Free Republic

It's official: Cimex lectularius, better known as the lowly bedbug, has achieved the status of a national epidemic. And starting Tuesday, federal agencies will convene a major summit to address the itchy critter once thought of as little more than a scourge of third-rate motels. The 2011 National Bedbug Summit will be held this week in Washington, and according to a statement Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency, a half-dozen governmental agencies will send representatives in response to "consumer concern about the rising incidence of bed bugs in the United States." The meeting will be held at the (presumably bedbug-free)...

U.S. customs officials said on Wednesday they had found a beetle considered one of the world's most dangerous agricultural pests in a shipment of rice arriving at Los Angeles International Airport. Agricultural specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection found an adult khapra beetle, eight larvae and a shed skin in a shipment of Indian rice from Saudi Arabia ... Earlier this year, border protection officials in Detroit found a khapra beetle in a shipment of tile from China.

“A family came in covered in bedbug bites from infested ‘free’ furniture they found in an abandoned apartment,” said Dr. Joseph Leija, an allergist at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, which is part of the Loyola University Health System. “The couple had only taken the wooden headboards and baseboards of the beds – not the mattresses because they knew that would be unsanitary – as well as a table and chairs. The bugs were found in the tiny crevices..."

A northern New Jersey apartment building owned by the imam planning an Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero in New York has been put into temporary custodial receivership. Olivieri's decision means the tenants October rent payments will be used to eliminate bedbugs from four apartments, cap sewer lines in the basement and ...

Thanks to the Obama economic failure, this would be a Republican surge year regardless. In most races across the country, the scorned Independents broke for republicans giving them the margin of victory. Haley and Toomey I'll credit to the Tea Party. Miller is still up in the air. Past that, looking at the other big Tea Party races: Rubio won not because of the Tea Party but thanks to the selfishness of Charlie Crist splitting the dem vote. Angle lost to the most unpopular dem senator in the nation, a man who COULDN'T win. Paladino was a humiliating disaster. Rove...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - New York City's bedbug epidemic has spread to yet another landmark in the city that never sleeps -- the United Nations, officials at the world organization said on Wednesday. The pests appeared at places like the Empire State Building and Bloomingdale's before reaching the city's center of international diplomacy on the East Side of Manhattan. The U.N. press office said a bedbug-sniffing dog had confirmed the presence of bedbugs in furniture in the basement of the Dag Hammarskjold Library, where the offices of the team overseeing the U.N. headquarter's $1.9 billion renovation project are housed.

The United Nations said Wednesday it has been battling a bedbug infestation in its buildings since last year, making the international organization the latest in a growing number of New York City landmarks to deal with the widespread invasion of the blood-sucking insects.

You can now add the United Nations to the list of stores, theaters and landmarks as locations where bedbugs have been detected in New York City. "Over the weekend, dogs detected bedbugs in conference room chairs. Infected chairs have now been replaced," said a verbal announcement from the the U.N. spokesman's office. The United Nations has long been known as a hotbed of spying activity, but these bugs appear to be the decidedly low-tech crawly type.

New York City's bedbugs have climbed out of bed and marched into landmarks like the Empire State Building, Bloomingdale's and Lincoln Center, causing fresh anxiety among tourists who are canceling Big Apple vacations planned for the height of the holiday season. Some travelers who had arranged trips to New York say they are creeped out about staying in hotels and visiting attractions as new reports of bedbugs seem to pop up every few days. And officials in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration are concerned about the effect on the city's image and $30 billion tourism industry.

Bedbugs have already exhibited their interest in film, having attacked several movie theaters New York City. Now the meddlesome insects appear to be expanding their cultural horizons and developing more high-brow tastes. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts discovered a bedbug infestation in the dressing rooms of the complex’s David H. Koch Theater, home to New York City Ballet and the New York City Opera. Though the Koch theater is currently dark — the opera’s fall season is scheduled to begin Oct. 27 — it was occupied until Oct. 10 by the ballet. On Oct. 7, one day prior to...

Listening to 14 insect scientists present their latest discoveries at the BedBug Central summit here on Wednesday, I was hit with one nagging question: Are you people crazy as bedbugs? I don't mean to be rude, but as they described the hours they spend in the laboratory observing the behavior of these bloodsucking specks who've ruined people's lives - or at least their mattresses - I had to wonder. "I worked with German cockroaches for 18 years, so I think bedbugs are adorable," said Dr. Dini Miller, an elegant blond entomologist at Virginia Tech who was surrounded by bedbug groupies...

