Good morning, Chicago.

Tuesday marks the official start of Illinois’ 2024 campaign season, the opening day for Democratic and Republican candidates for offices from Congress down to various county and party posts to begin circulating petitions to appear on the March 19 primary ballot.

The circulation period starts for candidates for all offices except those vying in the marquee contest of the 2024 election year, the race for president. Presidential candidates and their supporting nominating delegates, elected from each of the state’s congressional districts, begin circulating petitions Oct. 7.

The campaign season launches amid efforts by both Democrats and Republicans and their allies to recruit candidates to fill out down-ballot races.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Rick Pearson.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.

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City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin used government workers to plan her daughter’s birthday party and be her personal bodyguard while she also pressured public employees to hold events benefiting political allies and repeatedly misused taxpayer resources, two former top aides alleged in a recently released letter the city fought for years to keep confidential.

The blistering four-page letter, written in December 2020 by the attorney for the two employees Conyears-Ervin fired, also alleged the treasurer, who oversees city investments, tried to force BMO Harris — one of the banks where city money is deposited — to issue a mortgage tied to the building that houses the aldermanic office for Conyears-Ervin’s husband, Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th.

Andrew Suh was only 19 when he executed his sister’s boyfriend nearly 30 years ago in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood, a sensational crime that launched an international search, sparked a media frenzy and brought lifelong grief to the victim’s family.

Suh admits he pulled the trigger in the premeditated, ambush-style killing of a man who had helped raise him. But after about three decades in prison, the now-49-year-old Suh hopes his remorse and efforts to better himself have earned him a measure of mercy.

Several Chicago-area hospitals have been honored for excellence in price transparency two and a half years after a set of federal transparency guidelines went into effect.

Rush University Medical Center was one of 10 hospitals nationwide to receive the inaugural Price Transparency Champion Award, honoring medical systems going above and beyond to keep price estimates accessible and upfront.

Late Chicago Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz had planned for years for his son, Danny, to carry on the various family businesses without him. But when Rocky died from an illness on July 25, it felt no less jarring and devastating.

“We didn’t think it was life-threatening, but it turned into three or four days of a real tough battle for his life,” Danny Wirtz told the Tribune in an interview Friday to discuss his ascension to the head of the team’s organizational chart.

Every corner of Millennium Park was awash in music last weekend for the Chicago Jazz Festival, boasting its usual blend of headlining stars in Pritzker Pavilion — bass titan Ron Carter and Makaya McCraven among them — and heaps of local talent taking over more intimate stages. Critic Hannah Edgar has a review of the festival.

From a true-crime musical to Mexican wrestling to Jim Henson-designed puppets, the fall season of Chicago-area theaters includes numerous fascinating projects. Also on tap: A Pearl Cleage Festival at the Goodman Theatre, a new Brett Neveu play at A Red Orchid Theatre and the Chicago premiere of Noah Haidle’s “Birthday Candles” at Northlight Theatre. There are many more shows on the docket, too, but here are our traditional 10 upcoming titles to whet your appetite for the exciting fall return of one of the best reasons to live in and around Chicago.