understand that difference. will be transmitting home now a lot of engineering data from the flyby as well as data from our instruments and header data to go with the images and spectra we've already got. for the next couple of months until we reach mid-september, it will only be occasionally that we will have new images on the ground and available to release. starting in september, the spaghetti opens again -- the spigot opens again. the sky will be raining presence with data from the pluto system. it's going to be quite a ride. we are happy about the amount of interest in this mission. we are excited to share it with all of you, and we're going to do some of that right now. we're going to get right into the science. for some of you, if you are seeing a cardiologist, you may want to leave the room. there are some pretty mind blowing discoveries we're going to talk about. if i can have my second graphic,

i want to show our mosaic of the pluto system. this has twice the resolution of the previous best global image and it's just mouthwatering. the level of detail is spectacular. this image has a resolution of about 2.2 kilometers per pixel. just looking at it you can tell as our science team can that pluto has a very complicated story to tell. pluto has a very interesting history, and there's a lot of work that we need to do to understand this very complicated place. i want to stress that. i want to drive it home by showing you this image of higher magnification. if i can go to the next set were going to look at just the northern half of that image. we can easily blow it up even further, and you can see across the northern terrains here which include the north pole, by the way -- this is a true color image. essentially true color as your i

might see it -- a whole range of geologic expression. kathy and bill will be talking about this quite a bit more, so i will not steal their thunder but just let your eyes gaze from the left across the disk over to the east. you can see different geologic units, different kinds of features telling that complicated story again, which is there for us to unravel. if i can have the next set of we go to the south, you see a still more cup located story with the great equatorial regions. the heart on pluto and what looked like massive tectonic features both radially emanating as well as others that run more or less north-south. you will hear more about that later. i do want to tell you about one aspect of the interpretation we've been making over the last week they looking more carefully at the imagery.

like a real heart, it has two loads on the left and right side. the left is the western side and i think even to your eye, you can distinction difference tween those two. the right lobe looks like a much thinner deposit that has been painted on the topography. our interpretation of that material in the right lobe as well as the material imitating to the south below the western lobe is that in both cases, we believe the source with that material is the western lobe probably nitrogen snow is being transported off source region of the western lobe, but perhaps by wind and alien transport perhaps by sublimation and wind and re-condensation or perhaps by a process we have not thought about. but in any case, we think we are coming to understand this feature just a little bit. it is early days. bill may have a little bit more to say about that. what i want to talk about next is our next timestamp, which is

a false color image, which has been stressed to show the dramatic differences in color units on pluto and how they coordinate with the geology. this is pretty mind blowing. kathy will have a lot more to say about it and what it means in the bigger picture, but as you can see, for example, with the western and eastern lobes we just talked about, they have different colors. they are telling us something in that, and soon we will have composition spectra city to support that at very high resolutions. you can see that the polar regions have a different color still, and as we get down in the dark equatorial regions, there is still more information. this tells us that the payload that we brought to bear on the reconnaissance of the pluto system is really the right payload because we have on board the spacecraft now tremendous data sets with higher resolution color than this, higher resolution mapping for doing the

geology, and a spectacular data set with compositional information with over 64,000 pixels we have put on the surface. we've got a spectrum at every location. we're going to be able to tell the story very well over the next year. really looking forward to that. i'm going to move on to the next time set. i'm going to tell you more about atmospheric science where we have also made some advances. this is to illustrate something about our ultraviolet occultation of pluto's large moon charon. we designed this user go to look for an atmosphere around pluto's largest moon. there's been a pretty big body of literature speculating about how it could have an atmosphere. we just got the summary data down in the last few days. we do not yet have the full spectral data set. we will not have it until september. but if you look at that, you will be able to see the little yellow line represents the path

of the sun as seen from the spacecraft moving behind charon. you see it just clips the northern regions of the moon. that's exactly what we planned. that is exactly how we planned this trajectory to go. just as you clip on either side of the body, you can see in that red and white graph that the light level from the sun just plummets straight to zero. does not look anything like the data we showed you last week for pluto where we could clearly see a refractive signature, a slow decline in light levels. here, it's just basically a square wave, telling us it has much less atmosphere than pluto if any. we really cannot put strict browns on that yet because we do not have the spectra. -- we really cannot put strict bounds on it. for now, all we can say is it's a much more rarefied atmosphere, confirming our pre-encounter

notions. we are really looking forward to seeing just how rarefied that is. it may be that there is a nitrogen layer in the atmosphere or methane or some other constituent, but it must be very tenuous compared to pluto. again emphasizing just how different these objects are despite their close association in space. i want to also speak to another part of our atmospheric science, which is that we've got some of the data for pluto where the deep space network transmitted a powerful signal up to pluto timed to arrive just as the spacecraft was passing behind the planet so we could measure the refractive index of the atmosphere. as you will hear more from mike, we got the data. they are beautiful data, and they have a wonderful scientific surprise -- the pressure in pluto press atmosphere measured a the base of the atmosphere for the first time in history is lower -- substantially lower -- than predicted and that is probably telling us the story,

and mike will have more to say about that. i would like to close with one more timestamp. this is really a spectacular image. this is a silhouette of pluto looking back after the flyby. i think this is just fantastic. this is our equivalent on new horizons on the apollo first rise photograph that proves we were there. you can only get this image are going to pluto and crossing to the far side and looking back. as striking and spectacular as this image is emotionally, it also represents a huge scientific discovery because you see above the dark risk of pluto a band of light, which is actually telling us pluto has a haze layer in its atmosphere and mike is going to tell you more about it. >> thank you alan. good afternoon, everyone. -- mr. summers: alan.

i'm going to talk about two new results on the atmosphere that are basically changing the way that we think about the atmosphere. could i have the first graphic please? this is one of our first images of pluto's atmosphere. this was the image that stunned the encounter team. for 25 years, we've known that pluto has an atmosphere, but it has been known by numbers. this is our first picture. this is the first time we have really seen it. this was the image that almost brought tears to the eyes of the atmospheric scientist on the team. what i want to tell you now is what we are seeing here -- this is the atmosphere. the light, the crescent you are seeing is sunlight scattered by small particles in the atmosphere, and these particles constitute a haze layer.

this is a cross-section of that haze layer showing structure. the colors have then enhanced. they are not real colors, just so you can see that there is structure. there is an argument going on if this is dynamics or chemistry. this probably both, but the real answer is this is our first peek at weather in pluto's atmosphere . to illustrate that a little bit more, there's a hint that there is either a layer of hayes at 30 miles, 50 miles, or a combination of layers and waves in this region. those are the kinds of things we will have to sort out the coming weeks, and that will help us sort out how the atmosphere works, but the hayes is extensive, at least 100 miles above the surface. that's a big surprise, five times further than our models predicted. paul's predicted -- models

predicted they would form where temperatures are called, but it's forming high in the atmosphere where temperatures are hot from pluto's specter, which is not hot from our perspective. it's a mystery. it's one of the things we will have to sort out in the coming days. ok, the hayes -- haze is pretty. but it is a piece of the big story we are trying to understand, and that's how the atmosphere on the surfaces are connected. this is to illustrate one aspect . could i have the next timestamp please? this shows how methane in the atmosphere is broken apart by ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and radicals, the small atoms and molecules that react trigger a chemical reaction that form complex hydrocarbons like ethylene and acetylene which were detected by new horizons. as time goes on, these buildup.

