The number of documented white supremacist incidents reached an all-time high in 2022, according to a report published last week by the Anti-Defamation League.

Why it matters: Ohio ranked third among all states for documented white supremacist events and gatherings.

The big picture: The ADL's Center on Extremism identified 6,751 cases where white supremacist groups distributed "racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+" materials across the country in 2022, a 38% increase from 2021.

• The ADL also documented 167 white supremacist events and gatherings during the year, a 55% increase from the 108 recorded in 2021.

Context: White supremacist propaganda has been rising nationwide for several years.

• It nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020 and jumped more than 120% from 2018 to 2019.

Zoom in: Ohio saw 185 incidents related to white supremacist groups in 2022, up from 135 in 2021, per the ADL.

• More than 20 documented incidents took place in Cleveland and its surrounding suburbs, with more than half classified as "antisemitic incidents."

The details: The Patriot Front — a Texas-based group whose manifesto calls for the formation of a white ethnostate — distributed flyers, hung banners and graffitied its logo throughout Ohio.

• In December, Proud Boys members showed up in Columbus wearing camouflage and carrying guns to protest a planned (and eventually canceled) "Holi-Drag Storytime" event featuring local drag performers reading to children.
• Multiple incidents in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo were attributed to White Lives Matter, including a rally held outside the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood in August.

Of note: The National Justice Party — an organization whose website advocates for "white civil rights" — attracted 350-400 people to its national gathering in Vienna, Ohio, in September.

What they're saying: "It's incumbent that elected officials and community leaders, regardless of their party affiliation, condemn these incidents," Kelly Fishman, education director for ADL Cleveland, told Axios. "When these incidents aren't condemned, it can lead to violence."

After steady growth over the past decade, apartment square footage in Cleveland is aligned with the national average.

Driving the news: The average size of apartments in Cleveland built from 2013 to 2022 was 893 square feet, a 170-foot jump from apartments constructed prior to 2013, per a new report from the listing service RentCafe.

• Newer Cleveland apartments are now 0.7% larger than the national average of 887 square feet.
• The growth in local apartment size ranked second among 100 metro areas with the most high-density units, behind only Tucson, Arizona.

The big picture: Nationwide, apartments built in 2022 shed 30 square feet on average compared to 2021, per the report.

• That decrease was fueled in part by more studios and one-bedroom apartments entering the market, researchers found.

Between the lines: That's a reversal in the rental market that saw units get bigger during the early part of the work-from-home era, Axios' Sami Sparber and Kavya Beheraj report.

Zoom in: On Monday, Cleveland City Council approved a 30-year tax increment financing arrangement for the Bridgeworks development in Ohio City.

• Only 40 of the 140 apartments in that project will be two-bedroom units. The rest will be one-bedroom or studios.

⚖️ Former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci threatened legal action against the alt-weekly Cleveland Scene over a satirical piece that ridiculed his new political action committee, Save Our Schools Ohio. (Cleveland Scene)

🚰 Despite landmark legislation in 2019 to tackle the crisis, Cleveland's lead poisoning rates are still roughly four times higher than the national average. (Signal Cleveland)

🤠 Willie Nelson's Outlaw Music Festival returns to Blossom Music Center on Aug. 11 featuring Nelson, John Fogerty and other acts. Tickets go on sale at 10am Friday. (JamBase)

🏀 As the NCAA Men's and Women's Division I basketball tournament begins tomorrow, the Mount Union Purple Raiders advance to their first-ever Final Four in the Division III tournament. (WKYC)

Outside magazine calls Brecksville Reservation Ohio's most underrated park.

• It may be underrated to a national audience who doesn't know Ohio's recreation areas from holes in the ground, but locals are hip to its expansive beauty and charm.

State of play: Brecksville Reservation is Cleveland Metroparks' largest park and serves as a gateway to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Amenities include:

• Hiking: Sixteen miles of the Buckeye Trail cut through the reservation, but we'd recommend the 2.5-mile Hemlock Loop Trail, which gets you up close and personal with the spectacular Chippewa Creek Gorge.
• Golf: If being adjacent to nature while playing an infuriating sport is your jam, both Seneca and Sleepy Hollow sit within the reservation.
• Dog tricks: Aukerman Park is the Metroparks' only on-leash dog agility course.

If you go: Be sure to hit up Brecksville Nature Center, which opened in 1939 as a New Deal-era trailside museum.

• The Nature Center offers ample educational and recreational programming with a staff of sprightly naturalists.

💼 Check out the fresh open positions in the city.

1. Director of Production, Central Zone at Airgas.
2. Region Vice President, Finance at Sysco.
3. Philanthropic Coordinator at The Cleveland Foundation.

Want more opportunities? Check out our Job Board.

Hiring? Post a Job.

We're down to the Final Four in our Best Brewery Tournament.

• The semifinal round features four of the best-known breweries in Northeast Ohio.

Great Lakes vs Masthead

State of play: Great Lakes Brewing barely fended off scrappy underdog Noble Beast in the Elite 8.

• Now, Cleveland's OG brewery takes on Masthead, which has grown quickly since opening in 2017.

Market Garden vs Fat Head's

State of play: Both Market Garden and Fat Head's Brewery had no trouble moving through the first two rounds.

• Their final four matchup features an Ohio City mainstay in Market Garden versus the award-winning Fat Head's, which has expanded its formidable presence over the past half-decade.

🗳 Final Four voting is now underway! The polls close at 3pm.