Pell City was making ready to welcome Gov. Bob Riley earlier this week, anticipating that on Wednesday he would bring final approval — meaning the money — to build a new Veterans Affairs nursing home.

Despite impassioned pleas from this newspaper for a copy of Riley’s statement in advance of our Tuesday night printing, the governor’s office firmly declined. Riley would not be hurried, and who can blame him. He wanted to make the announcement himself, and, as he well knows, once it’s in the press, the news is out. We can’t fault him for refusing to let us steal his thunder.

Still, it is not hard to read between the lines of the Office of Veterans Affairs announcement that Riley and VA officials would bring “great news … about Alabama’s fourth state veterans home.”

A new VA nursing home has been on St. Clair County’s drawing board since early 2008. It would share a site and infrastructure with the new St. Vincent’s St. Clair hospital, already under construction north of I-20, close to Jefferson State Community College’s Pell City campus.

St. Clair County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon said Friday the only thing yet to be settled before construction can begin is the funding. And by all appearances, that last obstacle was to come down Wednesday.

“All the things that are necessary are in place,” he said. “We are as ready as we can possibly be, with the exception of the funding. … We’ve got sewer, water, gas, the road that’s being built. We’re definitely ready to go.