ned fire, killing a number of students, a number of people and right now are reportedly still holding hostages. the latest reports say at least 22 people are dead. more than 60 others are wounded and some 500 people are unaccounted for. the al qaeda linked terror group al shabab is claiming responsibility. students who escaped this morning's attack are describing an absolutely terrifying scene, being awakened before dawn to gunfire in their dormitories. >> we heard some gunshot, and we were sleeping so it was around 5:00, and guys started jumping up and down and running for their lives, but, it's unfortunate, that where we were going to is where the gunshots were coming from so the guys okay find some hideouts out in the field. >> one student told the associated press the gunmen asked students if they were christian or muslim and then shot christian students. in the past couple of hours, kenya's president read a statement calling for calm as the government deals with the crisis.

>> this is a moment for everyone throughout the country to be vigilant as we confront and defeat our enemies. >> all of this is still unfolding at the college in garissa in eastern kenya. some 120 miles from kenya's border with somalia where al shabab is based. we do have reporters on the scene. we're waiting to get more information, but as indicated in the past hour this situation is still ongoing. our reporter and correspondent there said this could last for hours. worst scenario it could last even days now. so we actually have with us -- let me bring in former army ranger and former cia counterterrorism analyst kevin straws. kevin, thank you for joining us. again, we're getting more information by the minute here but this hostage situation is still going on right now. the military trying to gain control. we do not know how many people

are being held but some 500 are unaccounted for. >> yeah. that's right and these situations are going to be very confuses, you know. we saw in the mall attack a couple years ago where you had this kind of -- you know this kind of confusion and this kind of chaos, and the kenyan government right now is really facing a difficult challenge because it's got to perform a hostage rescues which is really one of the hardest attacks that you can do under any circumstances, and you know the u.s. has been criticized for failed hostage rescues in syria, and that's when they had days weeks and maybe even months to plan. the kenyan government got caught off guard here and has to respond immediately. this is going to be a very fluid situation, a lot of difficulty for the military to pull off. >> this comes a year and a half after the attack at the mall in kenya. how easy is it for people like members of al shabab to leave

somalia and enter into kenya? >> well in this particular case garissa is about 90 miles from the border and people should understand the boarder is very porous so it's quite easy for these fighters to go back and forth. in fact since that mall attack and going back several years there's been a number of attacks in garissa, so it's not a surprise that an attack happened in that town in particular, but i think the scale of it is what is cap taurg a lot of our attention. >> also what's capturing our attention here is that it was a cool that was attacked here. you heard one of the survivors say they were in their dormitories, wrangled into an area where the terrorists asked if they were muslim or christian, shooting the christians on the spot. the fact that they were attacking the school, what does that indicate to you? >> well it's consistent with al shabab's past practices, and, in fact they did some similar things at mall attack that you just referenced. part of what they are trying to do here is to position

themselves or show themselves to be, you know defenders of the faith, you know that they are trying to spark sectarian war, perhaps even provoke attacks from christians so that they can create an us and them category so they can show we're the ones here who are defending the muslim faith and you should come join us. that's why they are using that construction and why they are singling out christians. again, consistent with what they have done before. >> we'll continue to follow that breaking news out of kenya. thanks so much for joining us. we hope to have a live report from a reporter on the ground so stick around for that latest information. we're following another breaking story. according to french media authorities have found the second black box belonging to the germanwings plane that crashed in the french alps. investigators are due to give a news conference in the next hour giving us details. just moments ago, authorities in germany announced co-pilot andreas lubitz had recently researched cockpit security and ways to commit suicide.

