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David Schaper

Credit Doby Photography / NPR

David Schaper is a NPR National Desk reporter based in Chicago.

In this role, he covers news in Chicago and around the Midwest. Additionally he reports on a broad range of important social, cultural, political, and business issues in the region.

The range of Schaper's reporting has included profiles of service members killed in Iraq, and members of a reserve unit returning home to Wisconsin. He produced reports on the important political issues in key Midwest battleground states, education issues related to "No Child Left Behind," the bankruptcy of United Airlines as well as other aviation and transportation issues, and the devastation left by tornadoes, storms, blizzards, and floods in the Midwest.

Prior to joining NPR, Schaper spent nine years working as an award-winning reporter and editor for Chicago Public Radio's WBEZ-FM. For three years he covered education issues, reporting in-depth on the problems, financial and otherwise, plaguing Chicago's public schools.

In 1996, Schaper was named assistant news editor, managing the station's daily news coverage and editing a staff of six. He continued general assignment reporting, covering breaking news, politics, transportation, housing, sports, and business.

When he left WBEZ, Schaper was the station's political reporter, editor, and a frequent fill-in news anchor and program host. Additionally, he served as a frequent guest panelist on public television's Chicago Tonight and Chicago Week in Review.

Since beginning his career at Wisconsin Public Radio's WLSU-FM, Schaper worked in Chicago as a writer and editor for WBBM-AM and as a reporter and anchor for WXRT-FM. He worked at commercial stations WMAY-AM in Springfield, IL; and WIZM-AM and FM in La Crosse, WI; and at public stations WSSU-FM (now WUIS) and WDCB-FM in in Illinois.

Schaper earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and an Master of Arts from the University of Illinois-Springfield.

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The Two-Way
5:05 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

After The Storm: Students Gather For One More School Day

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Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Students and teachers from Eastlake Elementary and Plaza Towers Elementary schools gathered Thursday to say goodbye for the summer. This was a chance to reconnect after the devastating tornado brought an abrupt end to the school year at Plaza Towers in Moore, Okla.
Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
David Huffman leaves Eastlake Elementary with his children Moira, 8, and Wendy, 5. Moira attends Eastlake, and Wendy will start kindergarten there next year.
Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Sixth-grader Mckayla Franks leaves Eastlake Elementary with her mother, Summer Franks.
Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Students and teachers from the Eastlake and Plaza Towers Elementary schools gathered at Eastlake on Thursday to say goodbye for the summer. It was a chance to reconnect after a devastating tornado brought an abrupt end to the school year at Plaza Towers, in Moore, Okla.
Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Amber Hill leaves Eastlake with her son Jaren May. Jaren was in the autism program at Plaza Towers and went through the tornado with his teacher and fellow students. Jaren came out Thursday carrying a balloon, a goody bag and a brand-new backpack to replace the one he lost in Monday's tornado.
Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Cary Smith had picked up his son Jordan, 13, and daughter Tia, 5, from school on Monday, right before the tornado came through Moore. He and the family live close to Plaza Elementary, and he ran to the school to help pull a teacher and three kids from the rubble in the aftermath of the tornado.
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Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 5:08 am

Under cloudy skies and through intermittent showers, 4-year-old Kamrin Ramirez holds in her little hands two cards, one addressed to Ms. Patterson, the other for Ms. Johnson, her two preschool teachers at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla.

"I write thank you so much," she says.

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Around the Nation
5:37 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Rescuers Check Piles Of Debris For Survivors In Moore, Okla.

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Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 11:52 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Good morning.

In Moore, Okla., residents are returning to their neighborhoods and finding little more than empty lots and debris - this after a powerful tornado tore through that city, packing speeds of more than 200 miles an hour.

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Around the Nation
3:59 pm
Thu April 25, 2013

Mississippi River's Many 'Parents' Look To Unify

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Credit Dave Martin / AP
Mississippi River floodwaters in Vicksburg, Miss., in 2011.
Credit Bill Greenblatt / UPI/Landov
Sandbars are exposed while barges are forced to park along the shores of the Mississippi River south of St. Louis last year.
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Originally published on Thu April 25, 2013 7:16 pm

Life on the Mississippi River is a roller coaster of highs and lows: record high floodwaters one year, a drought and near-record low water levels the next. And those are just two of the many problems faced by river stakeholders like barge operators, farmers and conservation groups.

Those stakeholders met recently in Chicago to discuss the Mississippi's most pressing needs, any common ground, and how to speak with a unified voice in advocating for the nation's largest river system.

So far, that hasn't been easy.

