UPDATE ::
Hi again Chris,
I was able to get my local dev back up and running by migrating the site through another plugin (Backup Buddy), so I feel a bit better now.
That said, I am still curious as to why things stopped working using the Migrate DB plugin... It is a much simpler and less time consuming process for me than doing the migration through Backup Buddy each time, and I am seriously considering having my company purchase a license for your premium plugin but I have reservations after this incident. Not to say that your plugin was necessarily the culprit here- it might be totally unrelated, but I feel less eager to pay good money for something that might not work in the long run.
Please let me know what types of quality assurances are offered with Migrate DB Pro - is there some sort of money-back guarantee up to a certain point if it stops working mysteriously as Migrate DB seems to have here?
I'd love to continue this conversation...
Cheers