they become supersaturated, and they should nuclease, form haze particles, which then grow and eventually, they will get big enough so you will see a haze layer, and then it will fall to the ground. at some point in this cycle these particles are chemically processed to produce chemically altered hydrocarbons that have a red color. we think that is how pluto's surface got its reddish hue. in a minute, kathy will talk about the color and composition but this is just one piece of that story, not a coherent piece. there are some mysteries. as i said, we do not understand why there is a haze layer of the 100 miles altitude. it really is a mystery. the next story regard's surface pressure. i will give you a little bit of context here. the surface pressure at any level is a measure of the weight of the air above that level and

that's gravity acting on mass. if you know the surface pressure, you think you have a pretty good estimate of the total mass of that atmosphere, and it is important because that is a way of quantifying the global space of an atmosphere. can i have been next graphic please? ok this show's surface pressure on pluto as a function of time. the units might be strange to you. they are in micro bars. a micro bar is one/million -- 1/one million of sealevel pressure on earth. what is interesting here is that in 1989, pluto was at its closest distance to the sun and now, pluto was moving away from the sun in its very elliptical orbit. as it moves away, it should be cooling. the nitrogen should be condensing onto the surface, and

the mass should be decreasing, but we don't see that. we see the exact opposite. that has been very interesting. nonetheless, we have been trying to figure this out. what i'm going to show you now is a new data point, more information that we had to add to this story. it is just one data point, but i do want to say it is significant, and we are going to have to figure it out. this is it. this is what the radio science experiment has contributed to this story -- a new data point which shows the surface pressure is at most 10 micro bars, so the mass, if you will, of pluto's atmosphere has decreased by a factor of two in about two years. that is pretty astonishing, at least to an atmosphere scientists. that is telling you something is happening. it is just one data point. these are early retrievals. we got more data coming, as alan

says, and there's more to the story, but it's another mystery we will have to deal with over the next few weeks, months years, and so on. ok, now, i'm going to turn it over to kathy, who will talk about the color and composition of pluto's surface. ms. olkin: ok. now what i will tell you now is what we are seeing here this is the atmosphere and the light across as what you are seeing is light scattered... i want to talk about what we're seeing scientifically and some of the things we know and understand from looking at this image. you can see the dark region. remember, the stark regions all around that area. just above it it's a little bit

brighter and a little bit less red. -- remember, there's dark regions all around that area. if i can have the next graphic. putting this latitude and longitude grid on this image allows you to help see, draw your eye to that banding pattern. i want to talk a little bit about it because it goes to the complexity mike was just talking about about the atmosphere and the surface and the interaction. pluto has a very complicated seasonal pattern of transport -- it takes 248 years for pluto to go around the sun. pluto has a very eccentric orbit, so sometimes it's much closer to the sun than at other times. also, additionally pluto's north pole is tilted over at an angle of about 120 degrees relative to the plane that it orbits in. all of these factors together cause different parts of pluto

to get different amounts of sunlight, and the sunlight is powering the sublimation from the surface into the atmosphere. some parts are kind of eight like new the equator, and other parts received this condensation as you can see on the north: here. we've got a different pattern that you can see manifested on pluto that we understand from modeling of the seasonal transports, but there is one glaring difference in this pattern i just called out, and that is what clearly the reps this pattern of latitudinal variation of colors and brightness is, and one thing i should add is that the darker regions in the story i was telling of the seasonal transport are likely what mike was describing that was raining out from the hazes or falling

from the atmosphere and a thesis. what is really special is we are seeing methane, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide there telling us something we need to understand. on the northern part, we see methane and nitrogen to jim, but not carbon monoxide. maybe we're seeing a source region for some of these. we'll be looking at that in the future. as you've heard, we have a small bit of our compositional data down, and will get a lot more information when we get the rest down, but we've got some great images, and bill mckinnon is going to tell us about the geology of the region of the nearby vicinity. mr. mckinnon: thanks, cathy. ok, could i have my first graphic?

next, please. we will be looking at the fabulous near encounter hemisphere. i know you can see it. you can start the animation. what we have now is the full seven games of what will ultimately be a 12-frame mosaic at higher resolution, but not even the highest resolution. that will come down later. this area on the next slide -- next. yes. this mosaic covers in its entirety this vast more or less flat icy plain that we have been -- that we haven't formally named. it's pretty big. it's just about the size of the state of texas. all around the periphery and in the interior geological wonders.

i would like to share some of those with you. could i have the next slide please? first, i would like to look at that orange box, the rectangle you see at the upper left of the mosaic. next slide please. this is the northern boundary. there's a little scale bar down there, but basically this is about 250 miles across, about the difference between kansas city, missouri, and st. louis, a city which i picked completely at random. [laughter] mr. mckinnon: ok, next slide. most of the picture you see is it the famous for having the segmented or cellular structure. you can see this really well a she move to the next side of the image.

at the top of the picture, it's really different. there is a rugged landscape, a degraded landscape, and something that to the eye of geologists looks like something that has been very deeply and extensively eroded. we can tell it's old because you can see with your own eye various impact craters of large size, but what is really interesting to us is the actual interaction between it and this rugged terrain to the top. if you look carefully at the image, you can actually see a pattern that indicates a flow of viscous iced towards the stark or cliff boundary of the terrain. when you look at these streamlines, which i've marked with these curved arrows you see here, they look just like -- and we interpret them to be just like glacial flow on the earth, but i do not have to remind you that glaciers on the earth are made of ice -- you know, like in antarctica and greenland -- but

waterice at pluto's temperatures will not move anywhere. it is immobile and brittle, but on pluto, the kind of isis we think make up the planet, -- the kind of ices we think make up the planet are soft and malleable, even at pluto conditions, and they will flow like in the same way that glaciers doing here. is one thing hiding of the 12:00 decision. we can see a flow of what is probably solid nitrogen ice flowing through a breach partially filling in the interior of the crater.

we knew there was nitrogen ice. we've known this for years. we imagined it was sublimating or evaporating one place and condensing in another place. i want to back up just one little bit and say when i say recent, i do not necessarily mean yesterday. i mean geologically recent, but the appearance of this terrain tells us this is really a young unit. we have models of what these objects would be, and they give various answers, but the best ones would be the ices in the flow we see -- as you point out that this curved arrows at the upper left there -- we could see them going around. it's really less conclusive evidence, but to get that to the age, the age is only a fraction of the total age of the solar

system. probably no more than a few tens of millions of years. what we know or can theoretically estimate about the heat flow coming from the interior of pluto, there's no reason why this stuff cannot be going on today. ok, let's go to the next. now we go down to the bottom of sputnik planum. this is a very busy scene ok? it's a bit bigger than the one i just showed you. this one is about 400 miles across, like taking a drive from l.a. to phoenix, although it's a bit colder than that. anyway next. here are some things -- actually, at the very top of the image, you can still see sputnik planum. you can still see its polygons. at the very bottom is this

ancient black, heavily cratered region, which we have been informally calling cthulhu regio . our group up mountain blocks, which we discovered last week. in this picture, you can see economy the center -- actually, if you go a little bit above in the center and toward the left another arrangement of mountain blocks. these mountainous regions are actually somewhat similar. you might think the ones on the left are different, but that's just because the sun is higher in the sky when that one was taken, so you do not see the shadow. the arrangement appearance is similar from one region to another. we have given an informal name to this new mountain block after sir edmund hillary, who first summit of everest -- summited

everest back in 1953. most fascinating part to me is that the ice seems to have moved and surrounded the mountain. they cover up not just the mountain blocks, but they extend all the way down, and they just seem to feather out just onto the edge. when you look in detail, there's a lot of fine structure in the ice and a lot of fine structure that is different than the. that tells us the ice is substantially thinner.

