The note about local variables is particularly important; we actively don't want Python's model of variables and scope.
The language itself looks pretty slick, and I am a sucker for gradual/optional typing. Do the type annotations result in performance/compiler optimization, as in Julia?
We've been designing the static system with exactly this in mind. The current implementation doesn't do anything fancy yet, but that's just because we've been getting off the ground and focusing on ergonomics and curriculum first. Getting performance in return for types is absolutely where we're going.