Release the hounds. The latest innovation in bedbug eradication is being brought to you by Advanced K9 Detectives, a company using man’s best friend to sniff out the bloodsucking pests plaguing New York City. Since 2004, complaints about bedbugs to the Department of Housing have soared to 6,889 (up from 537 a year) and 2,008 building owners issued summonses (compared to 82 in ’04). Carl Massicott, the owner of the six-dog team, says he’s been......

Nothing makes our skin crawl like reading stories about bedbug infestations. The notorious nocturnal bloodsuckers are almost impossible to get rid of, attack you under the comfort of covers, and can leave you covered with welts. Yesterday, the Daily News took a final 2007 look at the bedbug epidemic that leaves no corner of the city untouched. In 2004, 537 complaints were phoned in to 311 regarding bedbugs; however, in the fiscal year ending......

With the buzz about the 248 McKibbin Street MySpace page organizing comments about its bedbug infestation, we thought it would be a good time to visit the Bedbug City Map. The map relies on reported bedbug incidents, which are mapped by the intensity of the infestation as well - and 248 McKibbin is at the red "Help!" level. Bedbugs are hell, no question about it. Ridding an apartment of bedbugs requires multiple fumigations and......

Today in dirty restaurant news-- "Coffee Shop on Union Sq closed by the Dept. of Health! They have signs up that say "closed for renovations" but one of the ones on 16th St. has the tell-tale yellow DOH sign underneath. They have papered teh windows so you can't see the signs or see inside." [Via Gothamist Contribute] What would you choose: Dealing with bedbugs in a rent-stabilized apartment in Windsor Terrace or leaving the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: jumper down on the Triboro, an actor injured on the I Am Legend Set, and "white powder" at a High School on the West Side. Hide your wife: Prince Charles is in town this weekend! A documentary about young African-American kids and their preference for white dolls is stirring up some controversy. Why does the Brooklyn Critical Mass get police cooperation, while the Manhattan ride gets nothing but trouble?......

It's possibly the most famous couple to sue over bed bugs: Saturday Night Live star Maya Rudolph and auteur Paul Thomas Anderson claim that their SoHo rental was infested with the vermin and are now suing Halstead Property and the owner, Francis Feeney! They were paying $13,500/month for a Greene Street loft (plus two months' rent, security deposit, broker's fee), but found themselves (and their baby!) bitten. Ew. The exterminator told them they would have......

We bet every person who read the NY Times' article, Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask, checked the nooks and crannies of their apartments, prayed they would never see a bedbug and then took a swig of a hard liquor to make the scary go away. But it was a very informative article - we learned:- Landlords are required to get rid of bedbugs within 30 days of an......

-- Can a man who wears white socks with penny loafers really be considered "the most comely professor in town"? -- A sad story about the state of privately-operated homeless shelters: "bedbugs the size of roaches." -- Yikes: the head of CUNY is going to make $395k per year! He better be grading a lot of papers! -- Is this the ugliest housing in all of New York, or just in Red Hook? You......

- We're ambivalent of most of the never-ending supply of 9/11 memorials out there (i.e., the one in Jersey which includes the names of 40 people who didn't actually die in the attack!), however we adore the Tribute in Light. Sadly, its funding/fate after 2008 is up in the air, as it were. Not good. - "In 2005, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent United State residents - nearly 96,000 - than......

Two awesomely odd but true stories: First, a 58 year old woman conned two old ladies out of $245,000 in order to start a carrot cake baking business. Patricia Murtaugh of Queens stole $160,000 from a 90 year old after "offering to help her catalog her deceased brother's possessions." Now Murtaugh, who had put a down payment on a place in Rhode Island to start her carrot cakery, will have to do one to three......

Bedbugs are horrible and gross and nothing that anyone should have to deal with. That said, it's probably not a great idea to douse your mattress with gasoline in order to repel the critters. The FDNY has found a number of Queens residents who have taken to soaking their mattresses with gasoline - even children's mattresses - as a foolproof way of getting rid of bedbugs. Or even wiping it on themselves. Battalion Chief Robert......

