diff --git a/client/src/components/SearchResultCard.vue b/client/src/components/SearchResultCard.vue
index d662c30e..17ea31b6 100644
--- a/client/src/components/SearchResultCard.vue
+++ b/client/src/components/SearchResultCard.vue
@@ -149,7 +149,17 @@ export default {
 			this.$router.push(`/data-sources/${this.dataSource.airtable_uid}`);
 		},
 		openSource() {
-			window.open(this.dataSource.source_url, '_blank');
+	        	let url = this.dataSource.source_url;
+			// ensure URL is treated as an absolute path
+			url = this.prepend_protocol_if_none(url)
+			window.open(url, '_blank');
+		},
+                prepend_protocol_if_none(url) {
+			// add 'https://' if the URL does not have a protocol
+			if (!/^https?:\/\//i.test(url)) {
+				return url = 'https://' + url;
+			}
+			return url;
 		},
 		formatDate: formatDateForSearchResults,
 	},
diff --git a/middleware/initialize_psycopg2_connection.py b/middleware/initialize_psycopg2_connection.py
index 6b6e1966..367494e6 100644
--- a/middleware/initialize_psycopg2_connection.py
+++ b/middleware/initialize_psycopg2_connection.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import os
 from psycopg2.extensions import connection as PgConnection
 from typing import Union, Dict, List
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
 
 
 def initialize_psycopg2_connection() -> (
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ def initialize_psycopg2_connection() -> (
     :return: A psycopg2 connection object if successful, or a dictionary with a count of 0 and an empty data list upon failure.
     """
     try:
+        load_dotenv()
         DO_DATABASE_URL = os.getenv("DO_DATABASE_URL")
 
         return psycopg2.connect(