Texas Abuse Hotline, Dallas County Conservative Candidates, Restaurant Owner Responds to Trump Jr.: Your Tuesday Morning Roundup

Good morning. Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day.🌦️ Weather: Cloudy with rain and scattered thunderstorms. High: 58 degrees.Do you want to get this roundup via email? Sign up for our newsletters here.Texas hotline for reporting child, elder abuse wins praise but could use more helpOne of the few bright spots in Texas' protective services bureaucracy may be a victim of its own success.The Texas Abuse Hotline, which gathers and evaluates the public's tips about suspected maltreatment of very vulnerable residents, has won awards in competitions among call centers and as a pioneer of online training for telecommuters.But while lawmakers have faced recurring crises at sister agencies Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services in the past 12 years, they ignored this year's pleas by the Statewide Intake division for more call center operators.Statewide Intake, a division of the Department of Family and Protective Services, requested money to hire 44 "intake specialists" -- in addition to more than 300 already on the state payroll.And: A Dallas County judge reduced the bail Monday for a Dallas mother accused of subjecting her 8-year-old son to hundreds of unnecessary visits to doctors and more than a dozen surgeries.Also: The case against a former Farmers Branch police officer accused of murder is "embarrassing and pathetic," a defense attorney told jurors before they began deliberations Monday.  Continue reading...