nbc's claudio lavanga is near the crash site in france and joins us now. what else did we learn from the investigators today about these searches from that co-pilot online? >> reporter: well, tamron certainly those are two major developments that are going to help the investigators greatly. first all, the fact that investigators in germany found -- who seized the tablet computer from the house of andreas lubitz found that in the week prior to the accident he allegedly searched online presumably for types and implementations of methods of suicide, and i'll translate this from german and cockpit doors and its security measures greaty will reinforces the theory of course that andreas lubitz deliberately flew the plane into the french alps but, of course the investigators still need to exclude definitely that there was no mechanical fault on that plane, and the only way to do that is to analyze the data from the second black box which they have been looking for for the

past ten days. we've been told that they have found that. it's been not confirmed yet from the french authorities, but the french prosecutor is holding a press conference in about an hour, and we expect him to confirm it then. >> also, claudio, i understand that the family of the co-pilot of andreas lubitz have now been -- the investigators have now spoken to the family for the first time since the crash, and they may have a follow-up interview with family members. >> yes. this came from german media but we haven't been told that by the investigators or by the prosecutor. we do understand that the family has been interrogated. we think that they will be interrogated and questioned by the prosecutors in the future but they said today they won't release any more information for next few days so we'll probably have to wait until next week for a confirmation. >> thank you very much claudio lavanga. following a breaking news out of indiana. state lawmakers facing growing pressure have just announced a deal to alter the highly

controversial religious freedom law to ensure it does not allow for the discrimination against gays and lesbians. >> we'll be presenting what we believe is a very strong statement to assure that every hoosiers' rights are protected and won't be infringed on the enactment of rofa. >> religious and freedom rights it was never intended to discriminate against anyone. its goal was to create a new standard. >> it grants new protections for lgbt customers, employees and tennants, but as "the indianapolis star" points out it, quote, does not go as far as establishing gays and lesbians as a protected class of citizens statewide or appealing the law outright. this comes, of course, two days after indiana's republican

governor mike pence called for the fix to clarify language in the original legislation. now this of course comes as it drew backlash nationwide with ole over a dozen prominent businesses speaking out. the ceos of a number of those businesses were on hand for today's announcement and helped draft this new legislation or new language. msnbc's adam reese is outside the statehouse in indianapolis and joins us now. that's been the initial reaction from the lawmakers there beyond those that we just heard from? >> tamron, good morning. it looks like we may have a deal. republican leaders believe they have the votes to move this forward. they came together this morning with business leaders, members of the lgbt community. they say they want to move forward. they want the perception that indiana is a national embarrassment. they want to change that. it's time to move on. it's time to let the healing begin. >> all right adam. >> what was intended as a message of inclusion inclusion of all religious beliefs, was interpreted as a message of

exclusion, especially for the lgbt community. nothing could have been further from the truth but it's clear that the perception had to be changed and hoosier hospitality had to be restoreded. the inclusion and welcoming attitude of every hoosier had to be buttressed. >> reporter: now, the fix of the religious reform law will mean that no business owner can dis-krim nays nate against any gay or lesbian customer. in fact they can't discriminate against anyone anywhere any time. now, this will be in conference committee and then on to the rules committee and then a vote by the house and senate and hopefully by the end of the day it will be on the governor's desk. tamron? >> all right. thank you very much. joining me now is the vice president of marketing and communications for visit indy which works to bring business and promote tourism in indianapolis. also joining me is democratic indiana state representative ed delaney. mr. delaney, let me start with

you here. is this enough of a fix? >> not yet. we're close. it's important to note that all we've said is that you can't discriminate using the religious freedom act. we are not protecting you know sexual orientation broadly at all. all the business people said that they will fight for that. i will fight for that. we would really be making progress if the speaker would agree to hear a bill about sexual orientation and hear it now, and we'd be doubly happy if the governor would come out and say what his position is. so far he's in the bunker somewhere. >> well, the governor indicated in his press conference he was looking for a fix. to your point, he did not say that he was ready to establish gays and lesbians as a protected class. in fact, he said the opposite of that on the weekend programs that he now noted were a series of bad interviews there. with that said what are the chances that you could see a deal where gays and lesbians would be a protected class in that state? >> well i think that's up to the speaker and the governor.

