Can't call new notifications and avatar on same page

Hello!

I built a custom module that displays a user's avatar, as well as a simple alert that tells them whether they have any new notifications. It's working on my local stack, but on another server, only the avatar is appearing -- the activity alert isn't working at all — as in, I used this code:

$my = ES::user();

$total = $my->getTotalNewNotifications();

And the variable $total isn't returning anything. If I try to echo the variable, nothing happens.

I've included all system information in the "hidden" field below. Any guidance would be much appreciated!!! Thanks for a great suite of extensions!!!!!

Bob