David Schaper
David Schaper is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, based in Chicago, primarily covering transportation and infrastructure, as well as breaking news in Chicago and the Midwest.
In this role, Schaper covers aviation and airlines, railroads, the trucking and freight industries, highways, transit, and new means of mobility such as ride hailing apps, car sharing, and shared bikes and scooters. In addition, he reports on important transportation safety issues, as well as the politics behind transportation and infrastructure policy and funding.
Since joining NPR in 2002, Schaper has covered some of the nation's most important news stories, including the Sandy Hook school shooting and other mass shootings, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, California wildfires, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and numerous other disasters. David has also reported on presidential campaigns in Iowa and elsewhere, on key races for U.S. Senate and House, governorships, and other offices in the Midwest, and he reported on the rise of Barack Obama from relative political obscurity in Chicago to the White House. Along the way, he's brought listeners and online readers many colorful stories about Chicago politics, including the corruption trials and convictions of two former Illinois governors.
But none of that compares to the joy of covering his beloved Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in 2016, and three Stanley Cup Championships for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
Prior to joining NPR, Schaper spent almost a decade working as an award-winning reporter and editor for WBEZ/Chicago Public Media, NPR's Member station in Chicago. For three years he covered education issues, reporting in-depth on the problems and progress 鈥� financial, educational and otherwise 鈥� in Chicago's public schools.
Schaper also served as WBEZ's Assistant Managing Editor of News, managing the station's daily news coverage and editing the reporting staff while often still reporting himself. He later served as WBEZ's political editor and reporter; he was a frequent fill-in news anchor and talk show host. Additionally, he has been an occasional contributor guest panelist on Chicago public television station WTTW's news program, Chicago Tonight.
Schaper began his journalism career in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as a reporter and anchor at Wisconsin Public Radio's WLSU-FM. He has since worked in both public and commercial radio news, including stints at WBBM NewsRadio in Chicago, WXRT-FM in Chicago, WDCB-FM in suburban Chicago, WUIS-FM in Springfield, Illinois, WMAY-AM in Springfield, Illinois, and WIZM-AM and FM in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Schaper earned a bachelor's degree in mass communications and history at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a master's degree in public affairs reporting at the University of Illinois-Springfield. He lives in Chicago with his wife, a Chicago Public School teacher, and they have three adult children.
-
The ripple effects of decisions made throughout the pandemic could mean disruptions for thousands of passengers throughout the busy summer travel season. -
The airplane manufacturer admits deceiving regulators about the safety of a flight control system blamed in two crashes that killed 346 people. Critics call the settlement "a slap on the wrist." -
The record numbers of new cases of Covid-19 being reported in many cities and states has many people reconsidering plans to travel for the holiday. -
Wisconsin does not have automatic recounts, but a losing candidate can file a sworn petition requesting one if the margin of victory is less than 1%. Democrat Joe Biden leads by roughly 21,000 votes. -
They are working to contact those who had been in close proximity to the president, the first lady and others who traveled with him in recent days to get tested. -
The union says Blake was armed with a knife and fought with the officers who tried to arrest him, putting one of them in a headlock. -
In Minneapolis, where Floyd died, a semitrailer drove into a crowd of protesters on an interstate. Authorities in Kentucky say a man was killed as security forces confronted a crowd early Monday. -
Walgreens is testing out delivery from store to door by drone in Virginia, and UPS won approval to expand air delivery of medical supplies. -
Iowa, Minnesota and other parts of the Midwest have been hit with record levels of rainfall recently. As water floods homes and businesses and threatens crops, local officials scramble to help. -
Donald Trump and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel are warring over a sign on the side of a skyscraper bearing Trump's name. The mayor wants it removed, but Trump has emphatically said no, via the media.
