From jail, Raymond Chow on journalism panel

Chinatown tong leader Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow remains jailed without bail on federal racketeering charges - but he was able to take part by phone the other night in a journalism symposium at UC Berkeley.

Before he was hit with money-laundering and other charges last month, Chow was invited to be part of a panel at the Logan Symposium on Investigative Journalism, moderated by PBS "Frontline" producer Lowell Bergman.

Bergman, who teaches at the Berkeley journalism school, had interviewed Chow for an upcoming "Frontline" report about being inducted as a youngster into an organized-crime group in Macau.

Bergman's report traces the development of the former Portuguese colony into a gambling capital and details how Chinese triads have been used to collect gambling debts.

"We try to do more than just have reporters talking," Bergman said of his phone-in guest, who answered a few questions for attendees Friday night.

No, he didn't discuss his criminal case.

Allergic reaction: A bill to require public schools to stock emergency injection kits and have staffers trained to use them if a student goes into allergic shock is running into opposition from teachers unions.

SB1266, co-authored by state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, and Republican state Sen. Bob Huff of Diamond Bar (Los Angeles County), would mandate that a teacher, staffer or administrator be trained in the use of epinephrine auto-injectors in case a student goes into shock from a food allergy or bee sting.

"A stock of epinephrine has proven to save lives," said Sharon Wong, spokeswoman for California Advocates for Food Allergies.

However, the California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers and the California School Employees Association have all lined up in opposition.

In a letter to lawmakers, the teachers association said that administering epinephrine goes "beyond the scope" of teachers' training and that unwilling school workers might be "highly encouraged" by administrators to volunteer for the job.

Instead, the unions said, school districts should hire more nurses.

"That's who we want to see delivering medical care to students," said Susan Solomon, vice president of United Educators of San Francisco.

BART fare: After two costly and embarrassing strikes and a $221,000 fine for two worker deaths, BART directors are catching a lot of heat for their recent closed-session approval of raises for their top managers.

It's standard fare in public agencies to give the brass the same salary hikes that lower-paid workers get.

In the case of BART, the raise is 3.7 percent.

For General Manager Grace Crunican, the pay bump will bring her salary to $335,339 a year.

Orinda City Councilman and Democratic state Assembly candidate Steve Glazer, who is running on a BART reform platform, called the raises "tone-deaf and irresponsible."

BART directors said they had no choice but to raise the execs' pay, given the salaries, bonuses, and car and housing allowances being paid to other Bay Area transportation chiefs.

Director Zakhary Mallett, for one, said that while he was "fundamentally appalled" by public-transit bosses' salaries, agencies have to "go along" to remain competitive.

Locally, the competition includes:

-- Michael Scanlon of SamTrans - $395,425 a year.

-- Nuria Fernandez of Valley Transit Authority - $357,000.

-- Denis Mulligan of Golden Gate Transit - $310,608

-- Ed Reiskin of Muni - $294,000

-- David Armijo of AC Transit - $245,000.

Name game: The mega-money deal for the Warriors to buy that Salesforce property in Mission Bay is prompting speculation that the team might someday be playing at Salesforce Arena.

While nobody is ruling out the possibility of such a naming rights pact down the road, it's not part of the current sales agreement.

And with good reason.

Sources tell us the Warriors are still obligated by the 10-year deal they signed with Oracle's Larry Ellison in 2006 to rename Oakland's arena after his company. And terms of that deal, we're told, explicitly prohibit the Warriors from any sponsorship agreement involving Salesforce - Oracle's chief competitor.

Oracle also happens to be where Salesforce boss Marc Benioff got his start before striking out on his own.

Hence the Warriors would have to wait a couple of years before they could even consider a Salesforce naming deal.

"Due to the confidentiality clause in the (Oracle) contract, we can't make any comment," said Nathan Ballard, spokesman for the Warriors.

And finally: A middle-aged man was crossing the street near Mission and New Montgomery the other day when he was nearly struck by a sporty Mercedes-Benz.

"You yup-hole!" the shaken pedestrian was overheard shouting at the passing driver.

For those not familiar with the term, he told a passerby that it's short for yuppie A-hole.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com.