At the end of the latest Stephen King book, Song of Susannah, he
includes a headline from the Portland Sunday Telegram, June 20, 1999: 
Stephen King Dies Near Lovell Home.  I am aware of his accident the
day before.  What I'm wondering is, was that an actual headline that
was retracted because of its falsehood (hence my inability to find it
in the Telegram archives), or did King make it up to serve a purpose
in the book?

The headline is entirely fictitious. King has created an alternate
history in which characters from the Dark Tower series are involved in
events in Maine in the 1970s. In the tradition of SF alternate history
tales, messing around with the past changes the present (as we
perceive it) and the future. In the alternate timeline, King
speculates that he did not survive his 1999 brush with death. King
brought a great amount of his experience and insight from the accident
into "Dreamcatcher," too, as well as the TV drama "Kingdom Hospital."

From an article by Ray Routhier, of the Portland Press Herald:

"King's incredible fame and his unique celebrity allowed him to do
something very strange in this latest 'Dark Tower' book. He wrote
himself into the fantasy series, which he began writing in 1970.

At the end of the book, King writes a fictitious journal with entries
spanning a 22-year period... At the end of the journal, King kills
himself off. He writes a fictitious obituary, which he credits to this
reporter, and says that he was killed after being hit by a van.

Of course King was hit by a van, in 1999, but lived to tell about
it... And speaking of that fake obit. Here's another bigger-than-life
factoid. King asked to use my name as the writer of the story of his
death basically because I'm an actual newspaper reporter he's fairly
familiar with. He knows me because I've been hounding him for years,
hoping to get one big, in-person interview with the most famous Mainer
of all. As of now I've never gotten such an interview.

But instead of granting me the big sit-down I have relentlessly
sought, King stunned me by offering me the chance to get my name in
his book. He asked my permission."

Portland Press Herald
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/audience/stories/040620kinggreenlaw.shtml

This is the search string that led me to the article linked above:

Google Web Search: obit "stephen king" site:pressherald.com
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=obit+%22stephen+king%22+site%3Apressherald.com

I hope this information is helpful. If anything is unclear, or if a
link doesn't work for you, please request clarification; I'll be glad
to offer further assistance before you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.