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Jerry Seinfeld turns tables on radical anti-Israel agitators after chaotic Chicago stunt backfires
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld turned the tables on anti-Israel hecklers who attempted to derail his Chicago performance last Friday, mocking the protesters as security removed them from the venue.
Viral video from the confrontation shows activists shouting at Seinfeld at the Chicago Theatre, accusing Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza and alleging that American taxpayer dollars are funding the deaths of thousands of civilians.
"Twenty-two thousand Palestinians who are children now are killed with our taxpayer money, and you’re making jokes!" a woman shouted in clips posted online.
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Seinfeld then dances on stage and mocks the protesters with sarcastic remarks, calling himself "racist" and saying, "It’s a genocide. I’m into it." He also joked that he would find out how much the protesters paid for their tickets and send the money directly to Israel.
As security personnel escorted the demonstrators out of the auditorium, one audience member shouted, "Rough her up!"
The Anti-War Committee Chicago and the Chicago branch of the US Palestinian Community Network have taken credit for organizing the disruption, writing on Instagram, "Friday’s disruption sent a clear message: Those who defend Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and throughout Palestine will be met with protest and are not welcome on Chicago’s stages without opposition."
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Fox News Digital reached out to Seinfeld’s team for comment but did not hear back.
The altercation is the latest in a string of protests targeting the 72-year-old Jewish comedian over his staunch defense of Israel.
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Comedian and media analyst Tim Young told Fox News Digital he believes protesters are paying top dollar to hijack comedy shows for viral attention rather than political discourse.
"They know that once they start yelling, everyone will whip their cameras out, and it is a very direct interaction and maybe one of the only direct interactions protesters get to have with celebrities and with the internet," Young said.
"If you are in a very intimate environment where everyone is quiet, listening to one person, you will be heard. And, so, that's what they're taking advantage of here."
Young compared the disruptions at Seinfeld's shows to protests at political rallies, arguing that some activists are willing to pay steep ticket prices to confront the comedian.
"It seems like people are going to Jerry Seinfeld's shows like they're going to a Trump rally to protest," Young said. "They wanted to get Jerry's attention. They want to, for some reason, they're very, very adamant on getting him to react to the Israel-Palestine conflict."
Young also linked the disruptions to Seinfeld's past criticism of performing at universities.
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"It's why Jerry doesn't like to go and perform at college campuses. And he said he hates performing at college campuses specifically for that reason," Young said.
"He doesn't want to get into the political thing. He doesn't want to have protesters yelling back and forth with him. It's a waste of the rest of the audience's time, and he knows that."
In May 2024, dozens of students walked out during Seinfeld's commencement address at Duke University, some holding Palestinian flags.
Seinfeld returned to the university in September 2025 to introduce freed Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov at a campus event, where he addressed anti-Israel protests, saying, "Free Palestine is, to me, just — you’re free to say you don’t like Jews. Just say you don’t like Jews."
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"By saying ‘Free Palestine,’ you’re not admitting what you really think," he said. "So, it’s actually — compared to the Ku Klux Klan, I’m actually thinking the Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest."
Seinfeld also faced controversy overseas last month when several European acts withdrew from the inaugural MEO Commedia a La Carte Fest in Lisbon, Portugal, where he is scheduled to headline later this year.
The acts did not name Seinfeld directly in their withdrawal statements, but some cited concerns about the Israel-Gaza conflict. One performer said someone involved in the festival defended ideas they considered indefensible.
Young, who previously dismissed efforts to cancel Seinfeld over his support for Israel, argued that protesters target the billionaire comedian because of his influence and celebrity status.
"This is all about control. It's all about power. And it's all about the left having power over these very influential and powerful people," Young said. "And they’re not having it."
NCAA moves to block Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's executive order expanding college athletes' eligibility
The NCAA filed a lawsuit against Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday, escalating a dispute that began three days earlier when he signed an executive order giving state universities the option to allow athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 to compete for a fifth college season.
The order challenges a new NCAA eligibility rule that excludes those athletes.
The suit was filed in federal court in Ohio. NCAA President Charlie Baker described taking the legal action as an "extraordinary step" intended to prevent DeWine from making it "impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field."
In the lawsuit, the NCAA accused DeWine, a two-term Republican governor, of trying to give Ohio athletes "a hall pass" from following NCAA rules.
DeWine’s executive order and the NCAA’s lawsuit in response mark the latest escalation in a wave of legal maneuvering that is reshaping college sports rules on a state-by-state basis.
The latest clash quickly prompted reactions from across the college athletics landscape. "This whole thing has become comical," University of Tennessee athletic director Danny White said on social media in reaction to the NCAA announcement.
