Prescription drug prices have some state officials fed up and looking for answers. Increased prices years after year on some life-improving drugs have led to a push to force pharmaceutical companies to provide the reasoning for the cost increases.

“I think the people of Connecticut would want to know why their drug prices are increasing every time they go to the pharmacy,” said Rep. Sean Scanlon, who rolled out the legislation along with State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, also a Democrat.

Scanlon and Lembo’s legislation would mandate that drug makers provide information to the state as to why the cost of a particular drug increased by 25 percent or more in a given year. In addition, the measure would require pharmacy benefit managers, those who act in between pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies, to disclose the rebates they receive and what gets passed on to consumers.

“The journey between drug manufacturer and consumer is a long one – dotted with many deals, payments and wealth exchange along the way,” Lembo said. He described the pharmaceutical chain of events as a “shadowy market.”

The bill was only heard by the Insurance and Real Estate Committee Tuesday. A vote isn’t expected until later in the legislative session.

President Donald Trump never signed the nondisclosure agreement that his lawyer arranged with adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to a lawsuit filed by Daniels in Los Angeles Tuesday and obtained by NBC News.

The suit alleges that her agreement not to disclose her "intimate" relationship with Trump is not valid because while both Daniels and Trump's attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump never did.

Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, signed both the agreement and a side letter agreement using her professional name on October 28, 2016, just days before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen signed the document the same day. Both agreements are appended to the lawsuit as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump's outside attorney, John Dowd, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The Norwich Board of Education is looking to increase its budget by 9 percent.

"We’ve been almost too creative over the last eight to 10 years in finding ways to make things work, but we’re running out of rabbits in the hat," Norwich Schools Superintendent Abby Dolliver said. 

The school system pays to send students to high schools and magnet schools out of the Norwich district. Dolliver said cost increases in tuition, transportation, salaries and employee benefits, in addition to more bilingual and special need students, are the reasons why the board of education is looking to increase its 2018-2019 budget by almost $7 million from last year. 

The district has faced significant cuts over the last several years. 

"Eight years ago, we closed two buildings, years after we moved middle schools, we’ve cut teams of teachers," Dolliver said.

About $19 million in grants fund 40 percent of staff and programs like bilingual education and world language, according to Dolliver. However, students don’t get world language classes daily. 

Out of the 6,000 students Norwich schools are responsible for, about 3,500 are enrolled in district schools, Dolliver said. 

"Had we received a one percent increase every year for the last 10 years, we’d be OK, but we haven’t," Dolliver said.

Newly elected mayor Peter Nystrom, who has had many meetings with Dolliver, said he understands the school district’s plight and state education mandates, but an almost $7 million budget increase is "unrealistic."

"We really want to have the dollars available for the education department going into the classroom for the kids and so long-term, there’s a vision of consolidating some of these schools," Nystrom said.

Some parents want there to be an emphasis on electives like gym, music and art. Dolliver said currently the district provides the "bare minimum."

"She’s just in kindergarten now but as she gets older, her interests are going to expand and she’s going to definitely want to do more things," a Norwich parent Chiara Azza said.

Tuesday night there was a budget expenditure meeting for the school board to discuss what would happen if budget cuts need to be made.

The Trump administration is suing to block California laws that extend protections for immigrants living in the United States illegally.

The lawsuit says three state laws intentionally undermine federal immigration law. Among other things, the legislation bars police from asking people about their immigration status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities. Another law offers protection against workplace raids.

The Justice Department says those laws hinder immigration authorities and are unconstitutional.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to announce the lawsuit Wednesday at an annual gathering of law enforcement organizations in Sacramento.

The move is the latest volley in an escalating feud between the Trump administration and California. The state has defiantly refused to help federal agents detain and deport undocumented immigrants. Sessions says that makes cities more dangerous.

Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, resigned Tuesday after a dispute with the president over tariffs, NBC News reported.

The departure — following reports that Cohn, the National Economic Council director, had opposed Trump's plan for large tariffs on imported steel and aluminum — was the latest in a string of exits by top officials in the administration.

