Not-so-shocking news alert: The Wall Street Journal has bedbugs -- maybe.
From Main Street to Wall Street, the blood-sucking critters that shut down department stores, ruined clothing, annoyed Howard Stern and invaded apartments this summer continue to infest the city, holding New Yorkers captive in fear of accidentally inviting the creepy crawlers into their homes and offices.
The latest area victimized by the infestation that has swept the nation are the main offices of The Wall Street Journal and the Manhattan headquarters of News Corp., its parent company, on the fourth floor at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, according to a report on the paper's website. A spokeswoman for the company says a staff member for the financial weekly Barron's sparked the outbreak.
"After a Barron's staffer … informed us of bedbugs inside his apartment building, we arranged to test the area around his desk," the spokeswoman told the Journal. "We found no bugs. Nor could we find any physical signs of bugs."
Just to make sure, the company brought in bedbug-sniffing canines for a second opinion. Those dogs "did signal concerns," the spokeswoman said, and while officials still didn't find any "specific evidence of bugs," the company opted to steam clean and treat the area to prevent an infestation from emerging at a later time.
Employees got a memo yesterday afternoon telling them the treatment was precautionary and to reassure them their workplace is safe and creepy crawler-free, the Journal reports.
