diff --git a/autopush/db.py b/autopush/db.py
index 2b3934dc..03151820 100644
--- a/autopush/db.py
+++ b/autopush/db.py
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         if "endpoint_url" in conf and not conf["endpoint_url"]:
             del(conf["endpoint_url"])
         region = conf.get("region_name",
-                          os.getenv("AWS_REGION_NAME", "us-east-1"))
+                          os.getenv("AWS_DEFAULT_REGION", "us-east-1"))
         if "region_name" in conf:
             del(conf["region_name"])
         self.conf = conf
diff --git a/autopush/tests/test_db.py b/autopush/tests/test_db.py
index 5df008d0..ce7238eb 100644
--- a/autopush/tests/test_db.py
+++ b/autopush/tests/test_db.py
@@ -99,6 +99,20 @@ def test_ddb_no_endpoint(self, mresource):
         if safe:
             os.environ["AWS_LOCAL_DYNAMODB"] = safe
 
+    def test_ddb_env(self):
+        ddb_session_args = dict(
+            endpoint_url=os.getenv("AWS_LOCAL_DYNAMODB"),
+            aws_access_key_id="BogusKey",
+            aws_secret_access_key="BogusKey",
+        )
+        safe = os.getenv("AWS_DEFAULT_REGION")
+        os.environ["AWS_DEFAULT_REGION"] = "us-west-2"
+        boto_resource = DynamoDBResource(**ddb_session_args)
+        assert boto_resource._resource.meta.client.meta.region_name == \
+            'us-west-2'
+        if safe:
+            os.environ["AWS_DEFAULT_REGION"] = safe
+
 
 class DbCheckTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(cls):
diff --git a/autopush/utils.py b/autopush/utils.py
index 640f6f34..eed6310c 100644
--- a/autopush/utils.py
+++ b/autopush/utils.py
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ def from_message_table(cls, uaid, item):
             channel_id=uuid.UUID(key_info["channel_id"]),
             data=item.get("data"),
             headers=item.get("headers"),
-            ttl=item["ttl"],
+            ttl=item.get("ttl", 0),
             topic=key_info.get("topic"),
             message_id=key_info["message_id"],
             update_id=item.get("updateid"),