Cohn, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs banker, played a key role on the president's tax cut bill. Trump praised Cohn in a statement Tuesday as a "rare talent" who had done a "superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms, and unleashing the American economy once again."

Later Tuesday, he tweeted that he would be "making a decision soon on the appointment of new Chief Economic Advisor. Many people wanting the job - will choose wisely!"

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The proposed Connecticut State Police training facility and gun range faced sharp opposition during a public safety committee hearing on Tuesday.

There is currently a proposal that would reopen the discussion about where to locate the proposed $28 million training facility.

“It’s like being on pins and needles,” Pamela Patalano, a Griswold resident opposed to the gun range, said. “You know we’re in limbo. We don’t know what to do.”

The range site was chosen for numerous factors, say State Police officials. Those factors included its secluded location, how it abuts a state forest, the nearest residence is a half mile from the proposed site, and that it has a natural sound and visual barriers shielding it from the public. The proposed plot of land is currently on private property that the owner is willing to sell to the state.

Patalano said Vietnam veterans in the area are concerned that the gunshots could lead to flare-ups in their post-traumatic stress disorder and that visitors to the nearby Pachaug State Forest could be scared off by the training range.

“We have nothing against the state police, at all,” Patalano said. “It’s their bosses that we have a problem with.”

Dora Schriro, the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, testified to lawmakers that the site is ideal, and if approved, would make Connecticut residents safer.

“In order for the state police to do its job and keep us all safe, the state must have a training facility that prepares troopers for the ever-evolving threats that they face,” she said.

U.S. Congressman Joe Courtney opposes the Griswold site, which is in his district. He favors upgrades at the East Haven range used by the Connecticut National Guard, and at the Meriden training facility used by recruits.

“I believe that the state agencies involved have allowed the perfect to be the enemy of the good," Courtney said in testimony submitted to the committee.

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are on Wednesday having their first full day of school since the deadly shooting on Valentine's Day, and received a visit from U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade as well.

The students had returned to the Parkland school last week but have been attending classes on a shortened, modified schedule.

"It's hard but I'm really trying to cope," student Sebastian Benitez said. "I've missed like a lot over the past couple weeks now I'm just trying to get back on my normal routine."

The purpose of the modified schedule was to help transition the students back into the classroom and to help them heal following the tragedy that left 17 of their peers and school staff members dead.

"I know we're slowing going back into the school day but as we keep going it gets a little harder," 17-year-old student Desire Lora said. "Knowing that like we have some people not there with us anymore, and it won't be the same. Like every morning, Coach Feis would always be there."

DeVos called the visit "sobering and inspiring," and committed to working on preventing more school shootings.

Last week, the Department of Education awarded a $1 million relief grant to the Broward County School District.

"I come committed on behalf of this administration to continuing to work to find solutions so that no student and no parent ever has to go through what this community has had to endure," DeVos said. "We are committed not only to listening but to action."

Asked if she was in favor of arming teachers, as President Donald Trump has proposed, DeVos noted that the idea is "to have people who are expert in" guns, with lots of training, as an option for schools, states and communities to bring in. But she said she hadn't talked about it with students.

DeVos wasn't the only high-profile visitor to the school on Wednesday. Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade dropped by, "causing a stampede in the cafeteria," according to a tweet from student Diego Pfeiffer.

Wade spent more than two hours at the school, giving an impromptu pep talk in the cafeteria and meeting with small groups of students who were directly impacted by the shooting and others who have been active in the #NeverAgain movement.

"He came, he put a lot of smiles on everyone's faces and it was something I think our school really needed," student Jonathan Blank said.

Wade has spoken about the school before, and has advocated for gun reform — his cousin was fatally shot in Chicago last year.

The U.S. has imposed more sanctions on North Korea after determining that Pyongyang used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother, NBC News reported.

Kim Jong Nam was killed at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Feb. 13, 2017, when two women allegedly smeared his face with XV. The women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, are on trial on murder charges.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson determined that North Korea had "used chemical weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical weapons against its own nationals," the State Department said.  

The sanctions appear to be largely symbolic, barring exports of national security-sensitive goods and technology to the country, as well sales to North Korea under the Arms Export Control Act. Both have nothing to do with the United States.  

