2 isle designers join ‘Runway’

Hawaii designers Andy South and Ivy Higa will appear in the eighth season of "Project Runway." The Lifetime fashion design competition starts its new season July 29.

Actress Selma Blair, below, will join the cast to help decide which of the 16 finalists will be in or out from week to week, leading up to New York Fashion Week.

South’s selection follows the impressive finish of fellow Honolulu Community College student Jay Sario, who finished in fourth place during the television fashion design competition’s last season. The designer graduated from HCC in 2007 and has been designing locally ever since.

Higa is a University of Hawaii art graduate who moved to New York before launching her Ivy h. brand in fall 2008. She auditioned for Season 4, which launched Christian Siriano’s career.

Osgood tapped to lead shipyard

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard will get a new commander later this summer.

Capt. Brian Osgood, who now heads the Maritime Readiness Branch for the chief of naval operations at the Pentagon, will replace Rear Adm. Gregory R. Thomas as the 45th commander of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility.

Thomas moves to be the next head of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.

Pearl Harbor and Norfolk are part of the four-shipyard system managed by the Naval Sea Systems Command. The other two are Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Wash., and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

Pearl Harbor is the largest industrial employer in Hawaii with a combined civilian and military work force of about 4,800. It has an operating budget of $563 million.

Police union endorses Caldwell

The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers endorsed Managing Director Kirk Caldwell for Honolulu mayor yesterday.

The endorsement was made by SHOPO President Tenari Ma’afala at a morning press conference.

Caldwell is expected to become mayor Tuesday when Mayor Mufi Hannemann resigns to run for governor.

Other mayoral candidates include city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, City Council members Donovan Dela Cruz and Rod Tam, and University of Hawaii professor Panos Prevedouros.

Coming up

State Civil Defense will conduct tests of Oahu sirens this week.

Sirens will be tested today at Kamiloiki School at 10 a.m. and Kamiloiki Park at 1 p.m., both in Hawaii Kai, and at Ala Wai at 3 p.m.

The sirens are being fitted with modems for satellite activation.