Project panel disappears upon export

Hi all,

24.0.0, recently updated. Two issues:

1. When I export a timeline (Cntrl + M) the workspace will flip automatically to the new Export tab. I have my Project bin open on another tab on my second (of three) monitors. Every time I go to the Export tab, Premiere closes my Project tab and does not collapse or hide it anywhere. I cannot get the Project tab back in any way. I cannot access it in "Window", the only way I can get it back is to CHANGE WORKSPACE to a completely different workspace, then CHANGE WORKSPACE BACK to my saved layout. Why is Premiere doing this? This is the first time this has happened in this new version.

2. AME Exports are hideiously slow. A 5 minute video would export in 2 minutes with the same settings I've been using. Thoughts? 

6k BRAW Timeline exporting to 3840x2160 h.264 VBR 1 Pass 6 Mbps target. Used to take 3 minutes, now  taking 30. 

Computer specs: 

Ryzen 9 5950x

GeForce RTX 3090

128gb 3600mhz DDR4

1TB Samsung 980 Pro

Editing Array: 6x WD 12TB Gold in Raid10

p.s. Exporting directly from Premiere takes about half as long, but still 4x longer than it used to. What's the deal!?