Stocks closed well off session lows on Wednesday after the White House hinted Canada and Mexico could be exempt from tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump, CNBC reported.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended 80 points lower after falling more than 300 points. The S&P 500 closed just below breakeven after falling nearly 1 percent. Real estate and tech were the best-performing sectors.

The Nasdaq composite closed 0.4 percent higher, hitting a session high in late-afternoon trade, as shares of Facebook and Alphabet rose 2.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the tariff plan could include carve-outs for Mexico and Canada, two key U.S. trade partners.

Refugees driven out of Myanmar by what the U.S. has called "ethnic cleansing" now face a new threat: the looming monsoon and cyclone season, NBC News reported. 

Authorities have warned that more than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled into neighboring Bangladesh are at risk of losing their makeshift homes to the deadly floods and landslides that accompany seasonal rains. Workers are scrambling to reinforce shelters and dig drainage systems before the bad weather is expected next month.

"It's a race against time," said Caroline Gluck, a spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency in the country. "We're very alarmed, we're very concerned, we're doing what we can but we're not sure it's going to be enough."

Nearly 700,000 refugees — roughly the same number of people who live in Denver or Seattle — have streamed out of Myanmar since violence erupted in August. On Wednesday, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said that he strongly suspected "acts of genocide" may have taken place against the ethnic minority in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state since then.

A Lisbon family was trapped in their homes for days after Friday’s storm took out a tree, snapped polls and toppled down wires. 

Kevin Chase said his sister, his parents and his family all have homes up a long driveway on North Burnham Highway and have had no power since Friday afternoon. 

He’s had to call out of work twice because his car can’t pass the debris, which means losing out on a paycheck. His kids have also had to miss a day of school because at one point, Chase said, the family feared the lines were still energized. They were sparking in the small pond in front of his home. 

Chase’s dad does have a generator for his refrigerator since he needs to keep medication chilled. 

“There’s no water because we got well water, so you need electricity to run the pump. We’re using bottled water,” Chase said. 

NBC Connecticut was on the scene as tree-cutting crews and Eversource arrived in the late morning/early afternoon. As of Tuesday at 4 p.m., the family said they were told by Eversource that power could likely be up later that night.

Police are investigating after getting reports of a man and a woman approaching a middle school student after she got off the school bus in Westport Tuesday afternoon and asking if she needed a ride. 

The man and woman, who were in an older black four-door vehicle with a loud muffler, approached the girl on Marion Road at 3:15 p.m. after she got off the bus that was bringing her home from Coleytown Middle School and asked if she needed a ride, according to police. 

The girl said no, walked to a house nearby and called her parents, police said. 

The man who was driving the car appeared to be 20 to 30 years old and has dreadlocks, a goatee and a deep voice, police said. 

The passenger, a woman, appeared to be 20 to 30 years old, and had her hair in a bun. 

Westport police are working with the Westport Board of Education to ensure the safety of our students. 

Anyone with information to help police identify the man and woman should call the Westport Detective Bureau at 203-341-6080.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the first female elected to House speaker, helped celebrate Women’s History Month by donating her suit and gavel to the Smithsonian on Wednesday.

The California Democrat handed over her historic items to the National Museum of American History during a ceremony with fellow congresspeople and other officials. Pelosi commemorated her momentous 2007 election by donating the lacquered-maple gavel given to her, as well as the Burgundy suit she wore and the original speech she gave during her swearing-in on Jan. 4, 2007.

The gavel and suit — a single-breasted jacket, skirt and shell — will not immediately go on display, a museum spokeswoman said.

“As a young girl, I was drawn to the Smithsonian as a source of creativity, discovery and innovation. Little did I know that I would be returning here to share moments from my time as Speaker of the House of Representatives,” Pelosi tweeted after the ceremony.

"The firsts we celebrate are often chosen because they, in some way, change the trajectory of American history," the museum said in a statement. "They create diversity, add new experiences and viewpoints, and create new possibilities. ... A women’s first, an American first, and a part of a position that can trace its roots to the earliest days of our country."

