It’s the bane of newspaper people everywhere, readers claiming “there’s no good news in the newspaper.”

It’s there. Really it is.

Research shows, however, that people tend to recall bad-news stories much more readily than good news. In other words, stories about people doing good things with happy endings just don’t stick in the old brain.

Stories about traumatic events like accidents, crimes and disasters … Well, those burn durable mental images in our brains which linger much longer than feel-good stories.

We also find that dramatic stories are much more intensely read. Often, the five most-viewed stories at sunjournal.com all involve motorcycle accidents, fires and crimes.

Yes, good news stories sometimes break the top five. Most often, it seems, those are about a pet or animal. It’s true what they say, people do love animal stories.

In any event, Monday was a banner day for good news. In fact, it was a pretty good weekend.

Didn’t notice, did you? See what we mean?

Monday’s front page was dominated by heart-warming stories. The lead story was about how an eagle-eyed Warden Service pilot spotted a three-year-old autistic boy who had wandered away from his home.

The story lost a bit of its innocent edge Tuesday when the boy’s father was charged with cultivating marijuana. But, on Monday, it was all good.

The other major element on the page was the inspiring story of Donald Dutil, a retired music educator who has been director of the 35-piece band, Fanfare, for the past 20 years.

Band members demanded he remain conductor even after he went blind two years ago from severe diabetes.

The “City” section cover featured stories about members of the Edward Little Class of 1950 gathering on the steps of their old elementary school, recreating a photo taken on the same steps 72 years before.

Another story and photo on the page featured Maine author Jennifer Skiff and her dogs, ChickPea and CousCous.

She has collected stories about dogs that saved people from despair, expressed compassion or taught their human something profound. She has published them in a book titled, “The Divinity of Dogs.”

A good story, and an animal story. That’s hard to beat.

Another story showed Maine’s community spirit at work. Residents of Strong would like to start a community endowment fund to benefit their town.

A story on the sports cover told of how Gayton Post 31 celebrated a ninth-inning comeback to claim Lewiston’s first American Legion baseball championship since 1936.

Wes Welker was taking practice reps in the pre-season camp — really good news for Patriot’s fans.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox’s Marco Scutaro got hugs from his teammates after his game-winning bunt-single.

And, if you needed any more evidence this has been great summer so far, Maine’s honeybees are breaking production records.

The early spring and perfect weather means that hives that usually yield about 32 pounds of honey are on pace to produce between 100 and 200 pounds.

Pretty sweet.

Of course, we don’t deny there are bad-news days, when crime and tragedies dominate the headlines.

But Monday’s paper was a lot like Monday’s weather — warm and sunny.

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