Column: California is growing again. Hurrah! Or ho-hum?

California is growing again, news that comes as a relief, vindication or vexation, depending on where you stand in regard to the Golden State. Or, perhaps more aptly, where you reside.

The state, which had its modern birth in a fever of money-lust and speculation, gained population in every assay going back to those Gold Rush days. Growth — heady, unrelenting — was not only the natural order of things, but an affirmation. Of the California lifestyle, the state’s economy, its political leadership, the weather and, perhaps most of all, the beckoning of this most fertile landscape.

More consequentially, for the first time in its history California lost a seat in the House of Representatives. Worse, its archrivals among states, Florida and Texas, grew their footprint on Capitol Hill.

It was an ego blow, a humiliation and a political setback. Then came news last month that, lo, California was steadily growing again. The increase of 232,570 residents from July 2023 to July 2024 amounted to a population gain of 0.6%. That’s scarcely a rounding error in a state with 39.43 million souls, give or take. And there were plenty of to-be-sures and caveats attached...