Trump’s Inauguration Day: What to expect

Donald Trump’s second term as US President will begin with his inauguration on Monday. He plans to sign numerous executive orders and hold a campaign-style rally. Several foreign leaders are invited, and outgoing President Joe Biden will attend. The events are largely funded by Trump’s inauguration committee.

Tommy Detamore, a country and Americana record producer and pedal steel guitarist whose work shaped hundreds of albums across more than four decades, died Wednesday at age 70, his wife announced this week.

Sandra Detamore confirmed her husband’s death in an emotional Facebook post, writing that he had passed away on Aug. 5. “It is with a broken heart, I share that my husband of 41 years, Tommy Detamore went home to be with the Lord yesterday,” she wrote. “Tommy was and will always be remembered as a respected musician, producer, collaborator, mentor, and creative force in Country Music. Not to mention the love of my life. His work has and will always leave a lasting mark in the country music community.”

A cause of death has not been made public, though his family described his passing as sudden.

From Virginia Bandstands to the Grand Ole Opry

Detamore was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Sept. 8, 1955. He played guitar in local bands throughout high school and college before taking up pedal steel guitar in 1976, studying under steel guitar legend Buddy Charleton. His career took a significant turn in 1981 when he moved to Texas to play steel guitar alongside Darrell McCall. The following year, he joined Moe Bandy’s band, touring extensively across the United States and Europe for seven years and making numerous television and radio appearances, including performances on “The Grand Ole Opry,” “Hee Haw” and “Nashville Now.”

That touring stretch also led to work with other established country artists, including Johnny Bush, Ronnie Milsap and Clay Baker, further building Detamore’s reputation as a sought-after steel guitarist within the traditional country music scene.

Building a Legacy Behind the Studio Glass

In 1991, Detamore opened Cherry Ridge Studio in Floresville, Texas, which became a destination for country and Americana artists from Texas and well beyond. In the later portion of his career, he became best known not as a performer but as an engineer and producer, working behind the scenes to shape the sound of records for artists including Ray Price, Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Bush, Jim Lauderdale, Doug Sahm, the Texas Tornados, Robert Earl Keen, Sunny Sweeney, Dallas Wayne, Raul Malo, Kyle Park and Tony Booth, among many others.

His work extended into the present day. As recently as 2025, Detamore served as master engineer on Ty Myers’ breakout album “The Select,” part of a career that spanned generations of Texas-rooted country and Americana artists. Colleagues described him as a producer who understood that the song always came first, someone who built his reputation the old-fashioned way, working in studios, on bandstands and largely in the background of other people’s success rather than chasing the spotlight himself.

Grammy Recognition and Industry Honors

Detamore’s technical work earned formal industry recognition on multiple occasions. In 2001, he engineered and performed on Bill Kirchen’s “Poultry in Motion,” which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance. In 2008, the Academy of Western Artists honored him with the Will Rogers Award for Record Producer of the Year. From 2009 to 2012, he was also a featured performer in the classic country revue “San Antonio Rose Live” at San Antonio’s historic Aztec Theatre, a role that kept him connected to live performance even as his career increasingly centered on studio production.

Remembered by the Artists He Helped

News of Detamore’s death prompted an outpouring of tributes from within the country music community, particularly from artists in Texas who had worked closely with him over the years. Singer Sunny Sweeney, who collaborated with Detamore on her own recordings, wrote following the news, “With the most giant broken heart, I want to wish my great friend and mentor, Tommy Detamore, smooth sailing up to heaven. I just spoke with him three days ago.”

Those who knew Detamore described a musician whose contributions, while rarely front and center, were foundational to the sound of the records he touched, someone whose expressive steel playing and careful ear as a producer helped frame the voices of the artists he worked with rather than compete with them.

A Career Built on Craft Over Fame

Detamore’s career reflected a particular kind of country music success story, one built less on chart-topping fame under his own name and more on decades of consistent, trusted craftsmanship that other artists relied upon. His reach extended from old-guard legends like Ray Price and Johnny Bush to younger, contemporary artists carrying the Texas country and Americana torch forward, a span that friends and collaborators have pointed to as evidence of just how enduring and adaptable his musical instincts remained across more than four decades in the industry.

In her tribute, Sandra Detamore closed with a personal note of faith and gratitude, writing, “Thank you Lord Jesus for allowing me to love and be loved by Tommy. I know where he is and I thank you and one day I too will be with him again in our mansion in the sky.”

Survived by Family and a Wide Musical Community

Detamore is survived by his wife, Sandra. Across a career built largely behind the scenes, his influence as a producer and steel guitarist left a lasting imprint on the sound of contemporary country and Americana music, one that colleagues say will continue to be felt through the many recordings that carry his fingerprints, even for listeners who may never have known his name.

