Congratulations are in order for Michael Zytkow who as of yesterday became the first independent in Charlotte's history to successfully petition to get on the City Council ballot. Zytkow was a key figure in protests leading up to and during the DNC and Occupy Charlotte. Fun fact: Zytkow rode around his district in an ice cream truck to obtain the amount of signatures necessary to get on the ballot. Read the piece we wrote about the beginning of his campaign.

• Grant Baldwin (Flickr Creative Commons)
• Zytkow and his wife at the Labor Day parade.

Despite objections within his party conservative Sen. Ted Cruz continues his attack on the Affordable Care Act. The Texas freshman spoke on the Senate floor for more than 11 hours in an attempt to stall voting on a bill from the House Republicans that would temporarily avoid a government shut down but strip funding for the ACA. Had the bill passed it would have been amended by Senate Demcorats to re-fund Obamacare. According to CBS News: "Though he can't prevent the Senate from voting to end debate on the House proposal tomorrow, Cruz can speak throughout the night to draw attention to the issue and stop the vote from happening early."

Things you can buy for $10,000: a car, a trip to a foreign country and, apparently, an Apple iPhone 5s. That's what someone paid on eBay this week for a gold version of Apple's latest treat. Perhaps Apple should reconsider the colors it chooses for its phones, as they clearly give off the wrong impression.

Kurt Cobain's mother put his childhood home up for sale this week. Even though the 1.5 story bungalow two hours southwest of Seattle was assessed for less than $67,000, Cobain's mother put it on the market for $500,000. Maybe the extra $433,000 is for Cobain's mattress, which comes with the house.