diff --git a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_checkpointing.py b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_checkpointing.py
index 68d3b6bff4f7..a38db1f498db 100755
--- a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_checkpointing.py
+++ b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_checkpointing.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # Parts of the code here are adapted from PyTorch
 # repo: https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch
 import contextlib
+import copy
 import torch.distributed as dist
 import torch
 from torch import _C
@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ def detach_variable(inputs, device=None):
 def _set_cuda_rng_state(new_state, device=-1):
     """Sets the random number generator state of the current GPU.
 
-    Argumentss:
+    Arguments:
         new_state (torch.ByteTensor): The desired state
     This function is adapted from PyTorch repo (torch.cuda.set_rng_state)
     with a single change: the input state is not cloned. Cloning caused
@@ -160,10 +161,7 @@ def reset(self):
     def get_states(self):
         """Get rng states. Copy the dictionary so we have direct
         pointers to the states, not just a pointer to the dictionary."""
-        states = {}
-        for name in self.states_:
-            states[name] = self.states_[name]
-        return states
+        return copy.copy(self.states_)
 
     def set_states(self, states):
         """Set the rng states. For efficiency purposes, we do not check
@@ -720,5 +718,4 @@ def is_configured():
     Return:
         True of configured, else False
     """
-    global deepspeed_checkpointing_enabled
     return deepspeed_checkpointing_enabled
diff --git a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config_utils.py b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config_utils.py
index d99c5ab197db..38fdb647f61d 100755
--- a/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config_utils.py
+++ b/deepspeed/pt/deepspeed_config_utils.py
@@ -6,20 +6,18 @@
 Collection of DeepSpeed configuration utilities
 """
 
+from collections import Counter
+
 
 def get_scalar_param(param_dict, param_name, param_default_value):
-    if param_name in param_dict.keys():
-        return param_dict[param_name]
-    else:
-        return param_default_value
+    return param_dict.get(param_name, param_default_value)
 
 
 def dict_raise_error_on_duplicate_keys(ordered_pairs):
     """Reject duplicate keys."""
-    d = {}
-    for k, v in ordered_pairs:
-        if k in d:
-            raise ValueError("Duplicate key in DeepSpeed config: %r" % (k, ))
-        else:
-            d[k] = v
+    d = dict((k, v) for k, v in ordered_pairs)
+    if len(d) != len(ordered_pairs):
+        counter = Counter([pair[0] for pair in ordered_pairs])
+        keys = [key for key, value in counter.items() if value > 1]
+        raise ValueError("Duplicate keys in DeepSpeed config: {}".format(keys))
     return d