News you don't want to miss for Aug. 18:

1. The federal monitor overseeing reforms at the Oakland Police Department strongly criticized Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for being silent and not acting following the shooting of Joshua Pawlik by police in 2018, KPIX reports.

2. Wildfires caused by the weekend's lightning storm continue to rage. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a warning for the Tri-Valley cities of Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore through Thursday, the East Bay Times reports. $$

3. Two cast members at the Berkeley Repertory Theater alleged the use of their images in a streamed performance that occurred at the start of the shelter in place violated their union contract, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. $$

4. The California State University class of 2025 will be required to take an ethnic studies course in order to graduate, the Associated Press reports. The new requirements begins with the 2021-2022 school year.

5. With the push for police accountability legislation in Sacramento at fevered pitch, the fate of 15 bills in the Legislature will be known in the next two weeks ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline, Calmatters reports.

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