Ohio’s eight Division I programs have yet to publicly weigh in on DeWine’s order. The measure has received support from Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, a championship-winning former coach at Ohio State and Youngstown State. The state’s Division I ranks include No. 4 Ohio State of the Big Ten, Cincinnati of the Big 12 and six members of the Mid-American Conference.
Under DeWine's order, public and private universities in Ohio would be able to allow the Class of ’22 athletes to play, even though the NCAA’s new guidance excludes those who have already played four seasons. The rule, passed in June, is the subject of multiple court fights.
DeWine’s office declined to comment on the lawsuit. Although it is unusual for the NCAA to sue a governor, the organization has done so before. In the early 1990s, the NCAA prevailed in a case against then-Nevada Gov. Bob Miller over a state law that would have required the association to provide greater due-process protections during enforcement proceedings.
In its court filing, the NCAA said it was trying "to halt a misguided attempt to give Ohio colleges and universities an unfair, unprecedented and unwarranted competitive advantage in stadiums and arenas throughout the country."
"College sports, like all sports, depend on participants following the rules. (DeWine) is attempting to give Ohio institutions a hall pass to break the rules," the lawsuit says.
The Ohio Supreme Court has already said it will determine the legality of the executive order. As part of that, it paused an appeals court ruling in a case there that had declared the ’22 athletes ineligible; the court asked both sides to file briefs in the case, in which basketball player Filip Borovićanin is the lead plaintiff, by next Monday.
Baker said the NCAA did not believe the Supreme Court's order did, in fact, declare those players immediately eligible to compete.
That case, like others around the country, is becoming more urgent by the day, as it involves football players, along with a handful of basketball players whose status for the upcoming season is in jeopardy. Among them: Gonzaga transfer Javon Bennett, Cincinnati's MJ Collins and Borovićanin himself, who played in an exhibition against Tennessee on Thursday night after DeWine's order put him back on the eligible list.
For years, the NCAA has urged Congress to pass federal legislation that would curb lawsuits challenging its rules, which govern hundreds of thousands of athletes nationwide. The Senate has sent the Protect College Sports Act, aims to provide that protection, to the House, but its fate remains uncertain in an election year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Rain forces MLB to postpone Guardians-Rays ALCS Game 4 in Cleveland
Steady rain in Cleveland forced MLB to postpone Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. The stadium grounds crew was forced to pull the tarp well before the scheduled 8 p.m. ET first pitch.
The grounds crew continued working in an effort to salvage the game, but by approximately 9 p.m. ET, the league announced the game had been moved to Saturday. The postponement also pushed Game 5 to Sunday, eliminating the scheduled off day and travel day for the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays.
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Should the series go the distance, the Guardians and Rays will play four games in four days to determine which advances to the World Series. Games 6 and 7 were already scheduled for consecutive days, Monday and Tuesday.
In a statement acknowledging the inclement weather, the Guardians also said tickets purchased for Friday night’s game would be honored.
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"Fans with tickets to the original ALCS Game 4 on Friday, October 16 may use those same tickets for ALCS Game 5 on Sunday, October 18 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Gates will open at 2:30 p.m. ET."
Before tonight’s decision, it had been nearly four years since rain forced a postseason game to be rescheduled. The previous rainout came on Halloween in 2022, pushing Game 3 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies to the following day. Philadelphia shut out Houston 7-0 on Nov. 1, 2022.
Jalen Brunson is afraid to open the bag containing his NBA championship hat because of horrors inside
You'd think that a player's NBA Championship hat would be one of their prized possessions, but when it's carrying the potential funk factor that New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson's might be, perhaps not so much.
The Knicks locked up their first NBA title in decades back in June, and after all of the festivities, Brunson revealed that his championship lid is still packed away in a bag.
And the potential horrors within are keeping him from opening it.
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"Mine is still not washed; it’s in the bag, and I’m afraid to open it," Brunson said on a recent episode of his podcast "Roommates Show" with teammate Josh Hart. "It smells terrible: Champagne, sweat, cigars, food, beer, tequila."
That sounds like the notes of the worst cologne of all time.
That's a recipe for some serious stink, and that's why on the off chance you ever win a championship (hey, it could happen; your church league softball team could be a wagon next season) you've got to suck it up, let it air out and wash it.
What you don't want to do is leave it in a sealed bag like Brunson has done. Now he's got a science fair project on his hands.
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Not only will that thing smell so bad it'll make your hair fall out, at this point it could have a small civilization growing on it, or it could've sprouted a set of eyes.
