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.
Fireworks are “utterly terrifying” and more dogs run away over the 4th of July holiday than at any of other time of the year, advocate says.
A mysterious crash 75 years ago of a “flying saucer” on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, made it OK to ask about extraterrestrial life.
Justice Samuel Alito Jr. wrote the majority opinion that strikes down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
As America’s birthday approaches, is it fair to ask neighbors to end fireworks shows by 11 and confine them to the 4th of July weekend?
![When Is It OK To Set Off Fireworks In The Neighborhood? [Block Talk]](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/shutterstock/790386/20220624/093655/styles/patch_image/public/shutterstock-1332317171___24093219680.jpg)
So far in 2022, six children have died in hot cars in four states in what child safety advocates say are completely avoidable tragedies.
Summer should be enjoyed — and it can be with common-sense precautions against too much sun, carelessness around water and drunken driving.
With several cases yet to decide, the Supreme Court will issue opinions on Friday, but decisions could come in July, too.
The bipartisan bill would make the most significant curbs on firearms since an assault weapons ban in the 1990s that was allowed to expire.
Congress must approve the three-month suspension of the federal gas tax, which some analysts say could drive gas prices even higher.
At the least, let veterans in your neighborhood know you plan a 4th of July fireworks display. Unexpected explosions can trigger PTSD.
Some 47.9 million people are expected to travel to celebrate Independence Day, 42 million of them in their cars — despite $5-a-gallon gas.
Pain relievers sold nationwide pose a poisoning risk, the Consumer Products Safety Commission said in four new recalls labeled as "urgent."
Seventh-generation cantor Glenn Sherman's pilgrimage to Warsaw, Poland — his own March for the Living — fulfills a familial promise.
Last year, Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday was approved in 1983.
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible in the pre-dawn sky in a rare a planetary alignment that won't return until 2040.
At the least, water utilities should tell residents if their water contains PFAS a cluster of chemicals found in durable plastics, EPA says.
Dads reveal humor and wisdom with the advice they've handed down to their children. Spoiler: If duct tape can't fix it, it can't be fixed.
The teacher shortage isn’t new, but the pandemic and culture wars join compensation as reasons up to 55 percent of educators may quit.
Summer officially begins Tuesday with the June solstice — a good time to watch for a rare planetary alignment and electric blue clouds.
Men "scoffed at the holiday's attempts to domesticate manliness flowers," historian wrote of early 1900s push to make Father's Day official.