- An excellent look at the proposed West 96th Subway renovations at Starts and Fits - A boat capsized off Breezy Point and the Coast Guard is looking for the passenger - Fun NY Times article about the awesome olfactory nerves dogs have and how they are helping humans by sniffing out bedbugs, detecting cancer, and more! - Kate's Paperie goes the home decor route - Was The Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway......

It's midterms week and you've broken out into a rash. But it's not because you're worried about your GPA - you've got bedbugs! Some poor freshmen at Columbia University are being evacuated from their rooms in John Jay Hall in order for housing services to fumigate the rooms. And not only do they have to evcuate, they need to "completely empty their rooms." The Columbia Spectator notes the craziness of the fumigation scheme, given that......

If it's January, it must be Sundance when the city's movers and shakers in the film industry descend into Park City. And why not, since there are tons of art house cinemas here, as well as indie movie companies and indie movies being shot here. However, the Reeler, aka S.T. VanAirsdale, is out in Sundance and posted this photograph of a car over there that shows how the other half lives - that is,......

On the heels of this past weekend's stomach turning report that, yes, bedbugs are on the rise all over the city, two Swiss businesswomen are suing the Hotel Pennsylvania and Vornado Realty Trust over the bedbug-infested stay they had in September. Their lawyer says that when the women complained to a hotel employee about being bitten by something, the employee immediately said, "Bedbugs!" showing that there was knowledge of the pest at the Penn Station-area......

Oh if only we could go back to the days when "don't let the bedbugs bite" was just something you said. But, as the Times really tries to hammer home today, that just doesn't seem to be possible anymore. In the past two years, and especially in the past six months, New York has become a bedbug mecca (Seriously, "Last year the city logged 377 bedbug violations, up from just 2 in 2002 and......

We answer the tough questions. This week on Ask Gothamist: -Trying to train that dog to stop barking. -Do alligators live in the sewers beneath the city? -Where can I find some cool furniture at low prices? -The perks and perils of processed food. -Movies based on advice books. -What to wear to the theater. And where to eat afterwards. -Free concerts and other fun things to do this summer. -Gah! Bedbugs! -Tipping for takeout.......

Is your apartment infested with bedbugs, while your landlord doesn't do much about it? Take heart in the case of Peter Young: A judge ruled that Young had to pay only 55% of his rent during the infestation, after Young's landlord sued him when he stopped paying rent because of the "unacceptable" bedbug situation. Young lives on Ludlow Street, in a $1,025/month studio managed by Ludlow Properties. The Post reports that Housing Court Judge Cyril......

Do you know about the landlord's responsibility regarding bedbugs? We've had them since November, and have been told repeatedly by the landlord that they have no idea why this is happening and that there are no other bedbug reports in the building. We just found out that 5 other apartments in the building have bedbug problems, some for longer than us, and that all of us have been told we are the only ones with......

Forget the cicadas, New York: Bedbugs are apparently back to suck your blood. The Daily News freaked the bejesus out of Gothamist by saying how cases of bedbug infestation in city apartments (from rundown ones to luxury apartments, which means that bedbugs are blind to socioeconomic status) have risen dramatically, with exterminators seeing anywhere from ten times to a hundred times more cases recently. Bedbugs are no longer a sign of less-than-stellar cleaning skills, especially......

Laurie Woolever, Cook/Food Writer...

Is Leona Helmsley landlady to bedbugs as well as many NY businesses? A Mexican father and son claim that they were mauled by bedbugs at the Helmsley Park Lane hotel and are suing the Leona's hotel. Last summer, Ventura Arrangoiz and Ventura Requejo stayed awoke at the Park Lane hotel with many bug bites all over their torso and arms, but did not think they were from the hotel and left for the day. Upon......