NEW YORK, - New York's spreading bedbugs have struck another high-profile Manhattan store, Niketown, Nike announced Saturday. Nike's flagship store on East 57th Street was forced to close Saturday, the New York Daily News reported. "Our primary concern is the well-being of our consumers and sales associates," Nike's statement said. "We are taking all proper steps to eradicate the problem and we expect the store to reopen shortly." The five-story Niketown, with big-name endorsers like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Derek Jeter, sells wares ranging from expensive footwear to headbands to T-shirts. Before hitting Niketown New York, the insects are...

Nike’s tourist-friendly flagship store here is closed down because of bedbugs... Nike is the latest big retailer in Manhattan to get bit by the bedbug infestation. Abercrombie & Fitch also was shut down the bed bug infestation that is ravaging New York, as well as one Times Square theater.

ST. LOUIS — Ten years ago, if pest control companies treated one home a year for bedbugs, it was unusual. But Joe Wells, a heat specialist and bedbug supervisor with Rottler Pest & Lawn Solutions in St. Louis, said he'll treat eight residences this week and next for the pesky blood suckers. He uses blasts of heat hot enough to warm an Easter ham. A resurgence of the bedbugs nationwide in recent months has become a bane and a boon. A bane for those who must live with the uninvited guests; a boon for those trained to get rid of...

Reports of bedbug infestations are on the rise, news that strikes fear into the hearts of frequent travelers. While hotels and motels aren't the only places where these insects can hitch a ride on clothes or other belongings -- after all, you can pick one up just by visiting a friend's home, and recent findings in movie theaters and offices prove how easily these bugs get around -- the high-traffic buildings are some of the highest-risk places to encounter these tiny insects that live by feasting on human blood while we're sleeping. By knowing what to look for and taking...

What would you do if your child came home from school with bedbugs? Freak out? Well, one south-central Kentucky school is trying to avoid that problem by temporarily banning backpacks, lunchboxes and other items after finding bedbugs in a school building. A half-dozen of the bloodsucking pests were spotted recently at Salem Elementary School in Russell County. WKYT-TV reports they were found on the floor of a classroom and on one student's backpack. Though the bugs can cause itchy bites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says bedbugs are not known to transmit or spread diseases. The bugs hide in dark...

Two weeks ago, there was a photo released of the White House covered in a tarp but without any explanation. At this time the Obama's were partying it up in the Gulf Coast for a pre-Cape Cod vacation while everyday Americans are facing 16% unemployment. With the outbreak of Bedbugs in Washington DC, does the tarp around the White House indicate that it was fumigated due to an infestation? While I hope the White House is safe from this Environmentalist/EPA caused pestilence, it would be rather amusing if true. Caption: "WASHINGTON - AUGUST 15: A view of a tarp covered...

DETROIT, - Residents of a Detroit high-rise apartment building said bedbug-related stoppage of mail delivery has interfered with their monthly income. Tenants in the Detroit Housing Commission's 143-unit Warren West Apartments said the mail stoppage, which the U.S. Postal Service said began last week when a mail carrier encountered exterminators spraying for bedbugs, is endangering their livelihoods by preventing them from receiving their Social Security checks in the mail, the Detroit News reported Thursday. "We have a bedbug problem, but it's not so bad; the exterminator comes in and takes care of it," said Robbie Wingate, 59, who suffered a...

Bedbugs are infesting U.S. households on a scale unseen in more than a half a century, and homeowners and apartment dwellers are taking desperate measures to eradicate the bloodsuckers, with some relying on dangerous outdoor pesticides and fly-by-night exterminators. The problem has gotten so bad that the Environmental Protection Agency warned this month against the indoor use of chemicals meant for the outside. The agency also warned of an increase in pest-control companies and others making "unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low cost." Ohio authorities, struggling against widespread infestations in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and other cities, are pleading with the...

Imam Behind Park51 Ignores Low-Income Tenants Pleas, They SayThe Muslim imam who plans to build a controversial Islamic center near Ground Zero should first take on a smaller project, like ridding his New Jersey apartment buildings of rats and bedbugs, angry tenants told ABCNews.com. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf owns buildings across the Hudson River in several New Jersey cities, including Union City, North Bergen and Palisades Park, which he reportedly renovated with tax dollars. Residents, many of whom are immigrants and most of whom are working-class Hispanic Catholics, say they have complained about unsanitary conditions for years. The imam, however,...