there are craters that have a sickly -- basically ponsds of this predominantly nitrogen ice. let's look from one end of sputnik planum to the other. we start at the north, and we're going to careen over the cliffs on to sputnik planum. there are the polygons, well delineated, and as we move into the interior, it seems like they disappear, but they do not. if they look carefully, they are still there. in fact, we basically are approaching the region that is super rich and the carbon monoxide ice that cathy was just talking about. anyway, it's a long flight all the way to the south, so we will skip over that part and rejoin our tour here.

we are sweeping across them. big blocks, small blocks, the dark asphalt cone surface, ancient surface on the right and one of those big craters with the big ice pond is coming into view. i crater itself is about the size of the d.c. metro area -- that crater itself. the screen has gone dark, but there's a whole lot more we will learn about pluto and its moon. most of our images, most of our data are still on the spacecraft outbound from pluto. we will be downloading this for months and in fact almost a full year ahead. with that, back to you, dwayne.

mr. brown: thank you. now we transition into questions and answers. we start here in washington and hit the phone lines and social media and come back. frank, i will give you the first question because your expression, it's pretty cool stuff, right. >> "aviation week." for dr. mckinnon i have a couple of questions about things i saw in the new disk image. it looks like a copyright bar just to the west of the plane. it's a big crater with some concentric circles. if you have any idea what that might be. also, just to continue on the ice flows. do you have elevation data as to what is making it flow? dr. mckinnon: that's a couple of

great questions. are some security features i did not particular point -- there are some circular features i did not particularly point out to the west and north of sputnik planum and those are probably impact craters of some . and so will at least fundamentally ancient, leaving theirough they may be active. that is another crater -- not

really showing on my graphic but another one of these craters that has ice in it, but also a central peak. it is sticking up through a bright ring. your other question is elevation. we measure the elevation of notice by measuring shadow lengths, and if not, another technique which is determining the relative slip and we integrate, and we get some estimate of harvey. we can see on sputnik planum that the individual cells are -- by a few meters primary technique we want to use is called stereo imaging, and we do not have data yet to do that analysis. we are going to get more frames of that mosaic, and then legal

get a sweet covering the whole of pluto and he will have a beautiful stereo view of on the whole weather sputnik planum is high or low. the one thing we can count is the north, the planum is lower than that close, and in the south, it seems to on-ramp onto cthulhu regio. mr. brown: we will go here, and then the phone lines. >> if i could follow up, you speculate about what could be driving the flows and also how is source region got there to begin with. there has a debates whether these are ices that have accumulated from above or

whether something is allowing ices to well up from within. can you explain how this spot right in the family of the planet got to be there and what is driving it. mr. mckinnon: if test sort of answered your own question. we have a vast region that is a reservoir. we described it as the beating heart of pluto. maybe the supply for the entire atmosphere for a lot of geologic activity. how it was formed, you can imagine. you can imagine it was an inpact basin. we see on the south there is highly deformed topography. we know activity beyond the flows talked about at deformed crust. -- have deformed the crest.

we have only seen these seven images close up. when the rest comes down and we get this uncompressed on the ground, we will get a complete story. you can imagine with any reservoir, it could be filled in from the side by glaciers going into it, from below, you could imagine inside the ic crest of -- icy crust, nitrogen would be a liquid because it would be warmer and this reservoir of liquid nitrogen could supply the planet. these are interesting ideas, and it is very early days and we are enjoying a great deal of animated discussion. >> nothing like these images existed a couple weeks ago.

what we are learning and fundamentally is on pluto we have a much more intimate and intricate interaction between geology and the seasonal climate cycle. they are forcing feeding one another, and creating a layered story about planet history. it is rare in the pantheon of objects in the solar system that we have seen this kind of an intricate and complicated story. i am reminded by titan, but few other examples that are so dramatic. it is brand-new. mr. mckinnon: just you wait until the rest of the images come in because it will be great stuff there. mr. brown: let's go to the phone lines and then comes back here for social 80. phone line. can from "the new york times. >> remind me of the

temperatures. what the temperature of the spirit is the surface and higher up with hazes. >> the temperature at the services 38 degrees kelvin, 480 degrees below fahrenheit. mr. mckinnon: even if 30 kelvin solid nitrogen can creep, and below ground nitrogen will warm up and it is very sensitive to temperature. there is nothing physically implausible about the gray shall -- glacial flow. >> if there is a modestly deep flow, you get down to that, the pressure from the overburden of ice can change the properties of

nitrogen because it is getting warmer because it is less viscous. there may be conditions where you can get liquid digestion flowing below a deep -- liquid nitrogen flowing below. we have a lot of work to do to say that with any confidence. mr. brown: next up, wr reuters. >> i heard you say the surface pressure measurements show that figure atmosphere had increased by a factor of two in two years. can you tell us what the two-year-old data set is how that is comparativred to what you are getting from new horizons?

mr. summers: it is based on stellar occultations. we have to use these to extrapolate down to the service to get a surface pressure. that is what was done for each of those data points you saw. as far as we can tell, those are accurate measurement of the this fear where the stellar occultations occurs. the thing that is different about rex, you can go down to the surface. and the data looks good. this should be our best measurement of the surface pressure on pluto. this is early our first data, first retrieval. we have more studies to do on this. taking it at face value, it appears the atmosphere has changed by quite a bit.

>> all those data occultations are dated that is observed from earth. we are detecting what may be a significant short-term variation in that atmosphere that might be a turnaround. we will have to see. >> what will help is the most recent observations from sophia, which is one of our 747's, a fabulous telescope, that most recently in june race down to new zealand and chased pluto's shadow and got a very beautiful occultation. that is a very recent occultation compared with who don't data for which it might help the interpretation of previous observations.

mr. brown: did you have a follow-up? >> as far as the britishreddish hue what would that look like if you are on the surface of pluto particles being big enough to see, like snow ice, fog, and why -- they universally distributed, or something else happened on the surface? this is putting together a puzzle when you do not have pieces but it is curious what your thinking is on that right now. mr. summers: there are several questions. we're talking about a very thin haze. we only see it when we are looking at long slants through

the atmosphere and this is the way he get that image. it is distributed over a very large region. it appears to be 100 miles or so high. in terms of the conversion of those particles to tholins, we do not know the exact details in that. tholins encompass a range of different chemical substances that appear to be altered hydrogen hydrocarbons and compounds, irradiated, so it is not any particular chemical substance. without having more detail, we cannot test the exact mechanism. we know these substances are around. we see them on titan, and british color is distinctive. -- the reddish color is

distinctive. >> i can address one part of that question. i believe there is a question about the hazes falling uniformly on the surface, and that probably does happen. we have a lot of work to do to find out the rate of the story of seasonal transport reveals why we see this thing different patterns with these latitudinal bands, and it has to do with those tholins that will absorb more lice. -- more light. they will be deposited on the poles and cover up the tholines.s. these are pieces of the puzzle that will speak to the

production of the tholins and the deposition of it. >> i have another question which may be too early to answer. based on the data you have gotten can you say anything about the exact mass of pluto and any changes in the models of what the interior may have? thanks. mr. stern: i will ask bill to chip in. we had not been able to attain a new estimate. before the flyby, data already gave us a very accurate mass. in order to constrain the interior properties, the uncertainty was in knowing the radius so we could get the volume and convert to density. what new horizons was able to contribute west discovered that

contribute was to discover was 1187 kilometers. we had uncertainty that ranged over 70 kilometers. plus or minus 2. center dot around 1186. it is somewhat bigger than what we had expected. that will lower the density and will have implications to the interior property. mr. mckinnon: everything alan is pretty much the case. he had good sizes for both pluto and charon. in the years past we thought charon was very icy and please don't have much more r=ock. now they are much more similar.

