How to contact me: deb.belt@patch.com.
Deb Belt has been an editor and team leader with Patch.com since August 2011, and regional manager of the Southeast team since 2017. After launching Patches in Iowa -- where staffers covered the 2012 Iowa Caucuses and the presidential campaign -- Deb joined the Southeast team of editors. Since March 2017 she has led Patch sites ranging from the Baltimore/DC area to Atlanta and Tampa/St. Pete.
She previously worked as an editor for 13 years at the Des Moines Register, focused on suburban coverage that ranged from local election coverage to city and county government reporting and crime/safety issues. During this period she led a team of 27 reporters, photographers and editors who produced 27 print sections a week, and transitioned into digital news.
As a weekly newspaper editor, Deb led the staff of the Indianola Record-Herald to win the prestigious Newspaper of the Year award from the Iowa Newspaper Association in 1997, competing against newspapers from major metros. She also won multiple INA and National Newspaper Association awards for covering city government and editorials examining open meetings issues, the need for bond issue approvals, and other good government practices.
In the digital space, Deb has earned an award for Patch's 2024 coverage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore harbor, along with local editor Jacob Baumgart.
Deb grew up in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, and majored in journalism at Northwest Missouri State University. She has spent her entire career in community journalism.
A La Niña climate pattern could mean a wet, cold winter for most of the country, The Farmers' Almanac said. What is in store for Florida?
Maryland's 2024 sales tax-free week ends Aug 17. Find out which items you can pay no tax on and how to stretch the savings.
Monday's full moon is a true blue moon. It is also the first of four consecutive supermoons — will Florida's weather cooperate to see it?
One of the country's best places in the country to find "cheap eats" is right here in Florida, a new analysis of budget eateries says.
Monday's full moon is a true blue moon. It is also the first of four consecutive supermoons — will Virginia's weather cooperate to see it?
A La Niña climate pattern could mean a wet, cold winter for most of the country, The Farmers' Almanac said. What is in store for Virginia?
Monday's full moon is a true blue moon. It is also the first of four consecutive supermoons — will Maryland's weather cooperate to see it?
A La Niña climate pattern could mean a wet, cold winter for most of the country, The Farmers' Almanac said. What is in store for Maryland?
A pair accused of stealing a car were free on other car theft charges and are suspects in more Montgomery County thefts, police said.
A Burtonsville retiree won $50,000 with a Joker’s Wild scratch-off ticket she bought at a Giant store, the Maryland Lottery said.
SEV Medspa, a popular location for celebrities, has opened its first Maryland location in Montgomery County.
A man has been indicted on manslaughter charges related to a 2023 crash that killed two Montgomery County women, authorities said Wednesday.
A locally-owned car wash wants to help Montgomery County families start the school year with a sparkling clean car.
A Montgomery Village man has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting Monday morning of a 21-year-old Gaithersburg man, police said.
Authorities have released the name of a motorcycle driver who died when he slammed into a pole near Lockwood Drive and Columbia Pike.
Montgomery County executive "disgusted" by antisemitic vandalism painted at Bethesda Elementary School and nearby building this weekend.
The Trump for President 2024 campaign office in Loudoun County was the site of a burglary Sunday. The sheriff's office is asking for leads.
VA travelers who show their driver's license or state ID when going through airport security will have to get a new card by May 2025.
MD travelers who show their driver's license or state ID when going through airport security will have to get a new card by May 2025.
Nearly 500,000 school buses take about 25 million students to and from school. Here's what Florida drivers need to know about the law.