look, i'm all for the healing. i want us to heal and i think it has begun. i want it to accelerate because it's doing great damage to our state, but those two leaders can speak out and move this forward, and the democrats are united in supporting protection for sexual orientation and moving forward and getting this behind us. meanwhile, hoosiers want everybody here. we like people. we love the tourism industry and, you know i'm inviting everybody to come here and have a good time like i'm going to do at the final four. >> chris, let me bring you in. since the fallout wednesday you've lost one convention to the tune of $500,000 in economic impact, nine more were on brink of cancelling. you've received according to what you told our team 800 e-mails from people across the united states saying they have cancelled their trips to indy this spring and summer. you support this amendment, but you heard mr. delaney saying that this is perhaps not enough for the democrats and maybe even some businesses. >> well, i'll tell you, when you're in the business of marketing a city it's been a rough week. we've lost conventions.

weave lost visitors. we are supportive of this amendment. we believe it aligns well with the city's ordinance that's been on books since 2006 very inclusive to all human rights so we've supportive of this amendment primarily because we need a fix coming off record-setting tourism in 2014. we're going to take a hit, not only from an image standpoint but also from a pure dollar standpoint, and when you have 75,000 people who depend on tourism for a paycheck we can't afford to do anything to impede on our ability to book conventions and draw tourism >> you know, as you mentioned, some of the businesses for example, gencon levi straws salesforce.com, yelp nike apple, angie's list eli lilly, the list went on and on. there were also cities boy coding indiana, washington, d.c., denver seattle, san francisco. i'll go back though to the initial question. if you already have some democrats saying that this fix is not enough and some businesses indicating that are you worried if last week was a tough week are you entering an

even more difficult week with what some might see as just a band-aid to a larger issue open there? >> it's a non-political organization been around since 1923. from our constituency group and talking to the lgbt community we believe this is a fix. we believe this will help heal and allow us to move on from certainly a tourism and image standpoint here in indianapolis. is it the perfect fix, probably not, but will it help and reassure our visitors those who are banning the state and specifically the city coming up on final four we think this is the news we need to hear and they need to hear especially when your brand is built on hoosier hospitality. we've had decades of support and certainly we're pushing the message that indy welcomes all here in the 13th largest city in the united states. >> let me bring mr. delaney back in. we have a statement from the ncaa president since you did refer to the big game there. he said we're very pleased that the indiana legislature is taking action to amend senate bill 101 so that it is clear individuals cannot be discriminated against, but your

point is that this amendment or this fix does not make that clear. so, it sounds -- >> it doesn't -- >> it sounds as if one side wants to go back to where we were a couple of years ago and let's pretend this didn't happen and you're saying listen this, wound is open let's deal with this once and for all. >> i would like to deal with it once and for all, but i want everybody to come here and help us deal with it so please everybody come onned to iny. we're going to have a good time. we'll fix this problem and get ourselves a new governor probably and get this fixed. that's life that's politics. >> mr. delaney, thank you so much for joining us. chris gahl thanks so much as well. we're also following new developments in arkansas after republican governor asa hutchinson called on lawmakers to change their controversial religious freedom bill. the state senate has taken up two amendments aimed at addressing concerns of discrimination. the senate advanced two measures that would make their bill closely mirror the federal religious freedom law to ensure

it does not allow for discrimination based on sexual orientation. house committee is expected to begin voting on that bill this afternoon. another developing story this hour. senator bob menendez is expected in court today to face federal corruption charges. the justice department says the senator improperly used his power as a lawmaker to benefit salomon melgen a florida eye doctor and close friend of senator menendez. prosecutors allege melgen gave menendez nearly $1 million in lavish gifts and campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. senator menendez vehemently denied those charges and vowed to fight the 14-count indictment against him at a news conference yesterday. >> i fight for issues i believe in the people i represent and for the safety and security of this country every single day. that's who i am and i am proud of what i have accomplished and i am not going anywhere.

