diff --git a/.github/workflows/black.yaml b/.github/workflows/black.yaml
index 5e8b698d6..bc42c84ad 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/black.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/black.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ on: [push, pull_request]
 # use workaround due to: https://github.com/psf/black/issues/2079#issuecomment-812359146
 jobs:
     check-formatting:
-        runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+        runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
         steps:
             - uses: actions/checkout@v2
             - name: Set up Python 3.11
diff --git a/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml b/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml
index b3cd8de03..006512ded 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   build:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
       COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/unittests.yaml b/.github/workflows/unittests.yaml
index 15c0b2364..b020e6dbf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unittests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unittests.yaml
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ on:
 jobs:
   build:
 
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python: [3.7, 3.8, 3.9, '3.10', '3.11']
+        python: [3.9, '3.10', '3.11']
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
@@ -26,10 +26,9 @@ jobs:
         run: sudo apt-get update
       - name: Install mpi libs
         run: sudo apt-get -y install libopenmpi-dev
-      - name: Run Tests and Coverage
+      - name: Run Tests
         run: |
           pip install -e .[memprof,mpi,test]
           pytest -n 4 armi
-          mpiexec -n 2 --use-hwthread-cpus coverage run --rcfile=pyproject.toml -m pytest --cov=armi --cov-config=pyproject.toml --cov-report=lcov --cov-append --ignore=venv armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py || true
-          mpiexec -n 2 --use-hwthread-cpus coverage run --rcfile=pyproject.toml -m pytest --cov=armi --cov-config=pyproject.toml --cov-report=lcov --cov-append --ignore=venv armi/tests/test_mpiParameters.py || true
-          coverage combine --rcfile=pyproject.toml --keep -a
+          mpiexec -n 2 --use-hwthread-cpus coverage run --rcfile=pyproject.toml -m pytest --cov=armi --cov-config=pyproject.toml --ignore=venv armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py || true
+          mpiexec -n 2 --use-hwthread-cpus coverage run --rcfile=pyproject.toml -m pytest --cov=armi --cov-config=pyproject.toml --ignore=venv armi/tests/test_mpiParameters.py || true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/unittests_old.yaml b/.github/workflows/unittests_old.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f4389d6a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/unittests_old.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+name: unit tests - older Pythons
+
+on:
+  push:
+    paths-ignore:
+      - 'doc/**'
+  pull_request:
+    paths-ignore:
+      - 'doc/**'
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        python: [3.7, 3.8]
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Setup Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
+      - name: Update package index
+        run: sudo apt-get update
+      - name: Install mpi libs
+        run: sudo apt-get -y install libopenmpi-dev
+      - name: Run Tests
+        run: |
+          pip install -e .[memprof,mpi,test]
+          pytest -n 4 armi
+          mpiexec -n 2 --use-hwthread-cpus coverage run --rcfile=pyproject.toml -m pytest --cov=armi --cov-config=pyproject.toml --ignore=venv armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py || true
+          mpiexec -n 2 --use-hwthread-cpus coverage run --rcfile=pyproject.toml -m pytest --cov=armi --cov-config=pyproject.toml --ignore=venv armi/tests/test_mpiParameters.py || true
diff --git a/armi/bookkeeping/db/tests/test_database3.py b/armi/bookkeeping/db/tests/test_database3.py
index d7c4eca7d..f39e3015b 100644
--- a/armi/bookkeeping/db/tests/test_database3.py
+++ b/armi/bookkeeping/db/tests/test_database3.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 """Tests for the Database3 class."""
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
+import shutil
 import subprocess
 import unittest
 
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@
 
 # determine if this is a parallel run, and git is installed
 GIT_EXE = None
-if find_executable("git") is not None:
+if shutil.which("git") is not None:
     GIT_EXE = "git"
-elif find_executable("git.exe") is not None:
+elif shutil.which("git.exe") is not None:
     GIT_EXE = "git.exe"
 
 
diff --git a/armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py b/armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py
index abf16fa10..9a1c209c0 100644
--- a/armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py
+++ b/armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
 or
 mpiexec.exe -n 2 python -m pytest armi/tests/test_mpiFeatures.py
 """
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
 from unittest.mock import patch
 import os
+import shutil
 import unittest
 
 from armi import context
@@ -47,9 +47,9 @@
 
 # determine if this is a parallel run, and MPI is installed
 MPI_EXE = None
-if find_executable("mpiexec.exe") is not None:
+if shutil.which("mpiexec.exe") is not None:
     MPI_EXE = "mpiexec.exe"
-elif find_executable("mpiexec") is not None:
+elif shutil.which("mpiexec") is not None:
     MPI_EXE = "mpiexec"
 
 MPI_COMM = context.MPI_COMM
diff --git a/armi/tests/test_mpiParameters.py b/armi/tests/test_mpiParameters.py
index a5a6bd5e9..4754a7690 100644
--- a/armi/tests/test_mpiParameters.py
+++ b/armi/tests/test_mpiParameters.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 """Tests of the MPI portion of the Parameters class."""
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
+import shutil
 import unittest
 
 from armi import context
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@
 
 # determine if this is a parallel run, and MPI is installed
 MPI_EXE = None
-if find_executable("mpiexec.exe") is not None:
+if shutil.which("mpiexec.exe") is not None:
     MPI_EXE = "mpiexec.exe"
-elif find_executable("mpiexec") is not None:
+elif shutil.which("mpiexec") is not None:
     MPI_EXE = "mpiexec"