How to contact me: beth.dalbey@patch.com.
I'm a longtime community journalist and started with Patch.com in 2011.
My career has been solely focused in journalism, except for a brief detour in 2007 when I joined the communications department of a scientific research institute studying the evolution of language in bonobos and other great apes.
I left journalism for that brief 3-year period because I knew it would be an adventure – it was! – and worked as a freelance writer and consultant after that position was eliminated in 2010.
Beliefs
Politics: I’m a registered independent. I will vote every time, regardless of party affiliation, for the individual with the best ideas to make our communities more livable.
Religion: I grew up attending the United Methodist Church in my small hometown. It was a great foundation that taught me most of what I believe is right and wrong. I believe in a supreme being. I respect others’ right to believe what they believe, as long as they’re not proselytizing on the taxpayer’s dime, and I think this whole business of seeing everyone who does good works as an angel or every marvelous outcome as a miracle cheapens both.
Meteor shower lovers, catch the soon-to-peak Eta Aquariids in the early morning hours, when you'll also be able to see Jupiter and Saturn.
Patch readers are dishing out the best advice their mothers ever gave them in our extended Mother’s Day 2021 celebration.
Another door opens for Latinas; nine — count them, nine — students tie for valedictorian; utility worker fell in just the right place.
Patch readers share the best advice their mothers ever gave them in our extended Mother’s Day 2021 celebration.
Safety grades by the nonprofit health care watchdog group Leapfrog show how U.S. hospitals responded to coronavirus pandemic pressures.
Patch readers are dishing out the best advice their mothers ever gave them in our extended Mother’s Day 2021 celebration.
Patch readers are dishing out the best advice their mothers ever gave them in our extended Mother’s Day 2021 celebration.
As Patch readers across America share the best advice they ever received from their mothers, some are whimsical — and absolutely relatable.
Patch readers share wisdom passed along by their moms in an extended Mother’s Day 2021 celebration.
Patch asked readers to share the best advice they ever got from their mothers for our extended Mother’s Day 2021 celebration.
Patch readers are dishing out their moms’ best advice in our extended celebration of Mother’s Day 2021.
A dream quinceañera in a homeless shelter; surfing Lake Erie in the spring (or anytime) is for the hardy; cherry blossom capital disputed.
April’s full pink moon is the first of three consecutive supermoons that will trick your eye and appear bigger and brighter.
In our extended celebration of Mother’s Day 2021, Patch asked readers to share the best advice they ever got from their mother.
Docha, an African lion at the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, wouldn’t have survived epilepsy in the wild.
A light snack is OK, but consuming too many of the periodical cicadas set to emerge in 15 states and D.C. could cause problems for pets.
U.S. cities are on edge as jurors get the case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, accused of killing George Floyd.
More eateries in may be open for Mother’s Day 2021 than a year ago, but it’s a good idea to reserve a spot now. Others offer pickup deals.
How homelessness changed a corporate culture; nice day for white wedding (dress); Jimmy Kimmel lends celebrity to Feeding America effort.
Movie explores the disappearance and subsequent discovery of the bodies of Lori Vallow's children on doomsday prepper Chad Daybell's land.
