Metro officials planned to lock the turnstiles at the subway entrances below Union Station at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

(File photo)

Riders will have to swipe their prepaid TAP cards across readers at the entrance.

Only people with cards loaded with enough money for the $1.50 basic fare will be allowed beyond the turnstiles to ride the Red Line and Purple Line subways.

Officials planned to latch 15 gates at Red and Purple Line stations by the end of the summer.

The last station to be locked will be 7th/Metro on Aug. 26.

Under the old system, riders were expected to pay the fare and then show their ticket to a sheriff’s deputy on the platform or train, if asked to do so.

The Red and Purple lines run through downtown Los Angeles to North Hollywood and Koreatown, respectively.

They carry about 360,000 passengers each day, with the Red Line being the busiest, according to Metro officials.

Metro expected to recoup $7 million from fare evaders on the Red Line alone by this time next year, officials said.

The turnstiles will also be locked at a number of Gold Line stations starting on Oct. 14. That line runs from Pasadena to Union Station and East L.A.

Some lines, including parts of the Blue Line, cannot accommodate turnstiles, but authorities planned to step up patrols for fare evaders.

Metro’s partner, Metrolink Commuter Rail, will also be cracking down. It runs trains to Union Station from San Bernardino, Riverside, Lancaster and Ventura and Orange County.

Metrolink passengers can ride light rail lines for free with their tickets or monthly passes, which now come with “EZ TAP” chips embedded in them.

Metrolink has hired security officers to check tickets aboard its trains.

It planned to step up enforcement efforts starting on July 1. At that time, 75 percent of all trains leaving Union Station will be checked by officers, officials said.

Walter Lee Williams, 64, was taken into custody on Tuesday evening by Mexican authorities, Bill Lewis, FBI assistant director in charge, said in a statement.

Williams is charged with the sexual exploitation of children, traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, FBI officials said.

Walter Lee Williams, 64 (FBI)

He was captured in Playa del Carmen along the Caribbean in the state of Quintana Roo, according to media reports in Mexico.

The FBI was planning to release additional details at a news conference on Wednesday.

At least 10 alleged victims between the ages of 9 and 17 were identified by authorities, according to the FBI.

Many of the alleged victims live in third world countries.

Williams has traveled extensively or lived across Southeast Asia and Polynesia, authorities said.

A four-count federal indictment filed on April 30 alleges that he traveled to the Philippines in January 2011 to engage in sex acts with two 14-year-old boys he met online.

Prior to his trip, Williams allegedly engaged in sexual activity via Internet webcam sessions with the boys.

He expressed a desire to visit them in the Philippines to have sex, according to the FBI.

While in the Philippines, he allegedly engaged in sex acts with the boys and produced photos of the encounters, which he brought back to Los Angeles.

Williams fled the Los Angeles area after he was questioned by agents, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Williams had previously taught anthropology, gender studies and history at USC.

He is a Fulbright award winner, and received the USC General Education Outstanding Teacher Award in 2006. He was also recognized for his work with the gay and lesbian community.

Williams left USC in February 2011, according to a statement issued by the university on Monday.

“USC is fully cooperating with the FBI investigation,” the statement said.

“The FBI has informed us at this time that there is no evidence that any of his alleged illegal activities were associated with the university or took place on campus.”

Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS7, will soon be getting a much needed facelift.

Since its release in 2007, the iPhone user interface has remained mainly the same. But, at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Apple gave attendees a preview demo of the update soon to come.

Every year app developers from around the world come to WWDC to check out what’s next. This year’s conference was packed with nearly 6,000 developers in attendance, all hopeful for a glimpse at the new features of iOS 7.

Apple didn’t disappoint, showing off 10 major new features.

The new operating system has a completely updated look with a simpler design and easy access to common settings.

“These are features we should’ve had a long time ago,” said Harleen Serai, Senior Software Engineer at Glassdoor.com.

Apple is also organizing our photo collection with smart albums that sorts pictures by place, time and events.

