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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Amid tense talk about renovating Wrigley Field, the grisly delivery has inspired talk of curses and threats in Chicago. When the head arrived, politicos immediately suspected the rough-and-tumble mayor. But his spokesman said Rahm Emanuel only sends dead fish. -
Federal taxpayers will pay the lion's share of the restoration for the Jersey shore damage caused by Sandy. But since most of those who will benefit are private landowners on the shore, one N.J. lawmaker wants to prohibit the shore towns from charging access fees to their public beaches. -
The first high-speed Amtrak trains outside of the Northeast Corridor are racing through parts of Michigan at 110 mph. But President Obama's ambitious high-speed rail initiative is otherwise in a slowdown mode, since lawmakers and some governors have not embraced the program.
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Most Chicago public schools have less-than-six-hour school days — some of the shortest in the country. And many have no recess. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing to lengthen the day to at least seven hours. But critics say some crucial details are missing — especially, how much a longer school day would cost. -
The Mississippi River and its tributaries continue to rise. In Memphis, Tenn., hundreds of homes already are underwater and thousands of people have moved to higher ground. Floodwaters there are expected to crest Tuesday just under the record level set in 1937. -
Eight months after President Obama signed the federal stimulus funding into law, states are seeing the money flow now. A health clinic in a low-income part of Nashville, Tenn., teachers in California and highway construction workers in Illinois were among the beneficiaries.
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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the recent beating death of a Chicago teen a "wake-up call" that would lead to action. Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan held a news conference with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. The two Cabinet officials were sent by the White House to Chicago after the killing.
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A year ago, torrential rains in eastern Iowa turned what was already serious flooding into a catastrophe. The Cedar River overflowed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, damaging thousands of homes and businesses. A year later, recovery in Cedar Rapids has been slow.
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There are growing calls for new Illinois Sen. Roland Burris to resign. A county prosecutor in Illinois is looking into whether Burris perjured himself in testimony to Illinois lawmakers about how he got appointed to the Senate. The Democrat has acknowledged trying to raise money for ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich before being appointed to the Senate.
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Illinois state senators have removed Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office. Not a single lawmaker came to his defense during the impeachment trial. Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment. Patrick Quinn replaces Blagojevich as governor.