i'm angry. [ applause ] i'm angry. >> dr. melgen has also previously denied any wrongdoing. nbc's kelly o'donnell joins me from washington and part of what senator menendez is saying here is that there is a difference between a donor and a friend. >> well, they have a long-standing relationship tamron. senator menendez and dr. melgen but the question will be did the senator use the influence of his office to do things in direct exchange for benefits given to him by melgen? we're talking about first class plane tickets and the use of a private jet, access to a caribbean villa and nights in a pairs hotel, most of it travel-related and then some substantial donations to campaign weapons of mass destruction accounts that benefited menendez and democrats, and were those exchanges in which the senator sort of sought those benefits and then gave something that he wouldn't normally do for

constituents? and melgen lives in florida not new jersey so that pre-existing friendship is something that will certainly play into the defense that the senator will lay out, that if he made a phone call or tried to get some advice or help from the government for businesses and dealings that dr. melgen had, that that's something that he would do for a friend. certainly influence is something that many people in power use. the question what makes it unlawful is if there was an exchange in receipt of something of value. it's a much more complicated case than we had previously been led to believe by limited access to information. this has been going on for a few years. there were more instances documented in the indictment according to prosecutors. we expect that the senator will appear early this afternoon, and we also think he will also speak again with his attorney after they make that court appearance. he is stepping down from one of his important positions in the senate, and that is as the top democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, an important leadership post but

as you heard from the tone of his remarks last night he says he is not giving up his seat not resigning office and plans to fight, and he pointed out there have been plenty of instances in his view where prosecutors didn't get the case right, and he says that's what he will do to fight to clear his name and that they have misunderstood his relationship with dr. melgen. tamron? >> thank you very much kelly o'donnell live for us. and we're following even more developing news right now. an official update could come at any moment on the nuclear talks between iran and the west. iran's foreign minister says substantial progress has been made, but there are still unresolved issues. what is the u.s. saying right now? a live report is next. and a landmark verdict in what's being called the largest cheating scandal in the nation's history. 11 atlanta teachers are convicted of racketeering and taken to jail what. role testimony from students played in the convictions? plus this. we're in an historic drought

and that demands unprecedented action. >> california's governor orders the state's first ever water restrictions in the worst drought in 1,000 years. we'll get a live report from los angeles, and you can join our conversation online. can you fine the team on twitter at newsnation and find me on facebook, twitter and instagram. most of the products we all buy are transported on container ships. before a truck delivers it to your store, a container ship delivered it to that truck. here in san diego, we're building the first one ever to run on natural gas. ships this big running this clean will be much better for the environment. we're proud to be a part of that.

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welcome back. we're following developing news. a joint statement could come at any time after another all-night session of nuclear talks between the u.s. iran and five other world powers in switzerland. iran's foreign minister says significant progress has been made, and he hopes an announcement will come soon. nbc news has confirmed that earlier this week president obama told secretary of state john kerry to ignore tuesday's

deadline and be prepared to walk away if iran won't compromising. nbc's andrea mitchell spoke to iran's foreign minister this morning about the negotiations. >> stir is it good enough to get the banking, oil and financial sanctions off if the u.n. sanctions remain? >> can i not talk about what will remain and what will go. i have said very clearly that all sanctions need to be terminated, and i believe that will be the final outcome. >> more now from tehran. the international press corps has been told to move to a nearby university to conclude this round of the iran talks. it will likely take two hours to get everyone there so we should be hearing something in a couple of hours here but as we understand it from our own andrea mitchell who is there, we're hearing just dribs and drabs of updates from iran and very little from the other world

powers that will there. >> reporter: that's right. foreign secretary zarif has been the most vocal person out there speaking to the media quite frequently, and he's made a light of some of the problems they are facing. it's obvious the iranians want all the sanctions removed in one place. they have said that from the beginning, but it's extremely important for them to remove the financial, oil and banking sanctions which have really dented the economy here and stopped iran's ability to trade with international communities. so they are trying to figure this out. also i think another major sticking point, tamron is iran's insistence on being able to research and develop on advanced centrifuges. that's something the west really doesn't want iran to do for at least the next 10 to 15 years, but iran is insisting on that and i think because of all these factors coming together we're not going to get a detailed accord today which is what everybody was expecting. instead, we're going to get a statement which i don't think is

