A few diverse fixes - Githubissues

Before submitting

[x] Did you read the contributing guideline?
[n/a] Did you update the documentation? (readme and public docstrings)
[n/a] Did you write unit tests such that there is 100% coverage on related code? (required for bug fixes and new features)
[x] Did you verify that new and existing tests pass locally?
[x] Did you make sure that all changes preserve backward compatibility?
[n/a] Did you update the CHANGELOG? (not for typos, docs, test updates, or minor internal changes/refactors)