Three of them.
I know someone — it was not me, I swear — who left a sweaty hat in a bag for quite some time, and then, after a bit, put it in their closet.
However, this closet was accessed through the bathroom; therefore, it maintained the right level of humidity for some kind of mold or fungus or alien entity to start growing from this hat.
It was a horror show, and unfortunately, that may be the fate of Jalen Brunson's NBA Championship hat.
I hope I'm wrong, but if there's one thing I know, it's the do's and do-not-do's of hat funk.
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Judeo-Christian values under assault in American schools
BIBLE BIAS: Washington school district that forced kids to hide Bibles in sealed envelopes must apologize, pay $275K
SILENCED BELIEFS: Christian teacher was 'quite shocked' after getting fired for telling student she's pro-life
POTTY POLITICS: Pennsylvania school district unveils plans for gender-neutral ‘universal toilet rooms’
HATE 101: Haverford professor charged over alleged ‘heinous’ antisemitic online attacks, barred from campus
Falcons' Michael Penix cleared to face Bears following rib injury as Caleb Williams' status remains unclear
Michael Penix Jr. made his highly anticipated 2026 debut in Week 3, helping the Atlanta Falcons earn their first win of the season.
Atlanta followed with another victory, as Penix threw for 223 yards and Bijan Robinson rushed for 145 in a dominant win over the New Orleans Saints.
Then came another scare. A sack late in Atlanta’s Week 6 game against the Baltimore Ravens briefly knocked Penix out of the game. He returned one play later but did not play in overtime because of rib discomfort, leaving many wondering whether he had suffered another setback.
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Following an MRI earlier this week, Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday that Penix was on track to start Sunday, barring a setback. On Friday, Penix had no injury designation and was fully cleared to take the field as QB1 this weekend.
Penix has participated in practice all week, and Stefanski added that he does not anticipate the signal caller needing any sort of extra protection for his ribs on Sunday. The first-year Falcons head coach also does not believe the game plan will need to be adjusted heading into the matchup with the Bears.
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Penix played a key role as the Falcons scored a league-high 80 points combined in Weeks 3 and 4.
Penix’s injury history, dating back to his college days, is well documented. He suffered his latest ACL injury last November and underwent surgery. Penix has thrown for 719 yards and three touchdowns so far this season.
Bears star Caleb Williams' status for Sunday's game in Atlanta is much less clear than Penix's. He has missed the past three games with a hamstring injury. Bears head coach Ben Johnson said Wednesday that Williams would be listed was a full participant on the latest injury report.
On Thursday, Williams was listed as a full participant on the team’s injury report for a second consecutive day. He stressed, however, that a decision on his availability for Chicago’s Week 6 matchup with Atlanta had not yet been made.
"Before you start asking, do not know if I’m playing yet," Williams told reporters. "Have to go through a bunch of medical protocols, obviously have to get out there and practice, do the stress testing that you do when you’re trying to come back from injury or serious injury."
Williams also took issue with the way reports characterized his injury. He said "every single" report was inaccurate and clarified that he suffered a "pretty serious" hamstring tear.
"There’s nothing that has come out that has been right about what it is and what it has been," Williams said.
Kid Rock details sit-down with Trump, Stephen A Smith and Bill Maher
Kid Rock joined "Fox & Friends" Friday and said he recently had dinner with President Donald Trump, comedian Bill Maher and ESPN host Stephen A. Smith.
After talking about the Michigan Senate race and Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Kid Rock told the hosts of "Fox & Friends" there was one thing he, Maher, Smith and Trump all agreed on.
"Last night, I'm having dinner at the White House with the president, Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith. We all agreed socialism and communism has no place to have a foothold in our government," he said, before referring to El-Sayed.
"This guy is screaming socialism."
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Asked how the dinner went, Kid Rock said the group had a great conversation.
"It was epic," he said. "And the thing that was the greatest, there's so many points, I could do an hour on it, is that, you know, two Democrats, two Republicans sit down, break bread, have laughs, talk about, have tough conversations on a lot of the issues."
The musician described some of the issues Maher and Smith raised with Trump.
"Everything from socialism and communism to the war in Iran to Bill Maher was talking getting our interpreters and things from Afghanistan that helped us out," he said.
"Stephen A. Smith was very much engaged in talking about unemployment with Black women and the funding of HBCUs, which we reminded him that President Trump did fund $174 million to historically Black universities and colleges in 2016 [sic], which was great."
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Kid Rock said Smith made the point that, "With Trump putting a dagger through the heart of DEI, it seems like it's scared off a lot of corporate money coming to HBCUs.
