diff --git a/tractor/_actor.py b/tractor/_actor.py
index 63ad616..1dfabef 100644
--- a/tractor/_actor.py
+++ b/tractor/_actor.py
@@ -26,8 +26,11 @@ import importlib
 import importlib.util
 import inspect
 import uuid
-import typing
-from typing import Any, Optional, Union
+from typing import (
+    Any, Optional,
+    Union, TYPE_CHECKING,
+    Callable,
+)
 from types import ModuleType
 import sys
 import os
@@ -57,6 +60,10 @@ from . import _state
 from . import _mp_fixup_main
 
 
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from ._supervise import ActorNursery
+
+
 log = get_logger('tractor')
 
 
@@ -65,7 +72,7 @@ async def _invoke(
     actor: 'Actor',
     cid: str,
     chan: Channel,
-    func: typing.Callable,
+    func: Callable,
     kwargs: dict[str, Any],
 
     is_rpc: bool = True,
@@ -426,7 +433,7 @@ class Actor:
         # (chan, cid) -> (cancel_scope, func)
         self._rpc_tasks: dict[
             tuple[Channel, str],
-            tuple[trio.CancelScope, typing.Callable, trio.Event]
+            tuple[trio.CancelScope, Callable, trio.Event]
         ] = {}
 
         # map {actor uids -> Context}
@@ -515,6 +522,7 @@ class Actor:
         self._no_more_peers = trio.Event()  # unset
 
         chan = Channel.from_stream(stream)
+        uid: Optional[tuple[str, str]] = chan.uid
         log.runtime(f"New connection to us {chan}")
 
         # send/receive initial handshake response
@@ -562,7 +570,7 @@ class Actor:
         # append new channel
         self._peers[uid].append(chan)
 
-        local_nursery: Optional['ActorNursery'] = None  # noqa
+        local_nursery: Optional[ActorNursery] = None  # noqa
 
         # Begin channel management - respond to remote requests and
         # process received reponses.
@@ -591,10 +599,9 @@ class Actor:
                     entry = local_nursery._children.get(uid)
                     if entry:
                         _, proc, _ = entry
-                        if proc.poll() is not None:
-                            log.error('Actor {uid} proc died and IPC broke?')
-                        else:
-                            log.error(f'Actor {uid} IPC connection broke!?')
+                        log.error(f'Actor {uid}@{proc} IPC connection broke!?')
+                        # if proc.poll() is not None:
+                        #     log.error('Actor {uid} proc died and IPC broke?')
 
                 log.cancel(f"Waiting on cancel request to peer {chan.uid}")
                 # XXX: this is a soft wait on the channel (and its
@@ -635,7 +642,6 @@ class Actor:
             log.runtime(f"Releasing channel {chan} from {chan.uid}")
             chans = self._peers.get(chan.uid)
             chans.remove(chan)
-            uid = chan.uid
 
             if not chans:
                 log.runtime(f"No more channels for {chan.uid}")
diff --git a/tractor/_portal.py b/tractor/_portal.py
index e93a945..919d2f6 100644
--- a/tractor/_portal.py
+++ b/tractor/_portal.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ import importlib
 import inspect
 from typing import (
     Any, Optional,
-    Callable, AsyncGenerator
+    Callable, AsyncGenerator,
+    Type,
 )
 from functools import partial
 from dataclasses import dataclass
@@ -444,7 +445,7 @@ class Portal:
 
         uid = self.channel.uid
         cid = ctx.cid
-        etype: Optional[Exception] = None
+        etype: Optional[Type[BaseException]] = None
 
         # deliver context instance and .started() msg value in open tuple.
         try: