Japanese consider Alaskan Liquefied Natural Gas a possible alternative to nuclear power
Gov. Bill Walker called the agreement an important first step for the state's energy future. The agreement commits the state of Alaska and the Japanese company Resources Energy, Inc., to form a partnership in developing Alaska's liquefied natural gas. Resources Energy CEO Shun Shimizu, who also signed the agreement, says the company will first focus on a smaller scale LNG project in Cook Inlet, and later would like to work on larger North Slope gas development. Japanese officials have been considering Alaskan LNG as a possible alternative to nuclear power, following the devastating 2011 earthquake that shut down the Fukushima plant.
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Anchorage police and firefighters donate money for children's Christmas shopping
As KSKA's Anne Hillman reports, the Shop with a Cop program gives disadvantaged children the change to buy gifts for themselves and their family members. But it also highlights a problem in Anchorage -- families experiencing homelessness.
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Alaska unemployment a bit down in November
Alaska's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went from 6.7 percent in October to 6.6 percent last month. That's higher than the national jobless rate of 5.8 percent. During the most recent recession, unemployment in Alaska was lower than the national rate. Now it looks like it's headed back to the norm of being about two percentage points above the national rate, as it was for the ten years before the recession.
The state's lowest jobless rate was 4.2 percent, in the North Slope Borough, where winter construction boosts the job market seasonally. Unemployment was also low in Anchorage, at 4.8 percent, and in Juneau, at 4.7 percent. The state's highest unemployment rate was in Skagway, at 19.2 percent, just a bit higher than in the Wade-Hampton district in western Alaska.