“I don’t spend the time to organize them, so it’s nice it’s going to capture that for me automatically,” said Amy De Angelis, one of the developers at the conference.

Also new to mobile, Apple Airdrop for iOS 7 makes it easy to exchange photos, videos and documents with nearby iPhones just by tapping the “Share” button.

Siri also gets an update. The personal voice assistant can now play your last voicemail or make system changes like increasing your screen brightness.

Apple’s streaming radio service called iTunes Radio is also set to launch later this year. Like Pandora, it will launch as free service with ads, but with an option to go ad-less for a $25-a-year upgrade to iTunes Match.

“Pretty much everything on our wish list was granted today,” said Chad Zeluff of Orahealth.

The new security system makes it harder for people to use stolen iPhones. If an iPhone is reported missing, it can’t be activated–even if it’s been reset.

iOS 7 will be available as a free update later this fall, compatible with newer mobile devices like iPhone 4 and up, the iPad with Retina display, and 5th generation iPod touch models.

The crash happened near the intersection of Highland and Melrose avenues around 4:15 a.m., according to the LAPD.

Michael Hastings

The car, presumably driven by Hastings, slammed into a tree and caught fire.

“I was just coming northbound on Highland and I seen a car, like, going really fast and all of a sudden I seen it jackknife,” said Luis Cortez, who witnessed the wreck.

“I just seen parts fly everywhere and I slammed on my brakes and stopped and tried to call 911,” Cortez added.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Coroner’s officials said the body was too badly burned to make an immediate identification.

But, Rolling Stone and BuzzFeed both reported on Tuesday afternoon that the victim was Hastings.

BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith issued a statement, saying his team was “shocked and devastated by the news.”

“Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered, from wars to politicians,” Smith said. “He wrote stories that would otherwise have gone unwritten, and without him there are great stories that will go untold.”

Hastings was perhaps best known for a Rolling Stone article that led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (KTLA) — Broken seats and out of service bathrooms were just some of what a Simi Valley couple had to deal with on their 10 hour long Delta flight.

It was a 25th wedding anniversary trip to Italy Peter and Sondra Carrube will remember for the rest of their lives. They just wish they could forget about their flight back home.

“The toilet in one of the restrooms was pulled away from one of the walls and the air was coming through that,” Peter said. “The paper towel dispenser was held on with masking tape. My wife’s seat alone would not stay in the upright position.”

Courtesy: Peter Carrube

The issues the Carrubes had to deal with flying to Atlana, GA from Vinice, Italy were numerous.

“Right above my seat there was alluminum foil literally taped over a  hole,” Peter said.

One of the restrooms on the transatlantic flight was out of order. Peter even said there was another female passenger cut by broken equipment.

“They have these headsets. Double pronged headsets,” Peter explained. “One had snapped off in the armrest and the prong was sticking out. When [the passenger] sat down she cut her pants and her leg, and she bleeding in the back.”

Peter said a flight attendant was taking note of all of the problems.

“She came back to me and said she had to get a second paper because she was finding so many things wrong with the plane,” Peter said. “This plane shouldn’t be in service. I was high anxiety the entire time. “

Sondra said she was a frequent Delta flier and always had good experiences in the past.

“Just since the first of the year I’ve taken at least a dozen roundtrip flights, and I’ve never seen anything like this before, ever,” Sondra said.

KTLA 5 News contacted Delta Airlines and asked them about the problems inside their plane.

“All the systems on the aircraft were in perfect working order. It was a safe aircraft to fly. It operated in flight safely,” Delta Spokesman Morgan Durrant said.

Durrant claims Delta’s fleet of aircrafts is all in the process getting upgrades. Peter and Sondra’s plane still needed to be refurbished; for that, Delta apologized.

“We fell short of what we want our customers to experience inside the cabin,” Durrant said.

Delta Airlines representatives say they want to talk to Peter and Sondra directly. The company said they want to do right by their customers.

Durrant said Delta will ensure that the Currube’s plane has all of its unsightly issues fixed.