This episode is dedicated to Ryan Davis, a re-recording mixer on 49 episodes of Young Sheldon (2017), as well as 67 other movies and TV series. A re-recording mixer is a postproduction audio engineer who balances background noise, dialogue, music, and sound effects to create the final audio track for a movie or television show.
The paperback Sheldon is reading on the couch is "Rules of Engagement" by Peter Morwood. This is the 48th entry in the long-running Pocket Books' series of the continuing adventures of the original Star Trek (1966) Enterprise crew. Its title may be an allusion to the script's central issue of how and when to have the sex talk with adolescent children.
Connie misses her opportunity to one-up the sheriff's shakedown of her business. Once her payoffs to him have begun she can then blackmail him for being part of a racketeering scheme.