Funeral and memorial service arrangements had not been publicly announced as of Thursday. Given Detamore’s decades-long presence within the Texas country and Americana music scene, tributes from fellow musicians and industry figures are expected to continue in the coming days as word of his death spreads further through the community he helped shape from behind the recording console at Cherry Ridge Studio.

SMEs can slash order fulfillment times by up to 30% simply by transitioning from static, horizontal storage to high-density vertical layouts that prioritize SKU velocity. Speed in the modern warehouse is not just about how fast a picker can run; it is about how little they have to move.

When a small business outgrows its garage-style origins, the friction of unorganized floor space becomes a silent tax on every shipment. High-performance storage design removes this friction by creating a literal roadmap for faster throughput.

There are thousands of picking errors made every day in unoptimized warehouses across the country. For a small business, a single mispicked item is a triple loss: the cost of the return, the cost of the replacement, and the long-term damage to customer trust. By implementing a storage system that dictates a logical flow, you turn a chaotic room into a high-speed engine.

High Density Shelving and the Science of Space

Modern fulfillment speed relies on the strategic use of verticality, in combination with appropriate software solutions. Most SMEs waste the top 40% of their warehouse volume because they view storage as a flat surface rather than a three-dimensional asset. Implementing modular steel shelving allows for a significant increase in outbound throughput, reaching levels previously only achievable by enterprise giants. This isn’t just about fitting more stuff; it is about bringing that stuff closer to the packing station.

When you use industrial-grade steel shelving from providers like Ecseco the structural integrity allows for narrower aisles and higher stacks. This density reduces the physical distance a picker travels per shift. If a worker walks five miles a day in a sprawling warehouse, reducing that to three miles through better layout design is a massive productivity win.

The logic is simple: less walking means more picking. By concentrating high-velocity items near the shipping docks and using steel storage units that can be configured for specific item sizes, you eliminate the “search time” that kills fulfillment metrics.

Shortening Picking Routes With Logic and Steel

The layout of your shelving dictates the efficiency of your staff. A common mistake among growing SMEs is the “snake” layout, where pickers must travel through every aisle regardless of what they are looking for. Strategic warehouse design uses a “comb” or “U-flow” pattern to ensure that pickers enter only the aisles they need.

Better storage design encourages a more disciplined approach to stock management.

• High velocity products are placed at waist height to speed up the physical grab
• Heavy items sit on lower shelves to prevent injury and slow lifting movements
• Small components are stored in louver panels and bins to prevent bin diving

This level of efficiency creates a buffer against labor shortages and seasonal spikes. Instead of hiring more hands to handle a rush, your existing team simply moves through a more efficient space.

It is also worth noting that steel shelving offers a fire safety and durability advantage that wooden or plastic alternatives cannot match. In a high-speed environment, shelves take hits from trolleys and pallets. Steel survives these impacts, ensuring your storage infrastructure remains a constant rather than a maintenance headache.

Digital Integration and Future Proofing Storage

As we move through 2026, the line between physical storage and digital tracking has blurred entirely. SMEs are now using IoT-enabled storage and RFID tags on their steel shelving to monitor inventory levels in real time. This enables dynamic slotting, in which the warehouse layout physically adapts to current sales trends.

If a specific product starts trending on social media, a flexible steel shelving system can be reconfigured in an afternoon to move that stock to the front of the line. This agility is the competitive edge SMEs have over larger, more rigid corporations. You aren’t just storing boxes; you are managing a fluid stream of assets that need to move as fast as your customers expect.

Investing in high-quality shelving is a one-time capital expense that pays dividends every time a package leaves your dock. It turns your warehouse from a storage locker into a fulfillment machine that can scale with your ambitions.

Optimizing Your Floor Plan For Long-Term Growth

Refining your warehouse design is a journey of constant iteration. As your product mix changes, your storage must adapt to prevent bottlenecks at the packing bench. For more insights on how to maintain a lean operation, check out our other posts.

In September, a new law from the Department for Education will be introduced on branded school items in England.

It means parents and guardians will not have to buy more than three branded items, plus a tie for children in secondary school.

The government decided to create the law after it was estimated a quarter of secondary schools still had four or more items on its list last year.

Bex said it was “relief” there was at least a limit on the branded items, but it depended on what items the school or establishment chose.

“I think in the long run, if the cost of living keeps going up, we are going to need to push for there to be less and less uniforms with logos, but it will definitely help,” Bex said.

Mum-of-two Faye said the price of uniform depended on the school and what their rules were around branded items, but some school uniforms could set a family back about £60 per child.

Development of 3,500-homes planned for Glynchbrook, near junction 2 of the M50

Hundreds of people have signed an open letter calling for a controversial 3,500-home town on the A417 to be “ruled out” of a council’s new blueprint for housing.

