circuitpython: 7.0.0 crashes without import microcontroller

CircuitPython version

Adafruit CircuitPython 7.0.0 on 2021-09-20; Raspberry Pi Pico with rp2040
Board ID:raspberry_pi_pico
boot.py output:
	Write to Flash  : False
	Write to SD Card: True
	boot.py Finis

Code/REPL

No erreo code given when it crashes.  Must push reset or remove power.

Behavior

Crash without ‘import microcontroller’ even though not used. Runs just fine with ‘import microcontroller’

Description

I built an application that would take in an RCA IR code of ‘change input’ and put out 7 ‘skip 30 seconds’ TiVo IR codes. The application was working fine. I wanted to find out how to reference a pin that is not defined by CircuitPython but is on the RP2040. I used ‘import microcontroller’ to test how to define a pin using ‘from microcontroller import pin’ then ‘test = pin.GPIO6’. It worked fine. I have commented out lines 2 and 3 of the test code. and things work fine. If I comment out the first test line (import microcontroller) the program crashes within the ‘import adafruit_irremote’ library after iteration #4 of 7 each time. microcontroller is not referenced in my code or in adafruit_irremote.py code. Below is my code that works/doesn’t work minus the libraries. There are no error codes displayed on REPL. The only way out is a hard reset with the reset button or pulling power. Ctrl-C has no effect.

Additional information

No response