going to put to rest fears that many other countries have. we eve also seen the rhetoric between these two countries become a little more sharpened over the last few days which it hasn't been like that over the last year. zarif have accused the p5 plus 1 of not being unified and told them to stop pressuring iran and as we saw last night the white house threatened to walk away from the talks and the iranians here in tehran don't respond well to pressure from the united states, and a senior iranian general today said that the united states is not the only country with military options on the table. we have them too. so that rhetoric has spiked up. we have to see if this statement today will be able to put something together for a conclusive deal on the 30th of june. >> all right. thank you very much ali arouzi live. coming up 11 atlanta teachers and administrators are charged with secretly changing test scores for thousands of

students. >> this is the most appalling decision i've ever seen. i don't see how you send educators to prison. >> and now they face each decades in prison typically reserved for mobsters and organized crimes charges that they were convicted of. and developing now, accused murderer robert durst is back in court this hour. the latest on his hearings and we'll get an exclusive look at final hours before he was arrested. plus, mcdonald's agrees to give a raise to thousands of minimum wage workers, but why the raise only applies to a fraction of their workforce is a sticking point today. it's one of the stories we're following around the "newsnation."

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landmark case the group of teachers, a principal and other administrators are facing 20 years in prison for altering gradesaged test scores. nearly 80% of the schools in atlanta were affected by this. nbc's education correspondent raheema ellis has more on this stunning verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty. >> 11 out of 12 defendants convicted monday concluding a trial that lasted more than six months and featured over 150 witnesses, including some teachers who accepted plea deals. >> it was pressure to get scores by any means necessary. >> reporter: nearly a dozen former teachers and administrators found guilty of manipulating test scores and grades of the young students they taught. in some cases receiving bonuses and additional funding for the inflated high scores at the expense of the children's education. >> we've been fighting for the children in our community, particularly those children who were deprived by this cheating

scandal. >> reporter: testimony from students themselves helped clinch the verdicts, like this teenager whose test scores were altered. >> like i'm not in high school reading. i'm still in middle school reading. i think it's sixth grade reading level. >> reporter: it was a culture of collusion so coordinated that some teachers spoke of having cheating parties. >> is that what each of your colleagues were doing? >> yes. >> reporter: convictions of racketeering typically applied to mobsters and organized crime now identified with former educators facing up to 20 years in prison. >> they have made their bed, and they are going to have to lie in it and it starts today. >> reporter: rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. >> want to get you caught up on that breaking news that we're following out of kenya. these are the latest images coming in where police are cornering or have cornered the gunmen responsible for the

deadly attack. we just got an update from the kenyan interior minister saying two of the college attackers have been killed. this after a number of individuals forced their way on to a university campus. some 22 confirmed deaths. we're being told that 500 people are unaccounted for so we're working to get the very latest on this breaking news story. i'll take live with an official from the kenyan red cross. they are providing medical services on the ground right now. also developing indiana lawmakers announce a deal to alter that state's religious freedom law. meanwhile, 2016 presidential hopefuls, they are feeling the fallout. the republican party, jeb bush shifts his stance on the issue while other republicans remain silent. nbc's senior political editor mark murray joins us next. and then. >> do 35 or 40 years of comedy and then run for the senate. >> why senator al franken wants david letterman to run for office in indiana.

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we continue to follow the breaking news out of kenya where marked gunmen stormed a college campus. the al qaeda-linked terror group al shabab is claiming responsibility for the attack in which 20 people are now reported to have been killed and more than 60 others wounded. kenyan authorities say right now the attackers are cornered in a dorm where they are reportedly holding hostages. joining me by phone is dennis okari, ntv reporter and a member of the kenyan red cross. she is in nairobi. dennis let me start with you. what is the latest from the ground that you're hearing? >> reporter: actually in garissa town and we've been here for several hours, and what we've been able to see. there's been a lot of activity going on. the military has took over the

operation. no one goes in and no one leaves out without the military's knowledge. >> at the moment i can confirm one military officer has been killed and one administration officer has has been killed. bodies are being flown to nairobi by a private plane. two more bodies are going to be buried here. several other people have been injured. we can't confirm the number. they have yet to come up with a specific figure of how many have been injured but counting the number of militants in the past year, the number could actually go high and the number killed could actually rise. the military was trying to avoid

