Elizabeth Andrews, a former assistant subsistence director for the state, has been appointed head of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's subsistence division. She replaces Mary Pete, who resigned last May to take a position with the University of Alaska.

Andrews left Alaska in 2001 after a 20-year career with Fish and Game. She had been a regional program manager for the subsistence division in Bethel and Fairbanks. Beginning in 1996, she was an assistant director based in Juneau, specializing in relations with the federal subsistence program.

Andrews will oversee the division that collects socio-economic harvest and use data from around the state to help the Alaska boards of Fisheries and Game make allocation decisions. Information collected by the division, which consists of 37 full-time staff members, is also used by the state to ensure that federal subsistence rules do not unnecessarily restrict nonsubsistence uses or jeopardize sustained yield, the state said in a press release.

The appointment was announced Wednesday by Fish and Game Commissioner McKie Campbell, who praised Andrews' background and experience. That praise was echoed by Southcentral/Southwest subsistence manager James Fall. "We're all delighted to have her back," Fall said.

Andrews is a retail sales and operations manager for Habitat for Humanity in South Puget Sound. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She will begin work for the state in October.

-- Anchorage Daily News

ANCHORAGE

Man indicted on murder counts in slaying of cousin's husband

The man accused of shooting to death his cousin's husband a week ago Sunday at a church parking lot in Airport Heights has been indicted by a grand jury on murder charges, according to a legal document filed Tuesday in Anchorage Superior Court.

Osaiasi Thimohengauta Saafi, 28, was charged with first and second degree murder and with manslaughter in the Aug. 28 death of Joshua Kagel, court documents say.

Kagel, 25, was arguing with his wife, Elizabeth Kagel, in the church parking lot about 6:30 a.m. when Saafi came out of a house across the street where he, Kagel's wife and her family lived, according to an earlier court document.

Saafi had a handgun and intervened in the couple's fight, the court papers say. When the altercation escalated, Saafi struck Kagel, Kagel struck back, and Saafi fired the weapon several times at Kagel, the papers say.

Elizabeth Kagel was said to have wailed next to her husband's body that her cousin "didn't have to shoot him," according to the document.

Family members said that Kagel was abusive and that Kagel had threatened to kill his wife and their toddler son.

-- Anchorage Daily News