Happy New Year! We’re back from our holiday break to discuss some of the biggest news stories of 2023 so far, including last week’s C-SPAN soap opera. New House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made some serious concessions to win that could spell out a future mess for debt limit and budget negotiations. Plus, why interest rates will likely stay up — for a while — and what that means for the economy. And, some good news about our planet: The ozone layer is healing!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Fed’s Raphael Bostic Favors Holding Rates Above 5% for ‘a Long Time’” from Bloomberg

• “Kevin McCarthy Deal With Rebels Would Heighten Risk of Debt Standoff” from Bloomberg

• “McCarthy concessions raise stakes on budget, debt limit” from Roll Call

• “Bills S Damar Hamlin discharged from Cincinnati hospital 1 week after terrifying collapse” from Yahoo Sports

• “The ozone layer is slowly, but surely, healing, the UN says” from PBS NewsHour

Do you (like Kimberly) already have some big thoughts about 2023? Share them with us! We’re at makemesmart@marketplace.org, or leave us a message at 508-U-B-SMART.