import string


def strip_most_punctuation(input_text: str) -> str:
    """Removes most punctuation except for particular characters inside a word.

    E.g., "The dog." becomes "The dog" but "U.S.A." becomes "U.S.A".
    """
    chars = [c for c in input_text]
    for i in range(len(chars)):
        if chars[i] in string.punctuation:
            if ((chars[i] in "'./?&=:")
                    and 0 < i < len(chars) - 1 and not chars[i-1].isspace() and not chars[i+1].isspace()):
                continue
            chars[i] = ' '
    return ''.join(chars)