pluto seems to be a bit rockier. in terms of what the inside of pluto is, without gravity data it is hard to be absolutely definitive. that is one way we test our models of planets when we fly by then. everything we see, all activity we see is consistent with the idea it has a massive rock core surrounded by huge icy shell, and that shall -- and that shell is probably figure. it raises test it increases the probability there may be an oce an way down under a single mayor of ice. that is something you keep in mind as pluto. one of the things we learned not just the size of pluto, but

it was close to spherical. we cannot detect any old lateness in the body -- bo oblateness in this body. pluto probably was spinning very fast after what we believe to be a giant impact that led to the formation of its satellite. after that, pluto and charon are close together and tides have created them to be locked up the way they are. pluto does not show any evidence from its shape from this fast rotation. we think it must have been warm enough that no residual she could be supported. it is still too early to say exactly how hot, but that is the thing we will be applying our research tools, theoretical

models, and going to scientific conferences and writing scientific papers and either coming to conclusions or not. that is how it goes in science. mr. brown: "sky and telescope." mr. beatty: because the atmosphere density is higher you expect it to be, can you tell us about the possibility that are gone playing in the composition -- argon is playing in the composition? mr. summers: it has gone the other direction. we believe the atmosphere has shrunk. i am not sure that says anything about argon.

i do not believe there is anything we can say about argon. >> this one goes out to alan. you called pluto a double planet. considering that pluto is larger than previously thought, what do the findings say in terms of how we define what the kind actually is? there is a bone of contention for those who have followed pluto for a time. mr. stern: we called the pluto system a double planet for a very specific technical reason, because the two objects are close enough together and their match ratio is sufficient strong balance point between them into free space. that is analogous to the way we define a double sources, when

the balance point called bay area center -- the barycenter, is not within either of the two. i do not think there is contro there has been this controversy where astronomers and planetary scientists have been on different sides of this. you and the public lightly on the site steam account what we are dealing with. it is hard not to call object like this in this level of complexity with complicated seasonal cycles, and certainly the big complicated system of moons a plan. the way science works is individual scientists make their decisions one time and did

eventually consensus reached. now a new class of plan in our system, we are going three time of transition, and definitions are in transition as well. they will shake themselves up. mr. brown: leo, you will at the last question. you get to the public also. leo: bill mckinnon mentioned a classical ocean. i was trying to understand how to get into what you are seeing. could you say that nitrogen glaciers could be explained easily without a liquid ocean underneath that other mechanisms could achieve this, or that norgay and hillary could

not be explained without that? mr. mckinnon: we do not have any direct evidence of an interior ocean. what i wanted to imply that pluto is a complex look, plus the fact that any ice mantel increases the radical likelihood that there may be an ocean done it. mr. brown: let's see what the social media questions are. emily? emily: derek asks what information is used to make these false cover images? ms. olkin: color images coming from the color camera. we have four filters, and they

cover wavelengths where charged coupled devices are typically sensitive. so those images are a combination of those different filters, and sometimes we welcomed by knows to make natural color, and then other false cover images. you can pull the near infrared so our i is not to do. we can understand these compositional in a detailed could not with our eye. emily: when images of planets without atmospheres be able to be caught with this?

the ring around pluto is from it mr.. when images -- from its atmosphere. >> we have taken selected images of other objects that do not have missed years do not see the rain. we have a -- see the ring. we have a nice image where we are talk looking back into the glare of this done that show the crescent of charon, and there is no evidence of it atmosphere. you see a brand new moon. once we clean it up we will make sure it is released. mr. brown: two more. emily: simon asks is there a

theory of what is driving the nitrogen ice flow? mr. mckinnon: i guess that is for me. it is not sunlight. it is internal heat. if you have a sick enough, a massive enough mayor of these kinds of cases nitrogen, carbon monoxide, or methane, it will move if there is sufficient flow. we have done calculations which we need to do better ones, but we believe -- our leading model for the formation of the polygon at this moment is internal convective motion rising and falling at a slow rate of the nitrogen ice within sputnik planum. it is driven from the heat that

is leaking the interior of pluto. mr. brown: the final one. emily: when will we see the relatively high resolution of the service? mr. stern: in the nature of new horizons, it demanded that it was a consequence that we were going to observe one hemisphere in exquisite detail and the other side in much less detail. that is a combination of the fast speed combined with the slow rotation rate. the last time we saw far hemisphere we were 3.2 days out, and that corresponded to millions of miles away. as opposed to the image you are seeing, it was taken 10 times we have a dichotomy and our maps.

the far side, we can detect the largest craters on the surface and the largest units, but not nearly as well as in the close approach hemisphere. we have a good bit of imagery still in the spacecraft that will help improve the maps more, and in the fall when the data starts coming in, we will produce a better map of the far side than we have now. eric: i have a question for alan or mike. this shrinking atmosphere, the plummeting pressure, assuming it got to zero, that means the atmosphere froze out. does this mean you got there in the nick of time and that is what pluto -- that is where it was heading, and how can you reconcile a changing atmosphere with detecting haze higher than

was expected. it seems contradictory to me, a shrinking atmosphere with a hza aze. mr. summers: the haze particles are very small. you could have the atmosphere decreased by factor of 10 and can still have a haze present. it could still be there. if you want to take the other part -- mr. stern: for a long time there have been models and climate models for pluto that suggested as it draws the sunday pressure could precipitously drop. in fact, during a time when the national academy and committees were looking at a pluto mission

and its priority, there was an interest in trying to get pluto while it had a substantial atmosphere. that helped motivate the case to get a mission launched in the 200's0's. eventually there came to be a believe that it has been 25 or more years since its closest approach to the sun, maybe there is not going to be any atmosphere to collapse. what rex has detected is the first stage of the collapse just as it arrives. we will see if this is in fact it is complicated, not related to atmospheric collapse, and we have several more rex data sets that will help inform the question because we got data from two different stations at

ingress and two sets at egress. mr. brown: that will do it here. pluto is very complex, and as dr. stern mentioned, the data is raining down and we will be bringing you more in the future. stay tuned for updates on how we will share that with the public and the world, and follow us on the national social media accounts twitter, facebook youtube. keep the questions coming in. follow the conversations which will go on for a long time at # plutoflyby. and updates cutting down in the future at 2

www.nasa.gov/newhorizons. this theme is not best 15 is not updating text books. they are writing >> tomorrow, the governor's address the opioid crisis in this country. sunday evening at 6:35 eastern an interview with former governor of rhode island lincoln chafee on c-span2 -- on c-span. on c-span2, the many letters that ralph nader sent to bill

clinton and barack obama. a journalist on new orleans 10 years after hurricane katrina. and on c-span3, sunday morning starting at 10:00 eastern, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of lyndon johnson's's signing of the 1965 medicare will. -- bill. this will include phone conversations, how he was able to get it to pass, and the signing of the bill at the harry s truman presidential library. saturday night at 7:15, u.s. army cyber command historian on the history of computers hackers, and the government's response to computer abuses. it are complete schedule at c-span.org. >> the national governor's association began its annual summer meeting today in west virginia. that is next here on c-span.

