diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b7a37854c654ba7a46c56ecd4419b8c3e5564bd8..4a6364a5dee3331d77a01656c6c97b9d3e000fcd 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ endif()
 # enable warnings and disallow non-standard language
 set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-Wall -pedantic -Wextra -Wno-ignored-qualifiers")
 set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "-O0 -g")
-set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "-O3") 
+set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "-O3 -g") 
 
 # clang produces a lot of unecessary warnings without this:
 add_compile_options("$<$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:Clang>:-Wno-nonportable-include-path>") 
diff --git a/Framework/Cascade/Cascade.h b/Framework/Cascade/Cascade.h
index 6aed37d644b868c1ed92d5ce87475db45245225f..ae8b18932ca769cd1f716d54808078820b390842 100644
--- a/Framework/Cascade/Cascade.h
+++ b/Framework/Cascade/Cascade.h
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ namespace corsika::cascade {
     void Run() {
       while (!fStack.IsEmpty()) {
         while (!fStack.IsEmpty()) {
-          Particle& pNext = *fStack.GetNextParticle();
+          auto pNext = fStack.GetNextParticle();
+          //std::cout << pNext
           Step(pNext);
         }
         // do cascade equations, which can put new particles on Stack,
diff --git a/Processes/NullModel/NullModel.h b/Processes/NullModel/NullModel.h
index e1fc5b3ff8eaeeffdc5b6703f9dcc9f51516d87b..428069f12c5d8884470d9077a20d7703fd8faa8b 100644
--- a/Processes/NullModel/NullModel.h
+++ b/Processes/NullModel/NullModel.h
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@
 namespace corsika::process::null_model {
 
   class NullModel : public corsika::process::ContinuousProcess<NullModel> {
-    corsika::units::si::LengthType fMaxStepLength{
-        corsika::units::si::meter * std::numeric_limits<double>::infinity()};
+    corsika::units::si::LengthType const fMaxStepLength;
 
   public:
-    NullModel(corsika::units::si::LengthType maxStepLength)
+    NullModel(corsika::units::si::LengthType maxStepLength =
+                  corsika::units::si::meter * std::numeric_limits<double>::infinity())
         : fMaxStepLength(maxStepLength) {}
 
     void Init();