"I want to make the point. I'll go out on a limb and say I’m speaking for President Trump and the administration saying, no, no, not only do we support, we want to encourage corporations to continue funding HBCUs and donating to them. We know how important education is, especially in the Black community, to strengthen Black families," he added.
Maher and Kid Rock previously had dinner with Trump at the White House in 2025. Maher recently revealed that he planned to meet with the president again.
"I'm having dinner with him again next week," Maher told famed Hollywood agent and executive Ari Emanuel during a conversation on Maher's "Club Random" podcast.
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"After the first dinner, I went back to doing what I do. ... But then, like, he just, out of the blue, 'Let's have dinner again.' And I was like, ‘Great.’ And he was really nice," Maher said.
"Like, 'I promise I won't say bad things about you like I did the last time.' And I texted back, and I said, 'You know what, you're the president of the United States. Say whatever the f--- you want. I'm just glad we're talking.' It's like being called a 'hockey puck' by Don Rickles. It's just what he does. It's how he talks."
Kid Rock also spoke to "Outnumbered" on Friday about his new album, "Halfway 2 Jesus," which includes collaborations with Eminem and Lil Wayne, among others.
"Not just me and my old friend of nearly 40 years, Eminem. Lil Wayne came on last minute," Kid Rock said, "Because me and Eminem decided a different song we did was more powerful than the other one we did, so it left a void there. And Lil Wayne, just being the ace he is. I mean, just, as solid as human beings come."
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The singer said he had voices of all kinds of different backgrounds and political beliefs on the album.
"I told him, I go, ‘Wayne, whatever you need me for, I will always be there,’" Kid Rock said. "'If you need to come change your tires, I'll be there to rotate them, whatever.' But not only them, and the other guests on the record, Gary LaVox and Jimmy Allen, but all the musicians, the songwriters, engineers, we are all from different backgrounds, different religions, different political beliefs.
"And yet we came together to make this powerful, very beautiful piece of work that — I haven't promoted many records in the last 10, 15 years — but very important to promote this one because I'm promoting the message of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And that's bigger than me."
College Football Playoff expanding again, but the money behind it is not what some would call a 'win'
Expansion of the College Football Playoff only needs a few approval signatures and final votes before we can officially start discussing what the sport will look like moving forward now that monetary figures are being finalized.
Over the past month, college football commissioners have been dissecting what the financial terms would look like once ESPN presented its final offer for the next iteration of the postseason tournament to crown a national champion.
According to sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations, ESPN and the CFP have informally agreed to a contract that would see the network pay an additional $345 million annually for the rights to eleven more football games that would take place with the 24-team playoff.
ESPN was first to report the financial details of its offer to the CFP, which would eliminate conference championship games after this season.
Over the next five years, with the loss of conference championship games, the network would pay for those leagues to get out of marketing agreements, along with the revenue generated from those same conference title weekends.
ESPN will have to pay FOX upwards of $60 million annually for the Big Ten to exit its agreement with the network, sources added.
Just three years ago, CFP committee members agreed to increase the amount of teams from four to twelve, in what many around the sport thought was a pretty decent tradeoff if the postseason was going to expand.
At that time, the thought of a 24-team playoff would have been laughed at, and was behind closed doors across college campuses.
But, thanks to the increased spending across college sports related to revenue-sharing and NIL budgets, along with a plethora of power-four schools operating at a deficit, there was chatter that sometime in the near future that number would only rise again.
Look no further than the NCAA Tournament, which recently expanded from 68 to 76 teams, as an example of college athletics looking to add more schools to an already crowded field.
Now, after over a year of back-and-forth negotiating by conferences on what the right amount of teams should be if the CFP were to have expanded, that number increases by twelve. If you remember back to last year's conversation, the thought was that if college football was going to add more teams, that number could have just reached sixteen, thanks to a hard push by the SEC.
At the same time, it was the Big Ten conference that held steady in its convictions that having a 24-team field would be the right move, giving more schools an opportunity to fight for the championship.
In reality, the additional twelve teams added a a justification mechanism to the postseason, given how many schools are spending over $30 million per year just to piece together a roster good enough to contend for a playoff spot.
So, with a push from Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, other conferences, including the ACC and Big 12, embraced the idea that a 24-team postseason would give their teams more opportunities to play meaningful football in December while creating a simpler path to the playoff.
On Friday, that thought process took another gigantic step, as those in charge of putting a product on television have all but signed the official paperwork to once again expand the college football playoff.