later, hillary clinton talks about economic policy at an event in new york city. the national governor's association began its annual summer meeting today in white sulfur springs, west virginia. the association currently led by colorado governor and utah governor. they were joined by four other governors this morning to speak with reporters about the meeting's addenda. this is 45 minutes. governor tomblin: good morning everyone. let me first officially welcome you to west virginia. we are honored to be this year's host state for the meeting which has brought governors from all across the country. we will have the opportunity to sit down with one another and discuss a number of crucial policies on a wide range of issues important to all our

states, and i am confident our meeting will open pathways for new ideas. while in west virginia, i hope you experience all that is wild and wonderful about the mountain state. our team has worked hard to put together a number of exciting events all attendees to ensure that not only we showcase our history, but share true and authentic west virginia culture and hospitality. we hope you enjoy your stay here. welcome to west virginia. i look forward to another successful nga summer meeting. it is my pleasure to introduce governor john hickenlooper of colorado. governor? [applause] governor hickenlooper: thank you. he has been practicing on my name.

it is a delight to kick off the summer meeting of the national governors association. i want to recognize and thank governor tomlin for having sited this conference, and we do look forward to experience everything that west virginia has to offer. so thank you. please give him a hand. [applause] governor hickenlooper: i am delighted to recognize my friend from utah, gary herbert. gary and i have worked on initiatives for nga and other governor organizations, and it continues to be a pleasure to work with him. we have with us today governor

fallon, governor walker from alaska, and a whole host of governors lurking around. be on your toes. we have a full agenda planned for this weekend. this afternoon we will begin with an opening session about my initiative delivering results. it is focused on improving efficiency and effectiveness around some of the core functions of government, how do we take best practices from the private sector, business, and translate them and implement them and deliver services to citizens, to focus on how governors can hire the best and brightest and make sure they know how to manage. we have focused on how to create and implement appropriate rules

and regulations that protect the public good without becoming unnecessarily burdensome or creating red tape. we focused on how to adopt performance improvement measures that use data and evidence to enhance results, how to make sure how all agencies are focusing on continuous improvement. governors have different opinions on how they can deliver results to the people of their states. regardless of whether a governor focuses on one strategy or implements a comprehensive statewide approach, we have identified three principles that form the foundation of creating a result-oriented government. first, make sure we set a vision and focus on outcomes and maintain that focus. second, we try to foster a culture -- as i said -- of continuous improvement, to make sure all of our cabinet and all their staff recognize continuous approach improvement is a necessity.

third, make sure we communicate results internally and to the citizens of our state. in the session today, i will share the delivering results toolkit with governors including document and resources that will be able to help governors in each of our states. we will be joined by peter hutchinson, our guest speaker. peter was the first people i consulted with when we decided to take on this notion of delivering results, and i'm delighted he was able to join us here in west virginia to help stimulate the ideas and discussions around delivering better results to the people of our states.

this afternoon we will have our first joint committee session, commerce and natural resources. this session will offer governors to discuss how states integrate recreational facilities and parks into their economic development and natural resource strategy to grow tourism, economy, and create jobs, and we could not be in a better place to see that demonstration than in greenbrier in west virginia. tomorrow morning we will resume with another joint committee session, health and human services and public safety to discuss a critical issue affecting all our states, the nation's opioid crisis. opioid abuse is a major public health and safety crisis confronting communities across the country. we will discuss ways we can take action to address this crisis, including what role the federal government should play. nga has had an academy on this

which was successful, and we are seeing reductions in the states that had begun implementation of the approaching 20%. also looking at building a world-class workforce in each state and developing an educational system that will support that workforce. this is on the top of every priority list and we will give it serious attention. saturday, the educational workforce committee will examine how do we create pathways that accelerate economies while helping people build schools for the jobs of the future. we will be joined at the session by thomas perez. this will be a wide open discussion looking at all the ways we can improve our workforce training starting from k-12 through the arc of people's working lives.

it is essential every member of the workforce at every age be given the opportunity to realize their full god-given potential over the course of their careers in order to keep pace with the constantly changing and ever-increasing demands in terms of job skills. the 2015 meeting will conclude saturday with our closing session on health care transformation, with a west virginia native sylvia burwell who will be here. i know she will get time off to see her family. the weekend is going to be very focused on these issues, and may be short, we are taking on issues with lots to discuss and lots of ground to cover. even though this is my last meeting as chair, i am not going

anywhere. you're looking into the fall, i want to make sure everyone is aware of two exciting opportunities we have planned for the nga in the fall. first is that health care forum in colorado october 2 through 4. it will assess the steps states are taking to providing better health care to people at affordable cost. at the end of the month, october 30 and 31, we will meet with our canadian and mexican colleagues at the north american summit in colorado springs. this will be the first time we have taken governors from mexico and premiers from canada and governors from the united states and brought them together. we will discuss issues that are crucial to all our states and

territories including economic development, innovation, and education. it will be a unique, historic opportunity, and we hope to get as many people there as possible. i want to recognize that i think governors at this moment in history are in a special place where we are. despite all the gridlock and excessive partisanship in washington, governors continue to roll up their sleeves and make the difficult decisions and try to get things done. if you could have seen us yesterday, at our executive committee meeting, when you are a governor, republican or democrat, those titles matter less than any other forms of government in our country, and we are able to find compromises and find ways to deliver results well outside the boundaries of party affiliation. with that, i will turn it over

to a great republican governor gary herbert, the governor from the great state of utah. [applause] governor herbert: we thank you for your leadership, john, and addressing of the issues, and states really are hitting those issues head on and making decisions and industry leadership. i learned early on as a new governor that the place to be was here at the national governors association conferences, where we can speak with each other, commiserate with challenges, and learn of best practices, find out what is working, and ones that are not working as well to see if we cannot take that information back and become better governors in our respective states. i appreciate governor hickenlooper's leadership.

i appreciate you convening us on july 24. most of us know that july 24 is pioneer day in utah. [laughter] governor herbert: that is when the pioneers settled and colonized what became utah. it is our big state holiday, so normally i am in a parade waving. so i am waving here from west virginia, and, governor tomlin thank you for hosting us in such a beautiful place and making it such a convenient place to share best practices. let me talk about things i think are important to the country important to governors. we have had some success, and maybe still have work to do. one of the topics is health care.

