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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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. -
The airline had accidentally given too many pilots the holidays off, raising the specter of thousands of canceled flights.
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Truckers complain they work in one of the nation's most overregulated industries. Advocates worry rolling back safety regulations will make highways more dangerous. -
As they struggle with disasters and other crises, police, fire and other public officials are spending an increasing amount of time and resources knocking down rumors spreading on social media. -
Firefighters in California made good progress over the weekend trying to corral several fires as winds calmed. But questions still persist over the warnings given to residents beforehand.
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Money for Hurricane Harvey recovery may be on the fast track, but that doesn't mean the rebuilding of Houston and other areas hammered by the storm will go quickly or smoothly. -
Urban planning experts say Houston's flat landscape, outdated drainage system and unchecked development have left the city vulnerable to catastrophic flooding. -
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.
