The Louisiana legislative auditor says a state college gave more than $400,000 in salary and benefits to a worker who reportedly admitted to not doing his job for several years.

News outlets report Auditor Daryl Purpera announced Monday that the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine also failed to address the employee's lack of work. The audit says the worker told school authorities that he didn't deserve to be paid for about two years.

Rock 'n' roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis has been transferred from a hospital to a rehabilitation center following a stroke last month, but will have to cancel upcoming shows, including his appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

According to a statement from his neurologist released Monday, the 83-year-old Lewis is expected to fully recover with aggressive and intensive rehab.

The number of Louisiana State University Health New Orleans medical graduates choosing to go into primary care has risen to more than half.

School of Medicine Dean Steve Nelson tells NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune that some Louisiana communities have an acute shortage of primary care doctors. Of 181 students, 89 chose to stay in Louisiana.

That's the same number as last year, but it represents a rate increase as last year's graduating class was larger. For the past few years, retention rate had declined amid state funding anxiety, but Nelson says the budget has stabilized.

Seven employees at the Louisiana State Penitentiary have resigned following a criminal investigation into contraband smuggling and inappropriate relationships with inmates.

The Department Corrections said Friday that four of the employees have been arrested since the investigation started March 8. The agency said the other three employees are expected to face charges. The four already charged include 45-year-old Denise Prevot of Mansura.

The Louisiana Department of Corrections is investigating whether a sheriff had a state inmate perform yard work at his private home.

Agency spokesman Ken Pastorick told The Advocate Thursday that the probe of West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Mike Cazes is in its early stages. WAFB-TV reports 32-year-old inmate Elmer Castillo was seen working unsupervised at the home last week.

Castillo is serving time for sexual battery against a 13-year-old. The sheriff says he hired Castillo to work at his home and was personally paying him for the labor.

A Mississippi transportation official says the absence of a $3 part may have let tires roll off of a tractor trailer, killing a Tulane University student from Minnesota.

Office of Enforcement director Willie Huff tells The New Orleans Advocate that a locking washer designed to secure truck wheels was missing from the trailer.

Two wheels joined together rolled into a rest stop, killing Margaret Maurer of Forest Lake, Minnesota. Huff says the conclusion blaming the missing metal ring is still preliminary. Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey, owns the truck.