Critical, Crumbling Lifeline

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The Two-Way
2:34 pm
Fri April 12, 2013

Goat's Head Sent To Cubs Owner Not From The 'Rahm-Father'

Credit Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images
Storm clouds pass over Wrigley Field on July 1, 2011, in Chicago.
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Originally published on Fri April 12, 2013 5:54 pm

While many in Chicago immediately thought of the famous "Billy Goat curse," when a severed goat's head was delivered to Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts at Wrigley Field this week, I immediately wondered if it was a message from the "Rahm-father," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

After all, Ricketts is in the midst of intense negotiations with Emanuel's administration over renovating the iconic 99-year old ballpark, as I reported last week.

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Around the Nation
3:45 am
Wed March 6, 2013

Chicago Commuters Brace For Delays During Bridge Repair

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Credit David Schaper / NPR
Construction on Chicago's Wells Street Bridge is taking place around the clock, as crews replace the south leaf section. The north leaf section will be replaced in the spring. The double-decked steel truss drawbridge was built in 1922.
Credit David Schaper / NPR
The south leaf section of the Wells Street Bridge in Chicago has been cut off, and will be floated on the river to make way for the replacement section.
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Originally published on Wed March 6, 2013 10:18 am

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Around the Nation
3:18 pm
Fri February 15, 2013

Checking In On Chicago Schools' 'Safe Passage' Program

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Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel. President Obama was in Chicago today, promoting what he calls ladders of opportunity to the middle class. It's the latest stop of his post-State of the Union tour, fleshing out the proposals from Tuesday night's speech. At a high school near his southside Chicago home, the president said reducing urban gun violence is essential to economic development.

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U.S.
4:26 am
Sat January 5, 2013

Illinois Claws At Mountain Of Unfunded Pension Liability

Credit Seth Perlman / AP
Illinois union members and supporters rally at the state Capitol on Thursday against legislation that would try to control the state's pension-fund shortfall by, in part, reducing pension benefits.
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Originally published on Sat January 5, 2013 12:45 pm

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Shootings In Newtown, Conn.
5:01 pm
Sat December 22, 2012

Near-Replica Of Sandy Hook Made Nearby For Students

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Credit Lucas Jackson / Reuters/Landov
A school bus drives past a welcome sign near the Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe, Conn. Students from Sandy Hook Elementary in neighboring Newtown will attend the school in January.
Credit David Schaper / NPR
Hundreds of stuffed animals await Sandy Hook students, who will be attending a new school in a neighboring town in January.
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Originally published on Sat December 22, 2012 6:54 pm

The surviving students of Sandy Hook Elementary will not be returning to their school in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first-graders and six educators were shot to death on Dec. 14.

Instead, when classes resume after the holidays, they'll attend a school in the neighboring town of Monroe. Parents, teachers and administrators in both towns are working to make the new school as similar as possible to the one Sandy Hook students left behind.

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Superstorm Sandy: Before, During And Beyond
2:33 am
Wed December 12, 2012

N.J. Spars Over Free Beach Access Post-Sandy

Credit Doug Mills / AFP/Getty Images
Superstorm Sandy caused massive beach erosion and damage to the Jersey shore. Some people say the beach restoration work, which will largely be paid for with federal tax dollars, will mostly help to protect expensive homes for the wealthy — people who have free access to the beach — while most communities would still be charging fees for public access.
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Originally published on Wed December 12, 2012 4:58 am

At an oceanfront park in Long Branch, N.J., Tim Dillingham looks out over the beach in awe of how much the pounding waves and high waters of Hurricane Sandy have changed the Jersey shore.

Dillingham is the executive director of the American Littoral Society, a coastal conservation group. Before the storm, he says, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spent years building up the beaches by pumping sand onto them.

But that shouldn't be a solution to restoring the shore, he says.

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Around the Nation
4:12 am
Thu December 6, 2012

Post Sandy: Atlantic City Wants Its Tourists Back

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Credit David Schaper/NPR
Atlantic City's boardwalk, with its shops, restaurants, casinos and hotels, was mostly protected during Hurricane Sandy by a dune restoration project. But TV images of one small section that was damaged gave the impression that the whole thing was destroyed.
Credit David Schaper/NPR
Rumors of the demise of Atlantic City's boardwalk were greatly exaggerated — only a small part was damaged. Now city and tourism officials are trying to draw people back.
Credit David Schaper/NPR
At Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino resort, business has been slow since Hurricane Sandy, but it's starting to pick up again.
Credit David Schaper/NPR
At Jay's Souvenirs on the boardwalk, Yaqob Abro says it costs him more to commute to work and keep the lights on than he's making in sales most days.
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Originally published on Thu December 6, 2012 3:24 pm

A month after Hurricane Sandy pounded the New Jersey Shore, Atlantic City is back in business. Even though most of the casinos and restaurants sustained very little damage in the storm, they're now suffering from a lack of visitors. But the city has launched an effort to change that.

As three young boys roll their skateboards down the "World Famous Atlantic City Boardwalk," it's proof that it is still here, fully in tact, and that rumors of its demise were greatly exaggerated.

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