extremely heavy rainfall. they have seen in excess of 19 inches already for this month. and we re looking at severe weather pushing into arkansas as well as into oklahoma. a tornado watch there, but also across the panhandle of texas where we could see some strong storms later on this afternoon. wolf? karen, thanks very much. by the way to our viewers out there, for more on what you can do to help the victims of this the severe flooding the storm damage texas, oklahoma the surrounding areas, visit cnn.com/impact. just ahead, a new contender for the 2016 democratic nomination. says he s tuning up to take on hillary clinton. so what are his chances of playing hail to the chief in the white house?
that was so shut down because of the heavy rainfall in some instances, almost eight inches of rainfall that shut down a western portion of the loop the 12 loop and interstate 30. take a look at what happens. this is a forecast radar. this is not the actual radar. but this is what is expected. from amarillo to lubbock, all the way to midland, texas, a complex of storms as we head towards midnight. look at dallas not just yet, but after the midnight hour it looks like an explosion of storms we could see another round of potentially heavy rainfall. but kind of an east-west orientation around waco just outside of austin. dallas this radar doesn t go that far out. but it it does look like you could see another couple of inches. also for houston. these are areas that don t need any more wet weather, because as we just heard dan simon mention, we have seen record-setting may rainfall totals. take a look at fort smith arkansas. now arkansas is receiving
about laws that would offer a legal defense to those whose religious beliefs are at odds with among other things gay weddings. while many states offer similar protections indiana and arkansas were going further to extend that from individuals to companies drawing ire from gay rights activists and the white house. passing laws that would use religion to try to justify discriminating against people because of who they love is unthinkable unthinkable. in arkansas governor asa hutchinson are seeking changes to the law after coming under intense pressure from activist and at least one family member. there is clearly a generational gap on this issue. my son seth signed the petition asking me dad, the governor to veto this bill. both states are talking about making changes that could happen as early as today.
it is three minutes till the top of the hour. before you leave the house, here s what s happening today. governor hutchinson calling for changes to arkansas s own religious freedom bill. it comes after public concern it promotes discrimination. senator menendez due in court today. pope francis leading a mass for holy thursday. the pope blessing oils during masses in the coming year. and now it s time for the good, bad and ugly. the good baseball star offering the reward for 16 stolen bikes custom made for wounded veterans. the ride to recovery bikes were taken from a naval medical center storage unit. expecting traffic this morning? it s probably nothing compared to l.a. the city is at the top of a list
shot dead. students sleeping in their dorms scrambling for cover some escaping in a field. at least 10 gunman might have been there on the campus. police are trying to secure the area. there are reports el shabab has taken responsibility for the attacks and have taken several hostages. marathon talks in switzer p land over a possible nuclear deal with iran. the negotiations underway for the day. iran saying they have made significant progress. they still have not reached a deal. all of this is coming as the white house rebeats the threat that they are ready to walk away at any time. secretary kerry has said that he plans to leave switzerland later today. back home the state of arkansas is in the cross hairs of the religious freedom fight. protestors still saying the freedom bill is a license to discriminate. it took less than a day for