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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About 30,000 pilots, flight attendants and other airline workers can tear up furlough notices. Federal stimulus money will help them keep their jobs, and transit agencies are getting a boost too.
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Many colleges and universities are cancelling or shortening the annual week off that's usually a rite of spring, but good vaccination news has people booking vacations over the summer months. -
With many eager to travel again — teased in part by vaccines — the CDC is still urging people to stay home. As spring break season approaches, the forecast for booking trips looks cloudy.
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The quadrennial Infrastructure Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers is an improvement from the D-plus four years ago but shows federal investment is still lacking. -
Many of the world's airline pilots are out of work due to the pandemic. Those who are flying report deteriorating working conditions and higher stress levels, which some fear could lead to mistakes.
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News"People are tired of being at home," one travel advisor says as an industry decimated by the pandemic begins to see small signs that a recovery might be on the way. -
Despite a slow vaccine rollout, Americans are hoping they'll be able to travel safely soon. And with relatively low airfares and flexible change policies, some are planning that next big trip.
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NewsThe airplane manufacturer was already struggling to fix design flaws in the grounded 737 Max when the pandemic all but froze demand for new aircraft. -
NewsThe executive order signed by President Biden Thursday also includes interstate travel on trains, buses and cruise ships, in a sharp reversal of the Trump administration's lax mask culture. -
President Biden set a mask mandate for interstate travel on Thursday. Airlines already have their own mask requirements, but enforcement has been spotty. They want federal officials to step in.
