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.
Your neighbor may have forgotten about borrowing a weed trimmer — or may have broken it. In any case, it can be awkward to ask for it back.
![Neighbor Borrows But Doesn’t Return Stuff: What To Do? [Block Talk]](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/shutterstock/790386/20220803/114000/styles/patch_image/public/shutterstock-1325790116___03233607502.jpg)
Some areas are expected to see frequent snowfalls, followed by bitter arctic air plunging temperatures to levels not seen in several years.
Cancellations, lost luggage and other complaints mount amid staffing shortages that could continue through Thanksgiving and Christmas.
A man who launched a nationwide search for a kidney found it in his neighborhood; kids’ coffee stand raises hundreds of dollars for charity.
If no one wins Friday's drawing, the jackpot will eclipse previous records for the biggest in U.S. history, Mega Millions officials say.
Brain-eating amoeba infections are almost always fatal; new treatments offer hope — good news as waters where organisms thrive get hotter.
The jackpot could eclipse previous $1.5 billion records as ticket sales continue ahead of Friday night’s Mega Millions lottery drawing.
Bull shark sightings have been confirmed in Missouri and Illinois, and scientists say they could swim farther inland with climate change.
The TikTok challenge is a poop spoof, but doctors warn resisting bowel movements for a month could cause serious gastrointestinal problems.
House committee finds makers of military-style assault weapons used in mass shootings gear marketing to appeal to men with insecurities.
The Mega Millions jackpot, currently the fourth-largest in U.S. lottery history, could be much larger by Friday night's drawing.
The Delta Aquariid and Alpha Copricornid meteor showers peak through the weekend as the well-loved summer favorite, the Perseids, tune up.
With a plate full of priorities and no clear agreement on year-round daylight savings or standard time, House focuses on other priorities.
The cash payout was $487.9 million in Tuesday night’s drawing, but the odds of winning the big prize are long — about 1 in 302.5 million.
The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a "global health emergency" last weekend. U.S. health officials debate doing the same.
Swing state Democrats carefully weigh support for a federal assault ban as one poll shows the lowest support for such a measure since 2018.
Food Network’s “Kitchen Crash” win is worth more than the $5,000 prize; a found high school class ring brings comfort; saved by an Apple.
“Love the laughter, giggles and shrieks of joy,” one reader wrote. “Kids are the heart of a neighborhood” another said.
![Get Off My Lawn? Not So Much. Let Kids Be Kids. [Block Talk]](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/getty/790386/20220722/011152/styles/patch_image/public/gettyimages-2115453___22130806405.jpg)
In the shadow of the Uvalde tragedy, more schools require transparent book bags — policies kids see through and experts call inadequate.
The North American monarch butterfly, whose migration in kaleidoscopes of hundreds of thousands is a spectacle of nature, now endangered.
