Premiere Pro 24.5 keeps crashing

I'm not sure which version last worked. It's been about six months or maybe a bit more since I last used premiere pro on my system (was busy on non-video projects for a bit). Haven't ever had an issue with it in the past and keep my adobe apps generally up to date.

Yes, deleted preferences upon uninstall. Also checked Docs folder and deleted any old preferences stored there. Emptied trash and restarted computer.

Running on: MacBook Pro 14-inch, 2023, Apple M2 Max, 32 GB, Sonoma 14.5

Premiere opens ok. 

Runs into error when I get to step of navigating to folder with a file to open. Don't get to step of selecting file...error happens upon navigating to folder.

Here's the really odd part. Even though I have the newest version installed (see first screen shot above), it tells me that there is a newer version available. I have checked and removed all preferences I can find. I have tried the recommended preferences reset. I have updated and deleted and restarted and tried again with newest version of app. I just tried going back one version to 24.4.1 and same thing happened. Below is after reinstalling newest version 24.5.

 Thanks for assistance.

... and when I run the Adobe troubleshooting program that is suggested upon crash, it offers a solution that tells me there is a new version available yet I've downloaded and installed the latest version. help!