diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index 4f04bd57abb..7eff575ebe4 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ django==4.2.11
     # via
     #   -c requirements.txt
     #   django-debug-toolbar
-django-debug-toolbar==4.3.0
+django-debug-toolbar==4.4.2
     # via -r dev-requirements.in
 djhtml==3.0.6
     # via -r dev-requirements.in
diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailcustomization/static/css/admin.css b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailcustomization/static/css/admin.css
index 6e27231ba54..3ec0319c307 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailcustomization/static/css/admin.css
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailcustomization/static/css/admin.css
@@ -58,3 +58,48 @@ fieldset ul li div label {
 .required .field > label::after {
   display: inline-block !important;
 }
+
+/* Fix select2 dropdown autocomplete input field low contrast color scheme on dark mode */
+@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
+  #wagtail .select2 .select2-selection {
+    color: var(--w-color-text-context);
+    background-color: var(--w-color-surface-field);
+    border-color: var(--w-color-border-field-default);
+    border-radius: 0.3125rem;
+  }
+  #wagtail .select2-container .select2-results .select2-results__options {
+    background-color: var(--w-color-surface-field);
+  }
+  /* Hover/Focus; Important for accesibility */
+  #wagtail .select2 .select2-selection:hover,
+  #wagtail .select2 .select2-selection:focus {
+    border-color: var(--w-color-border-field-hover);
+  }
+  /* Options */
+  #wagtail .select2-container .select2-results .select2-results__option {
+    color: var(--w-color-text-context);
+    background-color: var(--w-color-surface-field);
+  }
+  /* Selected/hover option */
+  #wagtail
+    .select2-container
+    .select2-results
+    .select2-results__option--highlighted {
+    color: var(--w-color-text-label-menus-active);
+    background-color: var(--w-color-surface-button-default);
+  }
+  /* Input element */
+  #wagtail
+    .select2-container--default
+    .select2-search--inline
+    .select2-search__field {
+    color: var(--w-color-text-context);
+  }
+  /* Focus input outline */
+  #wagtail
+    .select2-container--default
+    .select2-search--inline
+    .select2-search__field:focus-visible {
+    outline: none !important;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/customblocks/recent_blog_entries.py b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/customblocks/recent_blog_entries.py
index 86cbbc48f58..93d09d017bf 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/customblocks/recent_blog_entries.py
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/customblocks/recent_blog_entries.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 from django.apps import apps
+from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError
 from django.template.defaultfilters import slugify
 from wagtail import blocks
+from wagtail.blocks import StructBlockValidationError
 
 from networkapi.wagtailpages.utils import get_locale_from_request
 
@@ -35,9 +37,23 @@ class RecentBlogEntries(blocks.StructBlock):
         help_text="Optional divider below content block.",
     )
 
-    # TODO: add in validation so that if there are no tags or topic
-    #       filled in we don't allow the page to be saved, with a wagtail
-    #       error indication what's wrong.
+    def clean(self, value):
+        validation_errors = {}
+        both_filters_error = ValidationError("Please provide either a Tag or a Topic, not both", code="invalid")
+        no_filter_error = ValidationError("Please provide a Tag or a Topic", code="required")
+
+        if value["tag_filter"] and value["topic_filter"]:
+            validation_errors["tag_filter"] = both_filters_error
+            validation_errors["topic_filter"] = both_filters_error
+
+        if not value["tag_filter"] and not value["topic_filter"]:
+            validation_errors["tag_filter"] = no_filter_error
+            validation_errors["topic_filter"] = no_filter_error
+
+        if validation_errors:
+            raise StructBlockValidationError(validation_errors)
+
+        return super().clean(value)
 
     def get_context(self, value, parent_context=None):
         context = super().get_context(value, parent_context=parent_context)
@@ -50,25 +66,16 @@ def get_context(self, value, parent_context=None):
         topic = value.get("topic_filter", False)
 
         # default filter and query
-        type = "tags"
+        query_type = "tags"
         query = "mozilla"
         entries = []
 
-        # If only tag_filter is chosen we want to load entries by tag and update the url accordingly
-        if tag and not topic:
+        if tag:
             tag = slugify(tag)
             query = tag
             blog_page.extract_tag_information(tag)
-            entries = blog_page.get_entries(context)
-
-        """
-        If topic_filter is chosen at all, we want to load entries by topic and
-        update the url accordingly. Once we add validation, we'll be able to remove
-        the prioritization of topic and instead notify the user that they must/can
-        only choose one filter option.
-        """
-        if topic and topic != "All":
-            type = "topic"
+        elif topic and topic != "All":
+            query_type = "topic"
             query = slugify(topic)
             try:
                 # verify this topic exists, and set up a filter for it
@@ -81,13 +88,13 @@ def get_context(self, value, parent_context=None):
         # get the entries based on prefiltering
         entries = blog_page.get_entries(context)
 
-        # Updates the href for the 'More from our blog' button
+        # Update the href for the 'More from our blog' button
         blog_page_url = blog_page.get_url()
-        url = f"{blog_page_url}{type}/{query}"
+        url = f"{blog_page_url}{query_type}/{query}"
         context["more_entries_link"] = url
 
         # We only want to grab no more than the first 6 entries
-        context["entries"] = entries[0:6]
+        context["entries"] = entries[:6]
 
         # We only want to display the 'More from our blog' button if
         # there's more than 6 entries
diff --git a/requirements.in b/requirements.in
index 679e2ce691b..9c6b08f3025 100644
--- a/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements.in
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Faker
 future
 gunicorn
 heroku3
-pygit2==1.14.0
+pygit2==1.15.0
 python-slugify
 requests
 social-auth-app-django
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index be415c46603..974a62ad5c7 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ beautifulsoup4==4.9.3
     # via
     #   -r requirements.in
     #   wagtail
-boto3==1.34.98
+boto3==1.34.122
     # via -r requirements.in
-botocore==1.34.98
+botocore==1.34.122
     # via
     #   boto3
     #   s3transfer
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ defusedxml==0.7.1
     #   python3-openid
     #   social-auth-core
     #   willow
-dj-database-url==2.1.0
+dj-database-url==2.2.0
     # via -r requirements.in
 django==4.2.11
     # via
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ psycopg2-binary==2.9.9
     # via -r requirements.in
 pycparser==2.21
     # via cffi
-pygit2==1.14.0
+pygit2==1.15.0
     # via
     #   -r requirements.in
     #   wagtail-localize-git