An ivory gavel used by suffragette Susan B. Anthony also joined the museum's Political History collection, as well as the judicial robe worn by Sandra Day O'Conner when she was sworn in as the first woman associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1981 and an in-flight suit worn by Sally Ride, the first women in space.

Fifty-one men had held the role of House speaker since the office was created in 1789. Upon her election, Pelosi recognized what she called a “historic moment” for not only the country’s Congress but for its women as well.

“It is a moment for which we have waited over 200 years,” Pelosi told the House in 2007. “Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights. But women weren't just waiting; women were working. Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters, the sky is the limit, anything is possible for them.”

Pelosi served as speaker until 2011, when John Boehner took over. Now as House minority leader, she recently broke the record for the longest House speech when she addressed her colleagues for eight straight hours in February and recounted stories of so-called Dreamers to argue for the protection of young immigrants and DACA recipients.

During the donation ceremony, the museum also announced the launch of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.

A number of flights at Bradley Airport are canceled for Wednesday.  As of 4 p.m., the airport says approximately 55 percent of the arriving and departing flights scheduled for Wednesday are canceled.  In addition, a small number of flights are delayed.

Passengers scheduled to travel Wednesday and Thursday should check with their airline before heading to the airport.  Several airlines are issuing travel waivers for changes to flights.

The storm is impacting flights along the East Coast causing cancellations at airports in New York, Boston and Washington.

Newly released jail records offer a look at the "restless" and "awkward" jail life of Nikolas Cruz, the teen who is being held on 17 counts of premeditated murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month.

On every shift, deputies observe Cruz in his protective custody single cell at the Broward County Jail. The "behavior observation reports" obtained by NBC6 detail his appearance, behavior, communication, thinking, socialization and daily activities between Feb. 17 and Feb. 24.

Many deputies wrote that Cruz kept his head cast down, made little eye contact, responded in a slow, soft voice but was cooperative. Early on in his stay, deputies wrote that Cruz sat with a blank stare.

Several days later, deputies wrote that Cruz was “restless” and “tossing and turning” instead of sleeping.

On the day of a Feb. 20 court hearing, the deputy wrote that Cruz “appeared to break out in laughter both during and immediately following” a visit with an attorney, marking that episode as “awkward” behavior.

Cruz once refused to eat a provided meal. But on all other days, the deputies observing him indicated that he ate normally. One meal was listed as including two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, an apple, cookies and juice.

The records also indicate Cruz made only request during that time period, and that was to read the Bible. That request came on the same day the report lists he had a family visit.

The section marked “Thinking" is blocked out in the reports. No reason was given for the redaction, but the section appears to refer to the state of Cruz's mental health.

The jail visitor log shows that Cruz's attorneys are his most frequent visitors, as well as investigators and a psychologist, NBC News reported.

The revelations come as James and Kimberly Snead, who had taken in Cruz after his mother died, testified before a grand jury Wednesday in a closed-door session. 

Police have issued a Silver Alert for a 79-year-old Stratford man who has been missing since Tuesday night. 

Anthony Capuano suffers from dementia and other medical issues, according to police. 

He was last seen around 6 p.m. Tuesday and was driving a blue 2007 Chrysler 300 with license plate. YW9001. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the Stratford Police at 203-385-4100. 

Police spent more than 2 hours on Wednesday to lure out a man armed with knives inside a Willimantic home. 

Residents were being asked to avoid the heavy police activity at the scene in the upper section of Mansfield Avenue.

Police said they responded to the area at 12:45 p.m. for an agitated man throwing items around the house and causing a disturbance. 

The man in his 20s ran into an upstairs room within the house and shut the door when he was approached by responding officers. 

He indicated to police that he was going to hurt himself or attempt to jump out a window if they tried to speak with him. Police said an investigation found that he was armed with two knives. 

The other people inside the home were evacuated and police established a perimeter around the house for safety, while SWAT responded to the scene. 

After nearly 2 and a half hours of negotiation at 4 p.m., the man walked out of the room unarmed and was detained by police. He was sent to the hospital for evaluation. 

No serious injuries were reported.

Criminal charges may be forthcoming.