Forest of Dean residents have signed an open letter calling on councillors to rule out the controversial new town which was previously put forward at Glynchbrook, near junction 2 of the M50.

The Forest of Dean District Council decided on June 30 to withdraw its draft local plan and work on a new blueprint, which will set out where more than 13,000 homes will be built over the next 20 years.

Residents in the Redmarley area warn the Glynchbrook site remains “unsustainable” and a gathering in the village this week, attended by Forest MP Matt Bishop, has sent a clear message that the community would stand against the proposed development’s return.

Vicky Goodall, 52, a nurse from Redmarley, said: “Our open letter offers the council a workable solution that delivers on the housing targets, and ensures development is sustainable.”

Members of United Against Glynchbrook (UAG) assembled in Redmarley Village Hall on August 4, on the edge of the site that would host the proposed 3,500 home new town, wedged against the Malvern Hills National Landscape and the historic villages of Redmarley and Lowbands.

In a Facebook post following the event, Matt Bishop MP said: “I have made it clear that I do not support this large settlement … it is so important that residents take part… to ensure the local plan reflects local need.”

Mike Holtom, 66, a retired supply chain planning manager, added: “Glynchbrook is not the right place to build homes – everyone, including the council, has accepted that. However, we know that new homes need to be built in order to meet the district’s housing target.

“We hope the council considers our proposals – which are evidenced using the assessments of experts in their field.

“By expanding Lydney and Tutshill further, our reports show that both of those areas can be made even better places to live and the council will not need to build new towns.”

At the meeting, Vicky Goodall said: “We want new homes to be built, but they need to be built in places that deliver for people that move there.

“New homes need to be built near stations, schools and shops – our plan sets out how those homes can be delivered. We hope councillors engage with it.”

While residents have welcomed the local plan being pulled, UAG is concerned that the council may attempt to push Glynchbrook through again.

Phil Waring, 66, a Lowbands resident, said: “The new Local Plan is a great chance for the council to reassess how new homes can be delivered in the Forest of Dean in a sustainable way.

“Glynchbrook must be ruled out. Everyone knows it is not a viable option. I really hope Lydney and Tutshill are considered by the council – they are the options that can allow the council to meet its target in a sustainable way.

“Local residents have signed this open letter to make clear to the council that local people are still engaged in the Local Plan process. We hope they engage with our proposal.”

In the letter, residents argued that Glynchbrook would fall foul of the government’s new criteria for developing local plans, set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, as updated in December last year.

For instance, residents claimed that Glynchbrook could not deliver “sustainable transport“, as it would depend almost entirely on the car, with the nearest town 10km away and the nearest railway station 11km, and would make local roads roughly 50 per cent busier in the morning peak.

It notes that an independent study calls it “essentially unsuitable for a new settlement” and could harm the historic Chartist settlement of Lowbands, noting that no Infrastructure Delivery Plan, viability assessment or Strategic Flood Risk Assessment was ever produced for the site.

Using the government’s new methodology for determining local plans, UAG points to sites it says already have the infrastructure a new town lacks: Lydney, the district’s largest town, where analysis by Create Streets shows a “gentle density” of well-designed streets could add a further 3,200 to 4,600 homes and could be built around its existing station, schools and high street.

An independent landscape study by LVIA Ltd rated Lydney as “most capable of accommodating growth”.

In addition, UAG recommends a small expansion of Tutshill of around 500-700 homes, within 2km of Chepstow station, as well as wider spread of smaller sites, providing an additional 2,800 homes. The same study found “strong potential for landscape-led expansion.”

UAG says it will work constructively with the council as work on the new local plan gets underway.

The district council’s decision to pull the plan came after more than 3,600 responses to teh public consultation they held between January and March this year.

Feedback highlighted strong concerns about the options required to meet Government housing targets and proposed site suitability for the Forest of Dean.

Council leader Adrian Birch (G, Tidenham) said at the time that the authority’s first priority is to ensure that they listen to and deliver for residents.

“Having spoken to many residents at our in-person events earlier this year, and having carefully reviewed the consultation feedback, it is clear that the options needed to meet Government housing targets could not be achieved without more work to be right for our area,” he said.

The company recorded a net profit of Rs 131.6 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, Hitachi Energy said in a statement.

Revenue from operations rose to Rs 2,493.7 crore in the reporting quarter from Rs 1,478.9 crore in the same period a year ago.

During Q1FY27, orders totalled Rs 5,096.5 crore.

The company’s growth saga continues in the opening quarter of FY27, resulting in the highest-ever order backlog of Rs 32,222.1 crore.

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N Venu, Managing Director & CEO of Hitachi Energy India, said in the statement, “Q1FY27 indicates excellent overall performance, resulting in robust order and revenue growth. It reflects strong market momentum, driven by a surge in opportunities stemming from the energy transition & security across the country and globally.”