I let Android Studio upgrade the project to the newest version of Gradle

for Android or what have you, and these are the relevant changes I think.
They don't seem to help the problem I was having but newer is better, no?

app/build.gradle

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ keyprops.load(new FileInputStream(rootProject.file("keystore.properties")))
 
 android {
     compileSdkVersion 28
-    buildToolsVersion "28.0.0"
+    buildToolsVersion "28.0.3"
 
     sourceSets {
 	main {

build.gradle

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ buildscript {
         jcenter()
     }
     dependencies {
-        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.1.3'
+        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.4.1'
     }
 }
 

gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-#Sat Jan 13 09:12:34 PST 2018
+#Sun May 26 20:02:55 EDT 2019
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-4.4.1-all.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-5.1.1-all.zip

local.properties

@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-# This file is automatically generated by Android Tools.
-# Do not modify this file -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE ERASED!
-#
-# This file must *NOT* be checked into Version Control Systems,
+## This file must *NOT* be checked into Version Control Systems,
 # as it contains information specific to your local configuration.
-
-# location of the SDK. This is only used by Ant
+#
+# Location of the SDK. This is only used by Gradle.
 # For customization when using a Version Control System, please read the
 # header note.
+#Sun May 26 20:02:34 EDT 2019
+ndk.dir=/home/greg/Android/Sdk/ndk-bundle
 sdk.dir=/home/greg/Android/Sdk