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.
Demand is outpacing the supply of rapid COVID-19 tests as the highly contagious omicron coronavirus variant dominates in the United States.
Salads sold under the Fresh Express and other private labels are being recalled after listeria contamination was found in random sampling.
The CDC estimates the omicron variant accounted for 73 percent of COVID-19 infections last week, a sixfold week-over-week increase.
Your 5-minute read to start the day: Boosters best defense; Smollett dismissal “major failure”; dry shampoo recall; cats in airport trash.
With only 61 percent of Americans fully vaccinated and 28 percent boosted, officials worry about the ability to fight a fifth COVID-19 wave.
The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll breaks down why parents are stressed over the holidays, who feels it most and how they cope.
At 10, a girl who started baking as a hobby during pandemic lockdown is youngest Food Network contestant; a special reunion of Vietnam vets.
Schools increase security or cancel classes, and police beef up patrols as vague threats of school shootings and bombings spread on TikTok.
The permanent suspension of a requirement for in-person visits for medication abortions comes as Roe v. Wade hangs by a thread.
Cohen Ullah knows what he wants. His dad asked him how he’s going to pay for it. His answer: an ambitious plan for the family acreage.
A civil rights icon who defied racist bus segregation laws in 1955 hopes having her name cleared inspires others "to make the world better."
Tip from the 100 Dollar Dinner Club, born of a movement to help restaurant workers through the pandemic, led to an Arkansas server’s firing.
Apple TV+ acquired the rights to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and other holiday classics based on Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip.
“Internet’s on fire”: Flaw discovered in open-source code used across industry and government in cloud services and enterprise software.
“Tornado Alley” appears to be shifting to the Midwest and Southeast, a potential effect of climate change. Winter storms may be more potent.
Your 5-minute read: AR-15 rifles, ammunition found in threatened school shooting; Boy Scouts, Larry Nassar sexual abuse settlements; more.
This house of ginger and bread speaks to everyone who is too busy getting ready for the holidays to decorate their homes for the holidays.
Our readers' votes are in. Here's the winner of Patch's second annual gingerbread house contest.
Parents are rarely charged in school shootings, and terrorism charges are even rarer. The Oxford school shooting could change that.
The internet provider that services primarily small and mid-size customers reported a significant outage Tuesday.
