Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna laid out a plan Friday that he says would gradually increase funding for public colleges universities as the economy improves.

By Katherine Long

Seattle Times higher education reporter

His statement follows Tuesday?s arrest of Titusville firefighter Randy Moore, 40, of Cocoa, on charges of putting a poisonous substance in a fire lieutenant?s canteen. Moore told police he was upset about issues with the lieutenant, Phil Jones, but did not want to kill him.

Woodward said department officials ?have been proactive in dealing with this situation and are aggressively working in partnership with the Titusville Police Department to seek justice in this matter and maintain the public?s trust.?

Two other members of Moore?s crew at the time of the incident ? a lieutenant and a firefighter ? have been placed on paid administrative leave until the criminal and administrative investigations are completed. Their names have not been released.

Titusville Police Cpl. Gary Boyer said in a statement that the criminal investigation ?has narrowed to the subject arrested and one additional firefighter. The third subject is no longer part of the criminal investigation. We have no reason to believe any other subjects are involved.

?During the course of the ongoing criminal investigation, the department will make no further statements in order to avoid jeopardizing the investigation,? Woodward said.

Battalion Chief Scott Gaenicke said fire officials have met with department staff to emphasize that such conduct is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Note that many of the data points for 2011 were revised upward. Overall starts in November, for instance, topped 700,000 for the first time since October 2008. These figures clearly show an upward trajectory, with total housing starts up nearly 10 percent year-over-year. Regionally, gains in the South and West were somewhat offset by less new residential construction in the Northeast and Midwest. For January, though, only the Midwest had declines.

This news mirrors similar data released yesterday by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Its housing market index rose from 25 to 29. This represents a significant improvement in builder confidence in the past few months as the index was 14 in September. Single-family sales rose, and expectations are higher for the next six months.

NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe trumpets the positive trend, but he also cautions us to keep the numbers in perspective. ” it is important to remember that the HMI is still very low, and several factors continue to constrain the market. Foreclosures are still competing with new home sales, and many builders are seeing appraisals come in at less than the cost of construction. Additionally, prospective home buyers are finding it difficult to qualify for a mortgage.”

In other news today, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reports continued improvements in manufacturing activity in its region. The index of general business conditions rose from 7.3 in January to 10.2 in February. This is the fifth consecutive month of expanding production, with higher measures for new orders, shipments and the average workweek. The rate of job growth eased, though, and inventories were shrinking. (The latter is a positive sign of the increased activity.) Pricing pressures accelerated.

Looking ahead six months, the respondents remained very positive about future activity, but less so than last month. The expectations index of general activity fell from 49.0 to 33.3. This coincided with lower values for new orders, shipments and capital spending plans. But, employment measures were stronger, suggesting an increased willingness to hire additional workers in the coming months. I would not overplay the news that this figure declined by too much, however, as it mostly reflects a settling in of the overall improving trend. Only 12.9 percent of those taking the survey expect for activity to decline in the next few months.

Overall, the numbers released today and yesterday highlight a recovering economy, with manufacturing leading the way. Improvements in housing are also a welcome sign, even as the sector remains below its historical averages.

Chad Moutray is chief economist, National Association of Manufacturers.

The eurozone economy as a whole contracted 0.3% in the last three months of 2011.

The economies of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands all shrank, but Frances GDP figures beat forecasts by growing by 0.2%.

And assessing the impact that the Greek debt crisis has had on the corporate world.

The BBCs Juliette Foster discusses the key financial stories of the day.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index rose to 10.2 from 7.3 the month before, topping economists expectations for 9.5, according to a Reuters poll.

Any reading above zero indicates expansion in the regions manufacturing. The survey covers factories in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.

It is seen as one of the first monthly indicators of the health of US manufacturing leading up to the national report by the Institute for Supply Management.

It was the latest in a string of stronger-than-expected economic data, including a surprise drop in new claims for unemployment benefits earlier on Thursday.

Metric after metric, uniformly, is doing better, and barring any unforeseen problems from Europe it appears were in a self-sustaining cycle of growth, said Jim Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management in New York.

Were better than where we were but not as good as wed hope.

New orders gained to 11.7 from 6.90, while shipments accelerated to 15.0 from 5.7. Prices paid crept up to 38.7 from 31.8.

Measures of employment were mixed. The gauge of the number of employees dropped off to its lowest level since August at 1.1 from 11.60, while the average employee work week jumped to 10.1 from 5.0.

Survey respondents view on the coming months was less robust with the gauge of business conditions for the next six months falling to 33.3 from 49.0.