a situation where they don't want a repeat when the siege went on for three day. they are trying to bring closure as soon as possible but it's already dog. there's been gunfire for over 30 minutes and the gunfire follows very loud explosions. we're not too sure what is happening inside when the explosions are taking place but from our vantage point we were able to see a huge amount of smoke going up in the air. still, the whole situation is still going on and this could go on for several hours into the night. >> dennis, the kenyan interior minister says two of the attackers have been killed. from the witnesses able to

escape do we have any idea how many individuals are with this terror group and being held hostage now? >> we were told a number of gunmen, no one had a specific figure. it was very early in the morning when the attack happened and the students all panicked and were screaming and there's confusion because they were shooting indiscriminately and they appeared to know their way very well appeared to know the geography and they even knew where to hide and where to take off any we at allation from the military. one military trying to get in the back of the compound and they are using it to cover because it's coming from the other room and they have not

been able to know the right figure. many were trying to seek the impression of what exactly they saw and what language they were speaking and since shabab has claimed responsibility we can only assume they were -- >> a member of the kenyan red cross joins us. what are they telling you about what they are able to tell their survivors? >> thank you for having me on show. what i can confirm is as soon as the attack happened kenyan red cross were the first responders on the scene and now there's 55 casualties who have been taken to the local district hospital. of those casualties four of them are critically injured and most of the injuries are gunshot

wounds and a few of them -- there's people trying to escape the attackers. now what we also know is that as of 11:16 this morning 16 students were rescued. you know as far as the medical, you know they are focusing on providing emergency medical relief to the victims. we actually sent a plane from nairobi with four doctors on board. we had two surgeons and two anesthesiologists and they were basically going to the ground to basically beef up the medical support that was there. the garissa hospital is lacking in capacity and what the red cross is being doing working with the minister of health is we've put up tents next to the hospital and we're working in turning some of the wards in the

hospital turning them into mobile treatment so we can deal with the medical tragedies. about an hour ago a plane arrived from nairobi from garissa, an airlift of five patients. they were taken to the national hospital. these are the patients who were severely injured, and they could not get the required medical attention on the ground and thus they have come to nairobi toe receive further treatment. so as far as red cross is concerned, we are just on standby. our team is on standby and we're working to organize a blood drive which is going on across the hospital and we're implementing our resources and we have them on standby, if we need more blood we're able to get that to them. lastly, sorry, what we have is

at hospital in garissa and in nairobi itself. what we're doing is working, you know, with the locals on the ground. anyone who is looking to treat their loved one or students can go to the hospital in garissa and go to our desk and they will be connected to the hospital in nairobi and there we can help our staff trace their loved ones. >> thanks for update and dennis as well. this is garissa university population around 1,800 student, 60 members of the teaching staff as well and as many as we're being told around 300 students and staff have been -- they have been able to account for those people, but, again, battle the gun battle is still going on between the military and members of al shabab who have now claimed responsibility for this ongoing attack at this university. we'll bring you the very latest information here on msnbc. we'll be right back.

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welcome back. we're following developing news as we mentioned at top of the hour. lawmakers in indiana announced a deal to alter their highly controversial religious freedom law in that state. the problem though the new proposal did not grant exemption -- the new proposal grants new protection, i should say, for lgbt customers, employees and tennants, but as "the indianapolis star" pointed out it the did not go as far as establishing gays and lesbians as a protected class of citizens stayedwide. this has resulted in a very strongly worded statement. now we've just received from angie's list ceo. it says in part our position is that this fix is insufficient. there was no repeal of rifra and no end to discrimination of homosexuals in indiana. employers in most of the state of indiana can fire a person simply for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or questioning and that's just not