a lot of the iterations of health care and how we implement the affordable care act in respective states, what it does to state economies, the impact of it, we are sensitive to help those who are most vulnerable in our societies. we have told the president things we would like to be considered as you move forward with us. we have a need for more flexibility in our states. we would ask for them to streamline the waiver process, to make it so we cannot only find unique solutions to our respective states, but there is permanency so we do not think -- to continue and request a waiver once we get those waivers in place. we would like to see some permanency. i would like to say that, as was mentioned, the secretary of health will be here, and she has

been good to work with as we have tried to find ways to address this issue. i am looking forward to having her here, having that continued conversation with her as we continue to negotiate. we have had some success with the chip program. those areas where we have children and pregnant women whose families are not making enough money, and the chip program has brought much needed certainty to that issue, which is something the nga has been asking for. the second issue is the workforce innovation opportunity act. we appreciate the fact that the senate has reaffirmed restoring

the set aside from 10% back to the 15% setback we have had. as we look at workforce programs and helping people in our state, that extra 5% makes a big difference. we think we spend the money in a very effective and efficient way. we are close to the people, know what issues are, so we appreciate the senate setting that back. we would hopefully call upon house that they would also restore that extra 5%. we hope that will happen. tax issues. you heard about tax reform and the need for tax reform, and we applaud them in that effort. we want to make sure they understand that the top of the list for governors is the need to have parity in the system when it comes to sales.

those in our brick-and-mortar main street retail stores, as opposed to catalog, need to make sure there is in fact involvement in that. the parity act, which is being talked about this year, to finally resolve this issue and have fairness. there is bipartisan support on this, and we hope that will be taken up and passed this year. as we have tax reform for governors, this is at the top of the list. we want to work with congress as they go to their tax reform issues. most of the things they do impact us in the states, so we want to be partners, we want to be collaborative partners in making sure we help transition from a 20th-century economy into the 21st-century economy that is taking place before our eyes.

next, transportation. most recognize that transportation, particularly in the fastest-growing states and throughout this country, is a significantly important issue. it is not just a quality-of-life issue. nobody likes to be stuck in gridlock. the ability for us to build capacity, ability to maintain what we already have, is significantly important to us, not only for quality of life but for economic development. many of our businesses leaders out there have a hard time creating wealth and creating jobs if the transportation system is defective. for us as governors, we would want to make sure that the congress understands. we have talked about the transportation reauthorization. we need to have a well-functioning transportation system throughout this country. we have done that in a

significant way since the eisenhower days with the interstate system, that needs to be extended and maintained, and we need to have certainty on this for our states because we have long-term plans. in utah, we have a five-year ongoing plan. it is hard to maintain roads if you do not know where the resources are coming from or whether they will be here beyond the next six months. last but not least, one of the significant challenges we have as well as a great opportunity is to be the leader of our national guards. as governors, we are the commanders in chief of our national guard, we take that job

very seriously. it is ongoing as we have emergencies that occur from time to time with our respective states to make sure you have a national guard that is able to perform, as well as for national defense. we are becoming a significant part of the active military when it comes to our national defense. our national guard readiness is important to us. we appreciate the fact that there has been significant work with the national defense authorization act to in fact make sure funds continue to flow to our national guard, to protecting from having apache helicopters taken away from states and given to the army -- not a good policy. we appreciate that is not happening at the until the end of fiscal year 2017, which will give us time to review and congress review.

we appreciate the opportunities we have as governors to lead this country. i can tell you with the leadership of those you see here and others amongst us in our conference, governors are getting things done. they are leading in a bipartisan way. lives are made better because of the efforts of the governors. let me thank governor hickenlooper and other governors for bringing us together and helping us become better governors. thank you for your service. [applause] governor hickenlooper: thank you for your service and your leadership and your friendship. we can open it up for questions. yeah. >> since we have six governors could each of you give a couple

projects in your state that you feel best about in terms of job creation over the last months? governor hickenlooper: with companies or initiatives? in colorado, we started with something called bottom-up in the state, to reduce red tape, market the state better, provide access to technology and improve the workforce. in that initiative, we have seen an overall level of job growth. in terms of specific components

to that, we are working with the merkel foundation and linkedin to create a database where we take every company that has training programs in all our community colleges to create a seamless arc of how you make sure that certificates and badges and ways of delineating when someone has got to the next level. it could be anything. some of the large corporations like walmart and starbucks are willing to share some of what historically has been protected intellectual property, of their training programs in detail so the world can see when someone achieves that level of proficiency in a job that they are able to take those skills and be able to market them somewhere else.

we also have a grant program for advanced industries. someone is able to take small amounts of methane off of a storage tank to produce crude oil and find a way to economically gather that and separate it so that, instead of a waste, they're able to turn it into energy. that company started with four employees. we gave them a grant. they now have i think 34 employees. those programs of -- are all along that same pattern.

>> we could spend the whole press conference talking about the great things happening in the states. the number one focus we have is to grow the economy. it's pretty hard to get anything else to happen if you don't have a healthy economy. utah has a very healthy economy right now. one area we have specialized in is to capitalize on the fact that we have hill air force base in utah which has one of the best if not the best test and training ranges in north america. we capitalize on the area of aerospace. i was appreciative of the fact that in the most recent air, some of you saw the demonstrations of the boeing and the air buses. it's a most uncanny how these big airplanes stay afloat in the air. one of the reasons they can do

that is because they have composite material. it allows them to perform in ways they have not been able to do before. most of that composite material comes from utah. we specialize in aerospace and part of that aerospace economy is composite material. >> first of all, in west virginia, we have made some major progress as far as state government goes. addressing what used to be our liabilities. we have been able to bring those up-to-date. we have been able to improve our bond ratings in west virginia. we used to have some of the

highest workmen's comp. ratings in the country. now we have some of the lowest. we have been able to reduce our taxes. we have eliminated our business franchise tax, lowered our corporate income tax and we are competitive with or equal to most of our surrounding states. the fact that we have not had a tax increase in west virginia for over 20 years is one of those things that businesses look at. we spend a great deal of time working on our workforce in west virginia. i have been able to bring everything from public education to our four-year institutions, trade unions, it's all sitting around the table and trying to figure out how to test and most quickly train and retrain our workforce in west virginia to meet the demands of what the businesses are asking for. one of the things i am very proud of that we are able to

announce this year is proctor and gamble. they are building their second plant in the united states since the 1970's and they chose west virginia to put that plant. it is going to be huge building wise as well as the number of employees that will be employed over the next few years. we do help businesses when they come in. whether it takes a highway exchange or upgrades to the highways as well as workforce training when they come in to give them the specific skills they need for jobs at proctor and able or any other company would need for their employees in west virginia. -- proctor and gamble >> it's really hard to limit it

to three things as you can see. we all have great ideas and that's the beauty of the national governors association. it's a pleasure to be in west virginia. i appreciate the leadership of governor hickenlooper. gary herbert, we appreciate you. in oklahoma, we have been focusing on how can we create the very best business climate for job creation, job growth, and raising our median household incomes. the second thing is education and workforce, having a highly skilled, and educated workforce here it -- workforce. making sure our state is run appropriately. just a week ago, we were named as one of the top 10 best managed states in the nation in reducing our unfunded liabilities for a pension system, making sure our state is fiscally sound. improving the health of the

workforce in our state. to begin with jobs and the economy, we passed a major overhaul of workers compensation. so far, costs have come down 22% in the first year since that bill has gone into effect. it affects the bottom line of our businesses. we reduced taxes a couple times in our state. we put hard caps on non-economic damages in our state. we have made ourselves more business friendly. our economy has grown by 8.3%. before the energy sector took a bit of a downturn, we had a 3.9% unemployment rate statewide. that's pretty remarkable. the median household income has increased to twice the national average. if you don't have a highly skilled educated workforce, you

