Wall Street Journal Has A Bedbug Problem

Bedbugs are everywhere-in our movie theaters, our posh hotels, our retail establishments, our district attorneys' offices, even inside your WiFi connection, where they've already crawled through the Internet tubes and up your leg. The city's latest bedbug hotspot is within the offices of the Wall Street Journal, a publication that really hates parasites who feed off their betters. In a memo obtained by Capital New York, deputy managing editor Deborah Brewster informs the staff that bedbugs are in the building and looking for a handout just like every other bum:

Hello all,

I wanted to let you know that on Friday the facilities department received a report of a bedbug sighting in the video area of the 6th floor. Over the weekend, that and the surrounding areas were checked for bedbugs by our extermination company. The check, which included a sniffer dog, indicated the presence of bedbugs, or their possible presence, in part of the video area and in part of the main 6thfloor conference room. The areas affected have been steam cleaned (this kills bedbugs) and chemically treated (this kills bedbug eggs).

The extermination company will undertake a follow-up check of the affected areas in coming weeks and will also conduct further spot checks and monitoring of our office.

This is the second time that we know of that the Journal has had a bed bug scare. In 2010, the paper itself reported that "the Wall Street Journal and the New York headquarters of its parent company, News Corp.," underwent "bedbug treatment" after a staff member for Barron's "informed us of bed bugs inside his apartment building." No bedbugs were ever found, but a bedbug-sniffing dog "did signal concerns" and the offices were treated.

We look forward to the Journal's coverage of the latest chapter of what's become an all-too-routine Bug Bites Man story.