===== ISTEM =====
Solve the following programming task.

TASK: Palindrome Check

Write a function 'is_palindrome(s)' that checks whether a given string is a palindrome (reads the same backwards). It must be case-insensitive and ignore spaces and punctuation.

STARTER CODE (python):
def is_palindrome(s: str) -> bool:
    # Write your code here
    pass


RULES:
- Keep the function name and signature EXACTLY as given.
- Return working code only. No explanations.
- Put the code in a single ``` block.
- Try to solve it first. If you genuinely cannot, write only this single
  line instead of producing faulty code: CANNOT_SOLVE

===== HAM YANIT =====
```python
def is_palindrome(s: str) -> bool:
    normalized = ''.join(char for char in s.casefold() if char.isalnum())
    return normalized == normalized[::-1]
```