Pennsylvania socialist Democrat says he opposes imprisonment except for 'lawless MAGA thugs'
Pennsylvania congressional candidate and state Rep. Chris Rabb said this week that while he's against incarceration, he's in favor of locking up "lawless MAGA thugs."
"I’m a decarceration person," Rabb said on left-wing podcaster Wajahat Ali's show. "I believe the country that represents 5% of the world population but 25% of the people put in cages is morally wrong.
"It’s also bad policy, but I will make an exception for all of those f---ers who are lawless MAGA thugs, who have destroyed lives and communities. Lock all of those f---ers up. I know that seems a little hypocritical of me being on the left and being anti-incarceration, but lock those f---ers up."
Rabb, who was among several members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who won Democratic primaries this year, urged members of Congress to impeach and subpoena the people "who are destroying what’s left of our fragile democracy."
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He also acknowledged the irony of a socialist supporting incarceration but doubled down on the idea.
"I hope you all will forgive me in my, perhaps, weakness. It’s not vengefulness, but right is right," Rabb said. "We should have a level playing field. If there are moms who are going to jail because they changed what school district they are so that their kids could get a better education, and they get locked up, you better believe a Jared Kushner should be experiencing some jail time. So, if that makes me a conservative, gosh, but we need to send a message."
Fox News Digital reached out to Rabb's campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
"Trump-deranged Democrats have no agenda except to lob unhinged attacks against the president and obstruct the agenda he was elected to implement. This person is clearly disturbed and should seek help," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.
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Rabb's comments resembled those made by Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon, who, despite being a DSA member, has insisted that she is not a socialist.
In an interview with CNN, Nixon told host Kasie Hunt she would like to see her opponent, Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., locked up.
"They are spreading, like, a lot of disinformation and lies on commercials about me, of saying things like I want to abolish prisons and I want to defund the police," Nixon said.
"Why would I want to do that when I want her locked up and punished in jail for what she has done?"
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When asked by Hunt to clarify whether she wanted to see Moody locked up, Nixon replied, "Basically, yes. Because of what she did, yes. I absolutely would want that to happen. Yes."
Bedbugs found in plane's economy seats force major airline to cancel flight
An international flight scheduled to travel from Italy to Australia was abruptly canceled last week when a bedbug infestation was discovered in the cabin during an earlier flight, and the airline issued an apology for the incident.
The grounding came after passengers on the nearly 17-hour Qantas journey from Perth to Rome reported being bitten by the insects Oct. 9, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
"We sincerely apologize to customers for the cancellation of Saturday’s Rome-to-Perth service, which allowed our engineers and maintenance teams to carry out a deep clean of the aircraft after an issue [was] identified on a small number of economy seats," Qantas Airways Limited told Fox News Digital.
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Passenger Hailey Bagnall told the TV news program "9News Sydney" that bedbugs were "crawling over our belongings, our clothing, our Qantas blankets, and they were even crawling along the window."
The aircraft involved in the incident was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Other travelers also recounted their experiences to "9News," with one passenger claiming to be "woken by screaming," while another noted that "the bugs just kept coming."
As they collected their bags, the passengers discovered the pests were inside their shoes and crawling on their clothing.
Travelers first alerted the flight crew about the bedbugs during the initial Sydney-to-Perth leg of the journey, according to "9News."
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The airline said that, before departing on the subsequent long-haul leg to Rome, staff took several preventative measures, including deep cleaning the cabin, removing seat coverings and soft furnishings, and cordoning off the impacted seats.
Qantas also noted that its aircraft are regularly cleaned to a high standard and undergo a precautionary disinfectant treatment every 50 days.
To alleviate the itchy bites, travelers on the flight were provided with antihistamines, though the crew eventually ran out of the medication, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
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After the return flight, which had been due to depart from Rome to Perth Oct. 10, was canceled to complete the deep cleaning, affected passengers were provided with hotel accommodations and rebooked on alternative flights within 48 hours.
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Benjamin Hottel, a Georgia-based entomologist with Orkin, previously told Fox News Digital that bedbugs are skilled at "hitchhiking" on personal belongings.
Measuring between 1 and 5 millimeters, the insects feed on human blood.
Health officials note, however, that while their bites cause itching and swelling, bedbugs are not known to spread disease and are not considered a public health hazard.
Hottel noted that travelers can unknowingly carry bedbugs onto planes, into hotels and eventually back home.
Hottel recommended inspecting luggage and clothing after trips and placing travel clothes in a dryer on high heat for about 30 to 45 minutes if exposure is suspected.
He said that can help eliminate the insects before they spread inside the home.
Kelly McGreal of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.