Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday proposed that locally elected district attorneys should be subject to impeachment, part of a broader push to expand state oversight of local prosecutors who he says fail to aggressively pursue violent offenders.

Why it matters: Abbott's proposals escalate a yearslong clash between Texas Republicans and progressive district attorneys in the state's largest urban counties.

Catch up quick: State lawmakers in 2023 passed legislation allowing the courts to remove district attorneys for misconduct if they choose not to pursue certain types of crime, a move targeting progressive prosecutors in Bexar, Travis and other counties that had adopted policies limiting some abortion-related or low-level drug prosecutions.

• Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales declined Axios' request for comment.

Driving the news: Abbott's other proposals include:

• Denying bail for undocumented immigrants accused of felonies
• Establishing a statewide prosecutor who could intervene when "rogue district attorneys don't prosecute violent offenders"
• Expanding a Texas Department of Public Safety repeat offender task force beyond Houston to include San Antonio, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth.

What they're saying: "There's only one elected officer for whom there is no check or balance and that is district attorneys," Abbott told police union members and reporters.

• Preemptively responding to criticism that impeachment could become a political weapon, Abbott argued Texas rarely uses the process.
• "If impeachments were used for political purposes to attack those they don't like, you'd see impeachments taking place every year, every other year," Abbott said, noting there have been three impeachments in Texas over the last century.

What's next: Abbott's proposals would need legislative approval in 2027.

What we're watching: As early voting begins Monday in the Democratic runoff for Bexar County DA, voters could get a clearer sense of how the next prosecutor may approach contentious enforcement issues.

A statewide prosecutor

Downtown San Antonio's Hertzberg Clock is ticking again after a full restoration.

Why it matters: The clock is etched in the memories of generations of San Antonians — especially before the age of cellphones — as a downtown meeting spot.

Flashback: It was first installed outside the Eli Hertzberg Jewelry Company on Commerce Street in 1878, Conservation Society of San Antonio librarian Beth Standifird tells Axios.

• In 1910, the company and the clock moved to the current location at the corner of East Houston and North St. Mary's streets.
• Zales bought the company and relocated it to the suburbs in 1964, but the clock stayed behind. Heirs of the Goodman family, who long owned the shop, donated the clock to the Conservation Society in 1982.

The intrigue: The key-wound clock — powered mechanically rather than electrically — had been nonfunctional since 2022, per TPR.

What they did: The Conservation Society's preservation specialist and properties manager, Brandi Hayes, searched for someone with the specialized skills needed to fabricate new parts for the antique clock. That search led to New Braunfels clock restorer Benny Courtney, who began work earlier this year and finished the restoration in recent months, Standifird says.

• The Conservation Society hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday to celebrate the restoration.

Zoom out: The Hertzberg clock is among a small number of functioning antique street clocks in the U.S., TPR found. A comparable example is a 14-foot-tall cast-iron clock from the early 1900s that was restored and installed in 2020 in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood.

🔒 The Texas Attorney General's office said San Antonio can withhold records from an investigation into allegations that Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones yelled at District 1 Councilmember Sukh Kaur because the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege. (SA Report)

📈 San Antonio added more than 14,000 residents last year — the third-highest numerical population gain in the U.S. — as Texas continues to lead the nation in growth. (Texas Tribune)

🤝 Southwest Airlines and San Antonio International Airport reached a settlement that ends their dispute over the airport's terminal development project. The settlement guarantees at least six gates for the airline at SAT, including three in the future Terminal C. (City of San Antonio)

San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) is celebrating avid reader and Spurs star Victor Wembanyama with a curated collection inspired by his favorite sci-fi books.

The latest: The Central Library now has a "Read Like Wemby" display, which is basically a real-life version of the Spurs phenom's Goodreads shelf, featuring titles like "Warrior of the Altaii" by Robert Jordan, "The World We Make" by N.K. Jemisin and "The Mime Order" by Samantha Shannon.

• The library also offers the curated reading list online.

What they did: SAPL built the collection using a mix of publicly shared reading picks, including books Wembanyama has been photographed carrying in and out of games, plus recommendations from library staff, spokesperson Yvonne Ramirez tells Axios.

The bottom line: Wembanyama's recent elbow-throwing Flagrant may have shocked NBA fans, but San Antonians have largely come to know him as a bookworm who reads nightly before his 9pm bedtime.