Risking a preelection backlash, City Clerk Anna Valencia and City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin said Friday they will accept the 20.5% raises — to $161,016 — that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2023 budget includes for those two jobs.

Faced with a surge of criticism at City Hall, Innovative Parking Solutions owner Michael Denigris did what Chicago business owners have done for decades — he hired a clout-rich lobbyist and poured tens of thousands of dollars into lawmakers’ campaign accounts.

But it is not clear whether that expensive and time-consuming effort, which illuminates how wealthy interests get their issues in front of Chicago lawmakers, will pay off for Denigris and his firm.

Faculty and staff at City Colleges of Chicago plan to strike the week of Oct. 24 if they don’t reach a tentative agreement with their employer.

According to Tony Johnston, president of the Cook County College Teachers Union, the union has negotiation meetings over the next two weeks with City Colleges to reach their contract demands.

It’s far from final approval, but a proposed agreement between Arlington Heights and the Chicago Bears — reviewed publicly for the first time Monday night by the village board — starts to pave the way for what could be the NFL franchise’s new home in the suburbs.

The nine-page predevelopment agreement suggests future zoning changes and public financing that could make the Bears’ $5 billion redevelopment vision for the 326-acre Arlington Park property a reality.

The disturbing 911 call began with sounds of a struggle, then a voice that sounded like a child’s cried out, “Let me go.” When the police dispatcher in the rural southern Illinois community announced herself, no one responded.

She heard other voices, laughing and taunting, then a female voice said, “You want me to break your other finger?”