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.
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A court-appointed federal monitor will no longer oversee hiring in the city of Chicago. A federal judge ruled that the city has put in place enough safeguards to minimize patronage in Chicago government jobs. It took 45 years of court orders and consent decrees, but political reformers say that patronage, which once built a powerful democratic machine, is slowly becoming a thing of the past.
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Chicago has seen spikes in shootings as gangs have splintered and rival factions battle. But authorities say they've also seen a recent trend of gangs aligning to form new drug-dealing factions. -
The jury didn't buy state Rep. Derrick Smith's argument that the repeated efforts to get him to accept the money amounted to entrapment. -
Northwestern University football players are voting Thursday on whether to unionize. Earlier, the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago ruled that the athletes' team requirements essentially make them employees of the university. This, in turn, means they can form a union. The university is appealing the NLRB ruling to the full board.
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It's been the home of the Cubs since 1916, and in all that time, the team has never won a World Series. So why do fans keep showing up? Locals say Wrigley's hallowed status isn't just about baseball. -
The National Labor Relations Board says Northwestern University football players can unionize. It's a win for student athletes, but the university says it will appeal.
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Two weeks into the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the focus has turned to two large objects in the waters southwest of Australia. Officials believe these might be debris from the aircraft.
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A review by the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing has concluded that the troubled 787 known as the Dreamliner is safe.
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The nation's infrastructure has taken a beating this season. Fixing what the heavy snows and bitter cold have wrecked is long overdue 鈥� and the cost will be hefty. -
Because of an influx of trains hauling crude oil and other freight across the Northern Plains, Amtrak is facing problems with unreliability, long delays, lost revenue and stranded passengers. An advocacy group wants the government to intervene.