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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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. -
Tens of thousands of flight attendants, airplane mechanics and agents are awaiting critical aid from Congress. NPR discusses how the airlines could regroup and what recovery will look like for them.
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"To our departing 13,000 family members: thank you for your dedication and we look forward to welcoming you back," United told employees, as CARES Act payroll aid was set to expire.
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Steve Dickson took a Boeing 737 Max on a test flight Wednesday and says "It responded well," as regulators inch closer to ungrounding the troubled jetliner. -
The strange, shortened season just got more weird, with both teams in the playoffs for just the third time ever. Fans would normally dance in the streets or cram into bars, but it's 2020, so no. -
Both the Cubs and the White Sox are in the playoffs for just the third time in history. But no Chicagoans will be cheering teams at the stadium, and few will be watching them at bars.
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Thousands Of Airline Workers Facing Unemployment As Aid Package Stalls In CongressThe clock is ticking for tens of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and other airline employees who will likely lose their jobs if Congress doesn't extend airline aid by Oct. 1. -
From mechanics to CEOs, employees of the nation's airlines are pleading for an extension of pandemic relief funding. Without a deal, workers are facing big layoffs throughout the industry.
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A pilot program on flights from San Francisco to Hawaii would give on-the-spot tests for the virus that causes COVID-19. Travelers who test negative would not be required to quarantine upon arrival. -
An investigation into the troubled plane's development and certification finds a "disturbing pattern" of Boeing design flaws, management failures and "grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA."