diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml b/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml
index 12fd54a1f9..79ba1028d9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchmark.yml
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         os: [ ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest ]
         python-version: [ 3.8, 3.9, "3.10", "3.11", "3.12" ]
-        exclude:
-          # avoid shutil.copytree infinite recursion bug
-          # https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/17098
-          - python-version: '3.8.0'
     defaults:
       run:
         shell: bash -l {0}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/commit.yml b/.github/workflows/commit.yml
index 0b51dfa910..23c4cc5d69 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/commit.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/commit.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
-          python-version: 3.8
+          python-version: 3.9
           cache: 'pip'
           cache-dependency-path: pyproject.toml
 
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
-          python-version: 3.8
+          python-version: 3.9
           cache: 'pip'
           cache-dependency-path: pyproject.toml
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ jobs:
         shell: bash
     timeout-minutes: 10
     env:
-      PYTHON_VERSION: 3.8
+      PYTHON_VERSION: 3.9
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repo
@@ -134,10 +134,6 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         os: [ ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest ]
         python-version: [ 3.8, 3.9, "3.10", "3.11", "3.12" ]
-        exclude:
-          # avoid shutil.copytree infinite recursion bug
-          # https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/17098
-          - python-version: '3.8.0'
     defaults:
       run:
         shell: bash -l {0}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/examples.yml b/.github/workflows/examples.yml
index d021a66a53..2b78ec044d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/examples.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/examples.yml
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         os: [ ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest ]
         python-version: [ 3.8, 3.9, "3.10", "3.11", "3.12" ]
-        exclude:
-          # avoid shutil.copytree infinite recursion bug
-          # https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/17098
-          - python-version: '3.8.0'
     defaults:
       run:
         shell: bash -l {0}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/optional.yml b/.github/workflows/optional.yml
index a84940cd9e..c1962380af 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/optional.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/optional.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ jobs:
         shell: bash
     timeout-minutes: 10
     env:
-      PYTHON_VERSION: 3.8
+      PYTHON_VERSION: 3.9
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 57c19dadd6..92c65dee94 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
-          python-version: 3.8
+          python-version: 3.9
           cache: 'pip'
           cache-dependency-path: pyproject.toml
 
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
-          python-version: 3.8
+          python-version: 3.9
           cache: 'pip'
           cache-dependency-path: pyproject.toml
 
diff --git a/autotest/test_export.py b/autotest/test_export.py
index df550590ba..4d9b9f3794 100644
--- a/autotest/test_export.py
+++ b/autotest/test_export.py
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ def test_export_shapefile_polygon_closed(function_tmpdir):
 
 
 @excludes_platform("Windows")
-@requires_pkg("rasterio", "shapefile", "scipy")
+@requires_pkg("rasterio", "pyshp", "scipy", name_map={"pyshp": "shapefile"})
 def test_export_array(function_tmpdir, example_data_path):
     import rasterio
     from scipy.ndimage import rotate
@@ -1992,7 +1992,7 @@ def test_vtk_export_disu2_grid(function_tmpdir, example_data_path):
 
 @pytest.mark.mf6
 @requires_exe("mf6", "gridgen")
-@requires_pkg("vtk", "shapefile", "shapely")
+@requires_pkg("vtk", "pyshp", "shapely", name_map={"pyshp": "shapefile"})
 def test_vtk_export_disu_model(function_tmpdir):
     from vtkmodules.util.numpy_support import vtk_to_numpy
 
diff --git a/etc/environment.yml b/etc/environment.yml
index fdd7cb1dc4..504f80c86c 100644
--- a/etc/environment.yml
+++ b/etc/environment.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # required
   - python>=3.8
-  - numpy>=1.20.3,<2.0.0
+  - numpy>=1.20.3
   - matplotlib>=1.4.0
   - pandas>=2.0.0
 
diff --git a/flopy/mf6/data/mfdatastorage.py b/flopy/mf6/data/mfdatastorage.py
index 8a57413538..7f66574c55 100644
--- a/flopy/mf6/data/mfdatastorage.py
+++ b/flopy/mf6/data/mfdatastorage.py
@@ -2535,7 +2535,7 @@ def _fill_dimensions(self, data_iter, dimensions):
             data_array = np.ndarray(shape=dimensions, dtype=np_dtype)
             # fill array
             for index in ArrayIndexIter(dimensions):
-                data_array.itemset(index, next(data_iter))
+                data_array[index] = next(data_iter)
             return data_array
         elif self.data_structure_type == DataStructureType.scalar:
             return next(data_iter)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 98509cb2c2..f53c5e6cd5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ classifiers = [
 ]
 requires-python = ">=3.8"
 dependencies = [
-    "numpy >=1.20.3,<2.0.0",
+    "numpy>=1.20.3",
     "matplotlib >=1.4.0",
     "pandas >=2.0.0"
 ]