Congrats to my former Human Events colleague Amanda Carpenter, who is moving to Townhall.com to becoming the conservative website’s Capitol Hill correspondent, a similar position to the job she’s held at Human Events since August 2005. I was instrumental in hiring Carpenter as assistant editor, and she’s not disappointed. In her time at Human Events, the 24-year-old Carpenter has broken several stories mainstream journalists have ignored and even found the time to write a book about Hillary Clinton.

Carpenter will be missed at Human Events, but it’ll be great to have an ally like her at Townhall coving the congressional beat. Ever since Tim Chapman’s departure more than a year ago, Townhall has lacked the full-time presence on Capitol Hill that it needs to be a relevant player. I personally hope Amanda follows in Mary Katharine Ham’s footsteps by creating her own video blog.

No word on who will replace her at Human Events. Two recent additions, Ericka Anderson and Michelle Oddis, have been doing a bang-up job on the Right Angle blog.

UPDATE — 1:38 p.m.: I’m hearing that Amanda’s actual title will be national political reporter, so her job will encompass more than just the Hill beat.