An internal memo from The Hill‘s Editor Hugo Gurdon to staff Wednesday evening reports a new hire, Andrew Villegas, a blogger at Kaiser Health News. In addition, there has been a small staff shuffle since the departure of House reporter Jared Allen. The moves will ensure that the Healthwatch blog doesn’t “miss a beat” – get it?

The memo:

There are a couple of staff changes coming next month.

Mike Lillis will shift from the Healthwatch blog to the slot vacated by Jared Allen covering the House Democrats. Mike has done an excellent job on Healthwatch with Julian Pacquet, and moving him to a new beat was not an easy decision. But he is a very good, adaptable reporter with a taste and flair for political stories of wider scope.

Taking Mike’s place on Healthwatch will be Andrew Villegas, who is currently a reporter/blogger at Kaiser Health News and before that was a political reporter in Colorado. Andrew, who will join the newsroom on October 27, knows the health beat inside out and I am confident that Healthwatch will not miss a beat.

An internal memo from The Hill’s Editor Hugo Gurdon:

I’m pleased to be able to tell you of two more hires that will continue the growth of our newsroom.

Sara Jerome is joining us from National Journal, where she is a technology reporter. She arrives next Monday, May 24, and will become the third staff writer working on the Hillicon Valley blog.

Then, on June 7, we will be joined by Mike Lillis, who will be our second healthcare reporter/blogger. Mike is currently a reporter at the Washington Independent and before that was at Inside CMS.

These hires, and others still to come, result from our highly successful expansion into untapped areas of news coverage using innovative online platforms.

Thanks, Hugo

Yesterday, we reported that “We hear that the Center for Independent Media (including its flagship publication, the Washington Independent) is not renewing the contracts of many of its staff writers, as a cost cutting measure. Instead, writers can continue to write for the publications on a freelance basis.”

We heard from both CIM brass and staffers following that post and their feedback fell along (expected) staffers-think-things-aren’t-going-well-while-the-higher-ups-maintain-that-everything-is-rosy lines.

So, some updates…

Brass says…It’s not hard times for CIM and that they are in the process of hiring two more editors and four more reporters in DC. “We’re actually reorganizing, which means some people are going and some people are coming,” CIM CEO David Bennahum told FishbowlDC.

Staff says…It is hard times for the Washington Independent and that cuts are being made on all of the state sites. But Bennahum said that, when all is said and done, their budget will remain what it was: $4 million.

Alas, it remains a “wait and see” situation.

Spencer Ackerman will remain at the Washington Independent on a full-time basis. Staffers Mary Kane, Mike Lillis and Daphne Eviatar will likely contribute to the site on a freelance basis.

Sridhar Pappu is not expected to continue with the Washington Independent and the statuses of Suemedha Sood and Matthew Blake are unknown.