diff --git a/iwla.py b/iwla.py
index f48531d..fea645e 100755
--- a/iwla.py
+++ b/iwla.py
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ class IWLA(object):
         for l in _file:
             # print "line " + l
 
-            groups = self.log_re.match(str(l))
+            groups = self.log_re.match(l)
 
             if groups:
                 self._newHit(groups.groupdict(""))
@@ -828,9 +828,9 @@ class FileIter(object):
             raise StopIteration()
         filename = self.filenames.pop(0)
         if filename.endswith('gz'):
-            self.cur_file = gzip.open(filename, 'r')
+            self.cur_file = gzip.open(filename, 'rt')
         else:
-            self.cur_file = open(filename)
+            self.cur_file = open(filename, 'rt')
 
     def next(self):
         l = self.cur_file.readline()