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 — financial, educational and otherwise — 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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Individuals and businesses are slashing air travel. For example, about 624,000 people passed through airport security checkpoints Thursday, compared to 2.4 million people on the same day last year. -
With worries over the spread of coronavirus, what should you consider when boarding a crowded airplane? We tell you what airlines are doing to address concerns and how you can minimize your risk.
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Companies are canceling employee travel, and airlines are slashing hundreds of flights amid fear of the spreading coronavirus. The slump is hitting the travel industry and related businesses hard. -
Twice a year, on the fall and spring equinoxes, the sun sets perfectly framed by Chicago's skyscrapers. The perhaps unintended phenomenon takes its name from England's ancient monument Stonehenge. -
Frequent flyers have often complained of shrinking legroom on flights. Now Congress has ordered the FAA to establish minimum seat widths and pitch — but that's unlikely to result in more space. -
Tight budgets and shrinking infrastructure money from Washington have more states hiking tolls and adding tollways to raise money to fix and repair roads and bridges. -
The National Transportation Safety Board is trying to figure out why the train was traveling 80 mph in a 30 mph zone when it careened off a highway overpass Monday, killing at least three people. -
Flooding in Houston and utility outages led to belches of fumes from refineries and other industrial sites. Residents of a region already struggling with air pollution wonder: Is it safe to breathe? -
Two teenagers were wounded when Marco Proano fired 16 shots into a stolen car as it backed away from him and other officers. Dashcam video shows him emptying his weapon even after the car was stopped.
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The home of the Chicago Cubs is also home to a living relic: one of the few remaining vintage scoreboards operated by hand.
