Waits at counters and checkpoints can’t be cut soon, airport officials tell City Council. City Council members sympathized with airport officials Wednesday who testified that in the next few years they cannot significantly shorten lines at Los Angeles International Airport that are vulnerable to a terrorist attack. The Rand Corp., in a report last fall on security at LAX, made cutting lines in ticket lobbies and at security checkpoints its top recommendation. Airport officials have said they can’t comply because the cash-strapped airlines and the federal Transportation Security Administration, which manages screeners, are short-staffed. “What we have control over, we are doing,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, after hearing testimony from airport officials at a meeting of the council’s Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Full Story