Welcome to Weekly Connections! Here is your summary of key updates from the justice industry for the week of Oct. 5.

Let’s get started with project updates:

• The Texas Juvenile Justice Department broke ground on a new juvenile correctional facility in Brazoria County, the first of two HDR-designed facilities backed by a $304 million infrastructure investment.
• Howard County, Ind., has broken ground on a $132 million sheriff’s office and jail in Kokomo.
• Correctional Service Canada has selected EllisDon Corporation to design and build a new 155-bed health center at the Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick.
• The Texas Department of Criminal Justice opened the Bryan Collier Leadership and Training Center in Huntsville.
• A new $83.8 million Superior Courthouse in Lakeport, Calif., has opened following two years of construction.
• The Lorain County Jail Advisory Board in Ohio has paused plans for a new $142.6 million jail until commissioners secure funding.

Moving on to legislation and funding:

• Wapello County, Iowa voters will consider a $45 million bond referendum in the Nov. 3 election to expand and renovate the county jail.
• Jefferson County, Ore., voters will decide in November whether to renew a five-year property tax levy that provides primary operating funding for the county jail.

Next, in people news:

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed former Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Bryan Collier to the Texas Juvenile Justice Board.

Now for this week’s construction reports:

• Prince William County, Va., has issued an RFP for design and construction administration services for a new juvenile services center in Manassas, with proposals due Oct. 26.
• Chesterfield County, S.C., has issued an RFQ for design services for a new 250-bed County Jail, with submittals due Nov. 4.
• Cochise County, Ariz., has issued an RFQ to design-build entities for the new Cochise County Jail project, with responses due Nov. 12.

And finishing up with events:

• The American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Justice Fall Conference will take place this week in Minneapolis from Oct. 7–9.