can't take care of the needs of the employers in our state. last year, when i was national chair of the governors association, we launched a nationwide initiative called america works, education training for tomorrow's jobs. anybody watch "house of cards?" about a year ago, kevin spacey was talking about his new program called america works. i was like wow, he's been watching the national governors association. we took that down to what we call oklahoma works. it's about realigning our pipeline of our education system to match the needs of the current industries and employers in our state. in other words, we are working with a k-12 to reach down into our students to encourage them to dual track both college or career tracks so they can get their education further and

understand how important it is to continue their education. we are working also to increase our degree completion. to be able to match the needs of the employers in our state. we survey them, we know what they need, and we are working with all of our school systems. i mentioned about performance and fiscal soundness for the state. we launched performance and formed budgeting. we are trying to fund programs that are priorities for our state. not that we hope they will work but funding things we know will work and have measured outcomes and goals. i asked if our state agencies could develop metrics for key areas in our state. these will develop different

goals and dates to a calm push those things. when we come back in our budgeting process, we will be able to see if we accomplished what we said we would and then publish it so that taxpayers can see on the state website whether we are delivering those results that governor hickenlooper is focusing on this year. that is one of our goals in education to increase the number of high school graduates, make sure our third-graders are reading grade appropriate level reducing our recidivism rate reducing our structurally inefficient bridges those type of issues. improving the health, we think it's important to have a healthy workforce. a couple things we did, we passed a bill this year that dealt with one of our top problems in our nation which is opioid abuse, prescription drug abuse. now we require doctors at certain times to check painkillers when they write

those prescriptions and to hopefully be able to stop doctor shopping. we also passed a bill that says you can't smoke in k-12 schools. we banned texting while driving. things that will help improve the overall health of our state your it -- state. >> we paid off a debt, $2.5 billion to the federal government your it we lowered corporate and income taxes and we are recommending and infrastructure budget for our ports and roads. >> in alaska, we put more gas that we inject back into the ground than any place else in the world. our partners are exxon mobil and

bp. it's a $50 billion project that will bring down the cost of energy in alaska significantly. >> anymore shorter questions? >> the issue of thank you cities has become a hot topic. the house just passed a bill to limit access to funding for sanctuary cities. i'm not sure which of your states actually have them. if you could give a perspective if you think there should be state limitations on st. mary's cities and that sort of issue -- sanctuary cities and that sort of issue. if the states should pass their own limitations instead of waiting for -- >> a number of states have. >> we have a city that has been listed as a thank you wary city

and i don't know who makes those decisions -- sanctuary city and i don't know who makes those decisions. as an organization, the national governors organization understand how important a reform is an passing some immigration laws. you hear a lot of discussion about the border. that is kind of intuitive. we ought to have a secure border. i called up a tall fence, but we need to have a gate, a wide gate that works. i have had an opportunity to address this issue with the president and talks in terms of if we don't fix the gate, we have undue pressure on the border. we certainly have a lot of immigrants who like to come into the country and work in a legal status weight but then they would like to go home. they would like to be able to come back and forth. the fear of not being able to come back causes them to

overstay their visa and become undocumented and illegal. i believe there ought to be a rule of law that we need to refract the immigration laws. we have a sort of stalemate in congress. we have been debating this issue for how long now? the last and we had any meaningful discussion was back in reagan's day. that has been a long time. it's time for them to come together in a bipartisan way and do something that's a positive thing. we think that congress can and should and ought to. states have tried to do things. in utah, we tried to come up with our own law to address the immigration issue. we were challenged in court and lost. the court said it was a federal issue. the fact that we feel the pain and frustration, is a federal issue.

on behalf of the nga, we are hoping that the congress will address this issue, come up with a solution, compromise, whatever it may be to get something done that shows any positive way that we are addressing this significantly frustrating issue. >> our immigration system is broken and has been for a long time. congress won't address it. we are a nation of immigrants who have come here, but we also are a nation of laws and we need to uphold our laws in our nation. we also need to have an immigration system that allows people who want to come here and follow the law and be able to do that be able to have a better quality of life in a timely manner. it does take a long time to go through the process to become a citizen. one of the things i am worried about is the times that the

united states have criminal illegal aliens that come into the united states, kill people and then are released and go back home, and then come back as we saw in california. it was a terrible tragedy for our nation. congress needs to get serious about taking up immigration reform, to allow those who want to come here through our legal process to be able to do that, but also needs to develop a system and to enforce the system of our laws if someone creates a crime that they don't let them stay here in the united states. >> in light of the recent events in chattanooga, as the chair of your organization, what are your thoughts on army national guards who were on duty to allow those

troops to protect themselves in the event of something horrific? >> i have to be careful speaking for every governor, but almost every governor has looked at this and are either in the process of making sure our national guard members are protected and even the people that are just showing up and exploring the opportunities to serve their country are sufficiently protected. i know that any number of states, we have seen some of this in colorado, we have had citizens come out and try to add to that protection. obviously, that creates its own set of competitions. -- complications. that is something that is handled differently in each state but i don't think there is

a single governor that doesn't recognize the importance of making sure that those officers, especially with the continued threat that exist, that those officers are sufficiently protected. >> we were the first state in the nation to give our general the authority to evaluate how we can best protect our military men and women that are serving in our state. i did an executive order last week that gave him the authority to be able to analyze where we need to beef up our security. it's unfathomable that as a nation we have men and women who will go overseas and risk their lives for our freedom and liberty, to fight, to make sure terrorism doesn't come up on our shores, but yet, in our own states of themselves, in our own recruiting offices, they are unarmed and they can't protect themselves.

that's why i think each governor is looking at what's best for their state and we all respect that. in my state, and i know several of their governors have done it too, we have given different people authority who are in the line of authority to make those appropriate decisions. i am glad that washington, d.c. is having this debate also as to how we can protect our men and women on u.s. soil that are serving in our military. >> a year ago, we in utah passed a law to make sure that our military were adequately armed. we know that military can be a target and so we don't believe there should be such a thing as a gun free zone for our military people. we have also reauthorized to look at ways we can even improve that to make sure that our military are protected and in a safe environment. and that they don't become an innocent target by some terrorist or malcontent out there.

>> each state is doing something different. in north carolina, we have short turn -- tgerem -- term and p -- nps. the people working in the offices will be trained in the holster and pistol to ensure that they are protected in each location where we have a recruitment office. >> in alaska, we are pretty strong second amendment. we are premature all armed in alaska, so. -- we are pretty much all armed in alaska, so. [laughter] >> in west virginia, there have been several safety procedures put in place and we will

continue to do so. we will continue to monitor the situation and i will continue to confer on what west virginia plans to do. >> thank you all for being here. we are looking forward to a great weekend. [applause] >> the nga began its summer meeting by hearing from peter hutchinson who serves as managing director for public service strategy at a center. he talked about the government's role in responding to the needs of citizens. this is an hour and 45 minutes.

