On Our Radar: Warm Eastern Waters Sea surface temperatures off the East Coast from North Carolina to the Gulf of Maine in the first six months of 2012 were the hottest ever recorded, NOAA reports. Above-average temperatures were found from the sea surface to the ocean bottom and out beyond the Gulf Stream, the agency says. Mother Jones New legislation in Bolivia bans fishing for freshwater pink dolphins and declares the species to be a national treasure. The species is threatened by erosion, pollution and logging in the Amazon region. A Chicago-based investment firm will pay $1 million to settle civil allegations that it misled investors about an alternative energy company's finances and its loan application to the Department of Energy. Among other charges, the S.E.C. says that a co-founder of the company, Advanced Equities, told investors that the company had been granted a loan from the Department of Energy for more than $250 million, when in fact it had merely applied for a $96.8 million loan. The world's first known "liliger" -- the offspring of a liger mother and lion father -- is born in a Siberian zoo. Shrinking snow cover in the Arctic could threaten the ability of ringed seals to build snow caves on top of sea ice so they can shield their pups from freezing temperatures and predators, researchers warn. The Christian Science Monitor