The release was overshadowed in financial markets by the jobs data earlier and as Greece was working to secure a needed bailout.

(Reporting By Leah Schnurr, additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

And some of them are even new. First off, the Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul has some offbeat selections forthcoming, including the lushly visual Norwegian Wood from Cyclo director Tran Anh Hung.

Based on the novel by Haruki Murakami, the movie stars Oscar-nominated Rinko Kikuchi, who is one of three players caught up in a love triangle beset by depression, insanity and the 1960s.

Also at the Film Society (in St. Anthony Main) — and admittedly a little bit after Valentine’s Day but totally worth waiting for — will be a run of Kenneth Lonergan’s much-buzzed-about New York drama Margaret, which was all but dumped by its distributor Fox Searchlight until a grassroots Twitter movement by film critics (hashtag: #TeamMargaret) sought to rescue the film.

Such was the campaign that Margaret went from a nearly instantly forgotten movie into a cause cÃlèbre that ultimately wound up in some critics prizes. Don’t miss it.

Now for the retro showings.

If you want to treat your beloved by putting them in the same room as an Oscar-nominated star, you could do worse than buying tickets to the Feb. 3 Parkway Theater showing of The Buddy Holly Story, which will feature an appearance by Gary Busey.

He’s set to join the house band to perform some of Buddy Holly’s top tunes, like Peggy Sue and That’ll Be the Day.

Throughout February, the Lagoon Cinema will present movies that will steal your hearts. No wait, I meant the movies will be stealing your money.

All month, the theater is presenting some of the best heist movies of all time. They’ll start on the 1st with a screening of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle, and follow up with Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Cercle Rouge, Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, and Sidney Lumet’s extremely romantic Dog Day Afternoon.

You can complete each caper-laden movie night by absconding with a free drink over at Kinsen Noodles and Bar, provided you part with your ticket stub.

Those four movies belong to miscreants, but if you want to see love curdle into a festering, nihilistic pit of doom, check out what the Heights Theater is running on Feb. 6.

Fritz Lang directed some dark masterpieces in his day, but few wind up as deeply in despair as the final few minutes of Scarlet Street, a remake of Jean Renoir’s La chienne. Edward G. Robinson stars as the bulldog-faced man who ignores all signs that should keep him away from Joan Bennett. Of course, this being noir, that doesn’t happen. Instead, everyone either dies or winds up ruined for life.

Tell a friend.

Finally, the Trylon Microcinema will unleash all seven films in one of the greatest director-star love affairs of all time. More on the Marlene Dietrich-Josef Von Sternberg series next week.

The Scotch used in the Bobby Burns is the Glenrothes Select Reserve, a distillery that claims Ronnie Cox as its director — a man so charming in his aristocratic yet buttoned-down appreciation of Scotch that you actually believe he must drink it every day by a fire in a vine-covered Scottish country home with a Scottish terrier dressed in a tartan by his leather-slipper-clad feet.

Click on the video linked here to watch Cox explain the rules for a competition the Glenrothes is currently holding to choose four US winners to fly to Scotland to help create the newest Glenrothes vintage. Hint: It will require that you write about what Cox debonairly refers to as a vintage moment, the perfect combination of time, place and people where everything comes together to remain in the memory forever.

Cox has a vintage moment every night after dinner. Of that I am sure.

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Photo: Robert Burns clearly in the midst of a vintage moment. Credit: LAT file photo

Sen. Ralph Northam, a Democrat from Norfolk, introduced Senate Bill 464. Originally, it would have completely lifted the states ban on hunting on Sundays. A committee folded into SB 464 legislation by Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, to permit Sunday hunting on private property, either as a landowner, the landowners spouse or the children of the landowner, or with the written permission of the landowner.

At the request of Sen. Charles Carrico, R-Galax, senators further amended the measure to prohibit hunters from hunting within 250 yards of a place of worship.

Of the 20 Democratic senators, 17 voted for the bill and three voted against it.

Of the 20 Republican senators, 12 voted for the bill and eight voted against it.

Im glad that the Senate acted decisively today to roll back an archaic restriction on a constitutional right in Virginia, Petersen said after the floor vote.

Gov. Bob McDonnell said last week that he agrees with lifting the ban on hunting on Sundays on private property.

Opposition to lifting the ban has come from groups such as the Virginia Farm Bureau and the Virginia Humane Society.

Petersen noted that the National Rifle Association supports his efforts to eliminate the ban on Sunday hunting.

The bill now goes to the Virginia House of Delegates. If passed, the measure could open up Sunday hunting as early as next hunting season.