diff --git a/augur/tasks/github/messages/tasks.py b/augur/tasks/github/messages/tasks.py
index 6e23434bae..4dfd3a634b 100644
--- a/augur/tasks/github/messages/tasks.py
+++ b/augur/tasks/github/messages/tasks.py
@@ -187,7 +187,8 @@ def process_messages(messages, task_name, repo_id, logger, augur_db):
     message_string_fields = ["msg_text"]
     message_return_data = augur_db.insert_data(message_dicts, Message, message_natural_keys, 
                                                 return_columns=message_return_columns, string_fields=message_string_fields)
-    
+    if message_return_data is None:
+        return
 
     pr_message_ref_dicts = []
     issue_message_ref_dicts = []
diff --git a/augur/tasks/github/releases/core.py b/augur/tasks/github/releases/core.py
index f3050fc1b3..5957d4cb57 100644
--- a/augur/tasks/github/releases/core.py
+++ b/augur/tasks/github/releases/core.py
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ def insert_release(augur_db, logger, repo_id, owner, release, tag_only = False):
     release_inf = get_release_inf(repo_id, release, tag_only)
 
     #Do an upsert
-    augur_db.insert_data(release_inf,Release,['release_id'])
+    string_fields = ["release_name", "release_description", "release_author", "release_tag_name"]
+    augur_db.insert_data(release_inf,Release,['release_id'], string_fields=string_fields)
 
     logger.info(f"Inserted info for {owner}/{repo_id}/{release['name']}\n")
 
diff --git a/augur/tasks/util/worker_util.py b/augur/tasks/util/worker_util.py
index 6380ed22b0..84c177724b 100644
--- a/augur/tasks/util/worker_util.py
+++ b/augur/tasks/util/worker_util.py
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ def parse_json_from_subprocess_call(logger, subprocess_arr, cwd=None):
     try:
         required_output = json.loads(output)
     except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError as e:
-        session.logger.error(f"Could not parse required output! \n output: {output} \n Error: {e}")
+        logger.error(f"Could not parse required output! \n output: {output} \n Error: {e}")
         raise e
     
     return required_output