming rate,” but as troubling is that the number of drug-resistant cases tripled, the CDC said.
The monthlong observance of Ramadan is a time of fasting, introspection and prayer observed by 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
Cronobacter is a rare and sometimes deadly germ for infants under a year. If you have recalled lots of Gerber formulas, get rid of them now.
Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America asks regulators to extend insurance to restore confidence in the banking system, avoid further bank runs.
Twins use chess to help asylum seekers thrown into chaos feel welcome; brain-eating amoeba almost always kills, but this time it didn’t.
A developing ethos around food waste reduction has spawned dozens of organizations across the country.
A frozen tropical fruit blend sold at Trader Joe’s and frozen strawberries sold at other U.S. grocery stores are included in the recall.
As babesiosis increases in prevalence in the Northeast, three states — Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont — reported sharp increases.
The pandemic exposed inefficiencies and failures in America’s food system. Here are some of the things being done to fix it.
Exceptional and extreme drought conditions are easing, but the parched West and Southwest aren’t out of the woods yet, according to NOAA.
Biden announced fresh federal measures aimed at curbing gun violence, but without action by Congress, his loftiest goals are doomed.
Walls of windows let nature star in these three homes. In one, a 1700s stone house flows flawlessly into a mid-century modern masterpiece.