right and that's the real issue here. our employees deserve to live work and travel with open accommodations and any part of the state. us a well know, evening rks, evening's list one of the first companies to step forward and strongly oppose the legislation indicating it would not expand its offices as planned in indiana. in our first read our team points out that there is fallout from, of course these controversial religious freedom laws in arkansas and in indiana. the hotly debated issue is now being felt in the 2016 presidential race. our first read team reports that jeb bush appears to be telling two different audiences two different things about the indiana law. on monday bush expressed support for the law on a radio show but the "new york times" reports bush softened his stance yesterday telling a group of donors quote, we shouldn't discrimination based on sexual orientation. senator ted krus who as of now is the only candidate to have doubled down his support for legislation on a campaign stop

in iowa and "the new republic" is calling out senator rand paul and governor chris christie for not taking a position on the issue. joining me live now nbc political editor mark murray. let me talk about what we just received here. we had one of the state lawmakers on earlier in indiana who indicated that the fix was fine. they want business in indiana, but it was not enough. now angie's list is the first of that big power group of businesses who have now come out and said that the fix is not enough. >> yeah, tamron two big points here. one, it's very hard to find a compromise on this issue when you have conservatives and social conservatives in one place and big business on the other and being able to make both sides very happy, and so i think that statement from angie's list on saying look the fix does not fix things enough is very telling. the other big takeaway is just how big of a player corporate america has been in this debate and, of course, we've seen walmart and the issues that they have been able to do going on in

arkansas, particularly with governor hutchinson saying we need to be able to fix our legislation as well. but corporate america has been perhaps the biggest mover and shaker in all of this to a very surprising degree and it's been amazing how fast they moved. >> that brings us to 2016 and the republicans who will run for office for president here. and now we have this softening from jeb bush and silence from chris christie and rand paul who not officially announced they are running but everyone believes they are. >> the jeb bush story is fascinating of the on the one hand you have him talking to two different audiences and saying two different things at least when it comes to tone. so to say i agree with mike pence, before his own retreat, i agree with him, if you're a critic and you find fault with the law, you're misunderstanding the law. then flash forward to a closed door fundraiser with silicon

valley donors you need to strike the right balance between religious freedom and making sure you don't discriminate. i'm sure that governor mike pence in indiana will eventually get there. there's a not of newuance, but two different audiences and as far as the report on chris christie and rand paul not taking a position it is worth noting chris christie spinalfinally spoke last night, mike pence is going to get in the right place speaking of the republican governor. >> but is that taking a position? >> well he at least commented and that was more than he had done before. have to say rand paul's silence is more striking than all of the others. >> thank you very much. p next the historic measures in california being taken to help the state in the worst drought in 1,000 years. we'll be right back. s can reinvent the world. from pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started...

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now to california where jerry brown is taking historic

steps to conserve water in a drought just getting worse. he's ordering statewide water restrictions, the drought is now in its fourth year. and these pictures before and after show just how badly the water supply has been affected. the governor says water use must be slashed by 25% because reservoirs across the region are running on empty. now experts say the drought is on track to cause an economic loss for california roughly $3 billion in 2015. for more information go to our website. msnbc.com to see more of this report. and that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall up next "andrea mitchell reports."

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the major sticking points? >> minister zarif, do you think it can be done by june? >> i certainly believe that it can be done otherwise i wouldn't be wasting my time. i have said very clearly that all sanctions need to be terminated and i believe that will be the final outcome when we get to that. from iranian point of view sanctions must all go. >> under attack al shabab strikes again inside kenya. this time it's a university dorm and now at least 15 are dead. >> gunshot around sleeping it was around 5:00 and guys starting jumping up and down running for their lives. >> and the fix is in indiana's legislature moves to make its controversial religious freedom law more inclusive. >> let every hoosier know that we value you, gay, straight black, white, religious, nonreligious, we value each and

every hoosier. ♪ >> and good day, i'm kristen welker in washington a very busy day in washington. we begin with breaking news from switzerland, we may have a breakthrough in the nuclear negotiations that have pushed past the u.s. deadline. andrea mitchell joins us live from luzon. andrea, is this the potentially historic moment that we've all been waiting for? >> reporter: it is because they have said that there will be a press statement over at a nearby university the press corps has been moved over there. it's going to take a couple of hours we're told to get them through security and all of the ministers over there. there is a report that we have confirm d that there was a lot of