>> good afternoon. governors, distinguished guests i called to order the 107th summer meeting of the national governors associating -- association. we have a full agenda over the next 2.5 days or it we will have the economic develop and and commerce committee and the national resources committee discussed strategies for tourism as well as economic development after this. saturday's agenda begins with a joint session to talk about the nation's opioid crisis. saturday afternoon, our education and workforce committee will examine career pathways where we will be joined by secretary perez and we will close with a session on health care, -- health care transformation and will be joined by secretary burwell. i think all of us look forward to all of these discussions.

we are also honored today to be joined by several distinguished guests from the international community. i am hoping that as i read you we can recognize you. we have the governor from japan. [applause] we also have a delegation from canada, i am not sure where they are. there they are here it -- are. welcome and thank you. [applause] as well as the delegation from mexico. there we are. [applause] thank you all for being here as a reminder -- they do all for being here. we will have an opportunity to meet with our canadian and mexican colleagues on october 30 and 31. i would also like to recognize our guests from the white house.

the office of intergovernmental affairs, jerry abramson and adria stines. thank you for being here. [applause] now, may i have a motion to the adoption of the rules and procedures for this meeting deco >> -- meeting? >> i'll move. >> can i have a second? >> seconded. >> we adopted policies for two years at the winter meeting. if anyone has questions regarding the policies, please make sure you find david quam of the nga staff. i would like to announce the opponent of the following governors to the nominating committee for the 2015-2016 nga executive committee. governor snyder, governor walker, or hassan, governor markell, and governor fallin who will serve as chair. please give them appreciation

for their service. [applause] i would now like to ask our great host, and governor earl ray tomblin and his wife joanne, i would like to thank them. governor tomlin and his wife joanne for hosting the nation's governors here in west virginia. would you like to use the podium to give a formal welcome to all of us? governor earl ray tomblin. [applause] >> thank you very mr. chairman. it is a deep pleasure to welcome all of you to west virginia. i know several of you have heard this before, but we are so honored to have you here in west virginia. it has been a total of 65 years since west virginia has hosted the nga. i think it's about time. we hope you are finding your

accommodations here at the greenbrier up to standards. we are doing our best to make u.s. company as possible. we have a lot of great things planned today and tomorrow. we would love to have you stay around for another week or two if you'd like to. we have plenty to do here. thank you for coming to west virginia. enjoy yourselves and we are very pleased you are here. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, governor tomlin. now we come to the short but bittersweet portion of our program, recognizing and saying farewell to our colleagues who will depart after the fall elections. this year, we are bidding farewell to two of our colleagues, one of whom is with us this weekend. unfortunately, louisiana governor bobby jindal could not be with us for his final nga

summer meeting. we wish him well for his final months in office and all that lies ahead for him. on a moped personal note, -- on a more personal note, i think all of us have him in our thoughts and prayers after the lafayette shooting. there is no harder thing to be going through right now. let's take a moment to honor kentucky governor steve bashir. he has served the commonwealth of kentucky as governor since december 2007. during this time in office, he has focused on initiates to help kentucky families, particularly in the areas of health and health care, education and economic develop and. -- development. for the first time in a decade,

the number of kentucky dust blamed on -- deaths blamed on prescription overdoses has declined. he brought kentucky successfully through one of the worst recessions in history since july 2009 nearly $9 billion has been invested in new economic development and more than 52,000 jobs have been created or retained in the commonwealth. in 2013, kentucky shattered its all-time export record, reaching more than $25 billion in sales for kentucky made products and services. he currently serves as chair of the nga's health and human services committee and is a member of the committee for best practices board. he has served as chair of the education and workforce committee, vice chair of the economic development and commerce committee, and a member of the natural resources committee. these join me in thanking

governor beshear for his exemplary dedication and leadership. nga offers the very best of wishes to you and your entire family. come up here. [applause] at the winter meeting, i sat next to president obama and on the other side with governor beshear. when you see a real pro when you watch someone talking about their state and what they have done, the challenges they faced and how they have adjusted and overcome them, i am not sure i can remember being as impressed as i was watching you. i would not say manipulate the president, but i would say that you had a rigorous discussion. thirdly, i think you were very

persuasive in a lot of your points about the great things happening in kentucky. -- certainly one of the privileges of being the chair of the nga is being able to choose an initiative. you will know that i chose to focus on delivering results. it has been about improving the effectiveness of government and getting results in a way that is a better response to the people in our various state. it is important more than ever to assure that state government effectively spent the tax dollars it collects and judiciously uses its power to regulate to deliver on its promises. we preside over enterprises that deliver an immense array of

services to our residents. that role requires us to provide high-level oversight of our state's programs and policies for our agencies to be effective, we have to focus on continuous improvement and getting to the best solutions possible for each challenge. delivering results is focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of some of the core functions of state government. drop the initiative, we have focused on how governors can hire the best and the brightest leaders to work in state government. i think that became clear during this last year which includes bringing people in from the private sector. it's creating a team of the best and the brightest. we are also focused on how to implement rules and create rules and regulations that protect the public good without creating red tape or unnecessary burdens.

thirdly, we focused on how to adopt innovative performance improvement practices that use data and evidence to drive outcomes, to make sure that we really do deliver. these are the three main elements of the delivering results initiative. i could share just a few examples how colorado is striving to make government more efficient and more effective. as in business, government can only be as strong as the people who work for it. it's critical that public service attracts the best and brightest. governors have to have a clear vision of the team they want to carry out their agendas. in colorado, we look for talent across public and private sectors to try and build a team of leaders who can work together to deliver on the principles of good government. good government sometimes becomes a cliche, but we want to

demonstrate that it can have a reality in action. good government also requires engaging the public with an eye towards continuous improvement. no business would settle for less and our citizens should settle for no less. elected officials and government leaders are increasingly engaging their constituents to determine what effective government looks like. constituents are helping governors find and improve the rules and regulations that are in place but not working or, in many cases, are making it difficult for the public to work with the state or for our businesses to expand and hire new workers. in colorado, we implemented an initiative called hits and p's -- pits and peas which focus is on -- focuses on making it easier to work with the state. we asked communities and business leaders in almost every

county, what could we do to help expand business, to help our business development broke -- grow more rapidly. again and again, we heard get rid of unnecessary rules. in response, i signed an executive order to require all state agencies to determine the true need, the appropriateness, and the effectiveness of rules. thus far, we have now reviewed over 16,000 state regulations and rules and either improved or eliminated more than half. this was not rocket science. i know many of you do this as a matter of process, it's just common sense. finally, good government requires holding ourselves accountable, applying what we learn so that we can improve how government provides services and

how government does its business. today, we enjoyed the advantage of masses of data and technology that can allow us to do just that. increasingly, state governments are focused on innovation-led increment. when you step back and look at it, innovation just means doing things in a new way. in colorado, we began to focus on trying to save hard dollars and considering things important to the productivity of our state and important to our constituents, such as shorter wait times at agencies whether you are getting a drivers license or a license plate. making sure we can reduce time spent on state processes whether people are filling out forms for their business or families, and making sure these improvements have metrics. we have measurable outcomes of our improvements. states around the country are

all working to improve government, to identify how our fellow governors know the states are increasing the efficiency and effectiveness, we engaged in a variety of activities over the past year to bring we had three roundtables last fall. in the private sector and in academia to learn about best practices around the country. we brought in the ceo of union square hospitality to our winter meeting, talking about how businesses are delivering results and how in his vision customer service works. which i think a lot of people came up to me and said that they appreciated his examples. we hosted a summit this past april 2 highlight the