The bacteria that cause Lyme disease, the most commonly reported vector-borne illness in the United States, are transmitted to humans primarily by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis, also known as the deer tick), which is abundant in the eastern United States. Often presumed guilty by association is the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum), a southern tick species that has spread northward in recent decades. However, a new review of three decades’ worth of research concludes the latter should be exonerated: While lone star ticks are guilty of transmitting bacteria that cause several human illnesses, the scientific evidence says Lyme disease is not one of them.

https://entomologytoday.org/2018/01/31/lone-star-ticks-not-guilty-spread-lyme-disease/

You’d be forgiven if you thought we already had enough ticks to worry about here in North America. The blacklegged tick, the lone star tick, the dog tick, the Rocky Mountain wood tick, et cetera, et cetera.

Unfortunately, these masterful ancient parasites and the whims of global trade and travel have little sympathy for our concerns. Case in point: The discovery last year of an infestation of the tick species Haemaphysalis longicornis on a rural property in western New Jersey, USA.

https://entomologytoday.org/2018/02/21/native-asia-found-new-jersey-curious-case-invasive-tick/

From @kestrel

Hi everyone,
It's back! The City Nature Challenge is on again, this year from April 27-30. It started off in 2016 as San Francisco vs. Los Angeles, last year it was between 16 cities in the US, and this year there are over 50 cities around the world competing! You can see who's participating this year & read more about the challenge at the City Nature Challenge website.
The timeline for the City Nature Challenge is:
April 27-30: Making observations. The project won't accept any observations made before 12:00am on April 27 or made after 11:59pm on April 30.

May 1-3: Getting everything uploaded and identified! As long as the observations were made in the April 27-30 time frame, you can still upload them afterward. Also, the more observations we get identified to species, the higher our species count will be!

May 4: Results announced!
The "big 3" stats that we look at for the City Nature Challenge are (1) number of observations, (2) number of species, and (3) number of people who participated. This year we'll also be putting more emphasis on those numbers with verifiable (not captive/cultivated, and has media) observations.

http://citynaturechallenge.org

http://www.sdnhm.org/calendar/the-2018-city-nature-challenge/