Cleveland paint giant Sherwin-Williams is pushing back on Cleveland.com's recent series linking the company to the lead poisoning crisis.

Why it matters: The series documented its complicity in the decades-long crisis, but Sherwin-Williams calls the reporting historically inaccurate.

State of play: Company spokesperson Julie Young told Axios it submitted a five-page response to editor Chris Quinn before publication, but none of its content was included.

What they're saying: In the statement, shared with Axios, Sherwin-Williams argues it never had any greater knowledge or foresight than public health officials about the dangers of lead paint and says it "often was ahead of" federal, state and local regulations.

• The modern focus should be on protecting vulnerable families from predatory landlords, the statement reads, not manufacturers that "made a legal product 50 to more than 100 years ago."

Between the lines: The Cleveland.com series showed how Sherwin-Williams promoted the concentration of lead in its paint because products from competitors with lower levels were deemed inferior.

• Sherwin-Williams now says it was actually a leader in moving the market away from lead-based paint.

The other side: "We continually innovated to lower lead content in our exterior paints, using lead pigments where it was necessary to impart specific qualities like water-resistance, adhesion, and durability," the statement reads.

By the numbers: The statement notes that from 2021 to 2025, Sherwin-Williams made sizable local charitable contributions as a member of the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition, including:

• $1 million to the United Way of Greater Cleveland for the Lead Safe Resource Center.
• $750,000 to MetroHealth's Pediatric Lead Clinic.
• $625,000 to CHN Housing Partners to provide loans to property owners for lead abatement work.

The other side: Quinn told Axios almost every paragraph of Sherwin-Williams' statement is misleading, and contradicts documents he obtained in his reporting.

• "For the series, we relied on the historical record, not misleading spin," he wrote in an email.

What's next: Sherwin-Williams says it will publish a rebuttal to Quinn's series, while Quinn says he may eventually do the same to Sherwin-Williams' response.

"I think people have to think about it like an investment in what they want their city to be."

🚍 State of play: RTA is expected to ask Cuyahoga County voters to approve a sales tax increase in 2027 to stabilize its finances and expand service.

• Birdsong Terry says the additional revenue could boost frequency on 75% of routes, fund future bus rapid transit lines and improve long-term reliability.
• Red Line trains could depart from a new station at Hopkins every five minutes.

The other side: Without new revenue, RTA projects roughly $30 million in cuts over the next three years, including reduced service on most bus routes, and the elimination of at least eight lines.

💭 Sam's thought bubble: Public transit is a public good. The best cities in the world have frequent, reliable buses and trains.

• In Cleveland, a broad and connected transit network is essential for the nearly 25% of households without a car.

💬 "It's highly unusual to see a major American city willing to turn over priceless public land for a secretly funded work of public art," writes veteran art and architecture critic Steven Litt about a proposed series of sculptures at North Coast Yard.

• The project proposal has been pulled from Friday's city planning commission agenda. (Ideastream)

⚖️ More than 2,000 pages of court filings and police reports related to Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller (R-Bay Village) contain new allegations of violent behavior against multiple women. (Mother Jones)

💸 Ohio billionaire Leslie Wexner donated $142 million to Harvard University across four decades — about $100 million more than was previously known. (Harvard Crimson)

🍻 The longtime owner of Edison's Pub in Tremont has reclaimed ownership of the bar from Hangry Brands, claiming that required payments were never made. (Cleveland Scene)

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead will keynote Literary Cleveland's Inkubator Writing Conference, which returns Sept. 9-12 as part of Cleveland Book Fest 2026.

Why it matters: Inkubator has grown into the country's largest free writing conference, drawing more than 4,500 attendees last year with workshops, craft talks and networking for writers of all levels.

Zoom in: This year's theme, "Freedom Is a Community," is inspired by Toni Morrison as part of the state's yearlong celebration. A virtual panel on Morrison's legacy will open the conference Sept. 9.

• In-person events at the Cleveland Public Library Sept. 11-12 include workshops, panels and the popular book fair.
• For the second time, Inkubator will offer workshops for writers of genre fiction, including dark fantasy, horror, romantasy and sci-fi.

The big ticket: Whitehead will close the conference Sept. 12 with a keynote on his writing career, Harlem Trilogy and Morrison's influence on his work.

What's next: Registration opens Aug. 10.