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No surprise: Home care beats day care. The surprise is that this sentiment represents public opinion: A recent survey shows that four out of five young mothers (ages 18-29) prefer to be home with their kids, according to a poll by Public Agenda, a New York policy group. More than half (56 percent) of parents strongly agree that "no one can do as good a job of raising children as their own parents." These results show that decades of public programs and propaganda about progressive and nonparticipant childrearing don't cancel Mom and Dad's natural desires. Bridgestone/Firestone executives breathed only a short sigh of relief when they reached a tentative agreement with thousands of tire workers threatening to strike. They were simultaneously up to their necks in trouble with Washington. Congressional hearings raised questions about when they knew about defects that allegedly led to 88 U.S. traffic deaths. A federal investigation continues even while the tire giant works to replace 6.5 million recalled tires. In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned that an additional 1.4 million tires could be dangerous and should be replaced. 0A major school bus maker says that 6,000 of its buses may have defective brake systems. When the vehicles are moving slowly, they can temporarily lose their braking ability for up to three seconds, according to the parent company of Thomas Built Buses. Company officials said repair kits were being manufactured and would be shipped by November. They cited 40 incidents of drivers temporarily losing braking power, but no accidents. Come, huddled masses. Come to Iowa. Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack wants to aggressively recruit immigrants to settle in his state. The state has an unemployment rate of 2 percent and a declining population. By bringing in an additional 310,000 workers by 2010, employers would have to pay less for labor because there would be more people to fill jobs.