diff --git a/.github/update_truth_change_log.txt b/.github/update_truth_change_log.txt
index 08e55cbe3..d7c1f8204 100644
--- a/.github/update_truth_change_log.txt
+++ b/.github/update_truth_change_log.txt
@@ -59,3 +59,4 @@
 [$(date +%Y%m%d_%H:%M:%S) ${branch_name}] dtcenter/MET#3330 - dtcenter/MET#3330 changed multi-variate MODE PS output to only list the merge thresh if merge_flag != NONE
 [$(date +%Y%m%d_%H:%M:%S) ${branch_name}] #3253 - New use case added
 [$(date +%Y%m%d_%H:%M:%S) ${branch_name}] #3253 - attempt 2 - retry with fix to download artifact logic
+[$(date +%Y%m%d_%H:%M:%S) ${branch_name}] dtcenter/METplotpy#576 - dtcenter/METplotpy#576 replaced plotly with matplotlib in METplotpy which caused some slight formatting differences in the plots generated by a few use cases
diff --git a/internal/tests/pytests/util/config_metplus/test_config_metplus.py b/internal/tests/pytests/util/config_metplus/test_config_metplus.py
index b29b1277f..911f4c704 100644
--- a/internal/tests/pytests/util/config_metplus/test_config_metplus.py
+++ b/internal/tests/pytests/util/config_metplus/test_config_metplus.py
@@ -897,3 +897,11 @@ def test_parse_var_list_double_digit(metplus_config):
     for n, var_item in enumerate(var_list, start=1):
         assert var_item['fcst_name'] == f'fcst_name{n}'
         assert var_item['obs_name'] == f'obs_name{n}'
+
+@pytest.mark.util
+def test_get_raw_keep_double_slash(metplus_config):
+    config = metplus_config
+    TEST_URL = 'https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/urma/prod/urma2p5.{valid?fmt=%Y%m%d}/urma2p5.t{valid?fmt=%H}z.2dvaranl_ndfd.grb2_wexp'
+    config.set('config', 'URMA_ANLY_URL', TEST_URL)
+    config.set('config', 'DATA_INGEST_1_INPUT_TEMPLATE', '{URMA_ANLY_URL}')
+    assert config.getraw('config', 'DATA_INGEST_1_INPUT_TEMPLATE', keep_double_slash=True) == TEST_URL
diff --git a/metplus/VERSION b/metplus/VERSION
index 77a393d9b..eb94c2fbb 100644
--- a/metplus/VERSION
+++ b/metplus/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-7.0.0-beta2-dev
\ No newline at end of file
+13.0.0-beta2-dev
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/metplus/component_versions.py b/metplus/component_versions.py
index e6a478489..efb7aff37 100755
--- a/metplus/component_versions.py
+++ b/metplus/component_versions.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
         'metcalcpy': '3.2.0',
         'metdataio': '3.2.0',
         'metviewer': '6.2.4',
-        'metexpress': '6.2.3',
+        'metexpress': '6.2.8',
         'metbaseimage': '3.4.9',
     },
     '6.1': {
diff --git a/metplus/util/config_metplus.py b/metplus/util/config_metplus.py
index 3161eb286..679b81d30 100644
--- a/metplus/util/config_metplus.py
+++ b/metplus/util/config_metplus.py
@@ -588,9 +588,9 @@ def getraw(self, sec, opt, default='', count=0, sub_vars=True, keep_double_slash
         for var_name in match_list:
             # check if each tag is an existing METplus config variable
             if self.has_option(sec, var_name):
-                value = self.getraw(sec, var_name, default, count+1)
+                value = self.getraw(sec, var_name, default, count+1, keep_double_slash=keep_double_slash)
             elif self.has_option('config', var_name):
-                value = self.getraw('config', var_name, default, count+1)
+                value = self.getraw('config', var_name, default, count+1, keep_double_slash=keep_double_slash)
             elif var_name.startswith('ENV'):
                 # if environment variable, ENV[nameofvar], get nameofvar
                 value = os.environ.get(var_name[4:-1])