Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis, pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges involving a bank-fraud credit card scheme.

He also agreed to resign his legislative seat by the end of the month.

Bowman had been chair of the Legislative Black Caucus until he stepped down from the position last year soon after the criminal charges had been filed.  Although resigning leadership of the caucus, he continued to make appearances in the legislature -- as late as Thursday.

Bowman will become the second state lawmaker to leave office after pleading guilty to criminal charges.  Earlier, former Rep. Nat Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, resigned.  He had pled guilty to charges involving fraud involving illegal foreigners.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt abruptly terminated a news conference after less than three minutes of questions about a lawsuit filed by his former lawyer charging administration efforts to destroy public records.

Although Blunt had told The Associated Press earlier in the day he would accept questions on the issue at a press gathering in his office later in the day, Blunt accepted just three questions. 

As to whether the charges where true and what, if anything, the governor knew about record-destruction efforts of his top staff, Blunt refused any to give an answer -- saying he would not comment on allegations in lawsuit. 

He then turned his back to reporters and walked out of his office.

Fired attorney Scott Eckersley filed suit in a Kansas City area state court charging a variety of violations by the governor, his chief of staff, his general counsel and the top administration lawyer.

The lawsuit charges the top administration officials with wrongful discharge, defamation of character, violation of the state's whistleblower protection law and violation of state public records laws.

In the lawsuit, Eckersley claims that the governor's top staff had met with lawyers from various agencies in the state and ordered them to destroy public documents in order to avoid news media access to email records.

Eckersley has claimed he was fired for warning administration officials that their actions might be illegal.

After his dismissal, the Office of Administration's lawyer sent reporters a package of email materials suggesting that Eckersley might be a user of illegal drugs and a porno site.

With no fanfare, the Senate's president pro tem has restored Sen. John Loudon as chair of the Senate's Small Business Committee.

Sen. Mike Gibbons had stripped Loudon of the chair near the end of last year's session after it was discovered Loudon has snuck into a bill he was handling a provision that completely deregulates midwifery.

Loudon had included the provision in a last-minute change to a large bill that few, if any, legislators read prior to final adoption.

This year, Loudon has sponsored a bill that would repeal the deregulation.

Get the bill, SB 870.

Also Wednesday, the Republican-turned-Democrat senator Chris Koster got some committee appointments.  He had lost all of his assignments when he abandoned the GOP last legislative session.  In a compromise worked out between Senate party leaders, a few committee were expanded and thus made room for Koster.

Lawmakers convened at noon Wednesday amid widespread speculation that election-year politics would be a major barrier to significant achievements.

It was serious enough of an issue that the Senate president pro tem admonished his colleagues in an opening address to rise above partisanship.

In an interview before the session, Gov. Matt Blunt cited as the three top issues a crackdown on illegal foreigners, expanding health care coverage and boosting funding for education. 

In addition to those issues, legislative leaders also have mentioned putting a cap on property tax increases.

No final recommendations emerged Tuesday from the second meeting of a task force appointed by the governor in response to a teenage girl's suicide triggered by Internet fraud.

The task force was appointed in response to suicide of a 13-year-old girl who had been triked into believing she was communicating, via Internet, with a teenage boy -- who turned out to be a fictitious character created by the mother of another girl.

When asked if the task force recommendations would make that kind of behavior a crime, the state's Public Safety Department director acknowledged to reporters he did not know the details of the case.

In the meantime, several bills have been filed in the legislature to address the issue.

A spokesman for a state utility association argued the benefits of allowing members of the Public Service Commission continue to have private meetings with utility representatives.

The argument was made during hearing by the PSC on the issue. 

The state's Public Counsel, who represents consumers in utility cases, has proposed a total ban on any private discussion between a PSC commissioner and a utility representative on matters that are before our likely could come before the commission.

Earlier complaints from the Public Counsel led the PSC's chairman to step aside from a utility merger case in which the chairman had a private meeting with the utility.